Switching to Sicilian, but which Sicilian?

This is a ridiculous analogy

I think useful for a new player is that...

When your opponent plays 1.e4 then you'd like to play d5 at some point if possible (whether it's a Spanish or Sicilian or etc). If it's impossible then sometimes f5 will be good.

And if your opponent plays 1.d4 you'd like to play c5 or e5.

Develop, castle, play a pawn break... that will get you a successful middlegame.

If you can't answer "which sicilian should I choose" on your own by picking something that looks attractive, then you should probably just follow general principles... and if you are good enough that you'll be attracted to one of the Sicilians, then stop being lazy and asking the forums, go read wiki for some basic info

The way he misses every punch by a mile is hillarious

Bruh, you downvoted this but it wasn't even about you...

Between Dragon and Najdorf, Najdorf hands down, I had played both in the past.

What I'd do in your shoes though is challenge the notion that you need to change the French ( which I've never played ). If you want more dynamics, why not invest time in the Winawer?

Najdorf and Dragon are the best choices in Sicilian

The entire reason black plays d6 is to control e5! Why would you play Nf6, inviting the very move!

Against the Sicilian, In his Chessable course, he recommends the Magnus Sicilian with 2.Nc3 and d4. against 2..Nc6 he recommends Bb5 the Tiviakov Sicilian. Respectable! In his chessly course, he gives 2’recommendations. 2.a3 and 2.b3, a3 is laughable, b3 is not that bad imo but isn’t very ambitious

I have no idea what you are talking about! White plays e4, wanting to play d4. Black plays c5 to control d4! And if at any point white plays d4, black takes with the pawn and trades a c-pawn for a d-pawn! Makes perfect sense! The reason why the open Sicilian is the main line is because white plays Nf3, preparing d4! Black generally plays d6, controlling e5, and says “you can play d4, and I will trade a non center pawn for a center pawn!” White plays d4, fair enough! Black takes, white takes! Black plays Nf6, developing and attacking e4, white plays Nc3, developing and defending e4! Makes perfect sense! Or white could play the Alapin, my favourite anti Sicilian! White plays c3, preparing d4 and to take back with the pawn! Makes perfect sense! D4 is impossible to stop so black instead attacks the e4 pawn with either Nf6 or d5! Makes perfect sense!

Very superficial.

Every major opening makes at least some sense, saying the Sicilian makes 0 sense, makes 0 sense! Otherwise why would the Najdorf be a core part of MVL’a repertoire? Or Kasparov? Or Magnus with his Sveshnikov?

The Italian, Ruy Lopez, Queens Gambit, Sveshnikov, they are all based off pure logic and opening principles if you break it down!

I said I am not good at chess. Also, what is "on on". I might be worse at chess than you, but I am better In english.

black gets counterplay in the center/queenside, and all they have to do is hold their position if their a pawn up like they may be in the smith-morra

ok i will summarise this:

people: sicilian bad, for xx reason, dont play it

samuel: sicilian good, for yy reason, must play it, also; you are a gatekeeper

tbh samuel is doing the same thing as the other people but in reverse; but they are gatekeeping and he isnt?

and THEN HE CALLS THEM OUT FOR UNFAIRNESS

this is hypocrisy at its finest

samuel is telling people not to gatekeep, and hes not saying you must play

the sicilian does make sense, a6 prevents white from attacking the backwards pawn, c5 gives black 2 center pawns and white 1, and blacks developing setup is competely understandble

the way black sets up in the english najdorf is only possible because he played a6

@SamuelAjedrez95

which nadjorf line for white do you recommend? is Bc4 any good and what does it do after e6?

#129, anybody?

also, he references andras who "says everyone should play open sicilian from both sides"

anyway, i dont want to pick a fight and i kinda agree with samuels point

except for the fact that there are other openings which are just as rich and diverse (if not more) than the sicilian and they arent mentioned

in fact, his only mention of non sicilians are the setup openings (in stereotyping? the 'gatekeepers') or traps (in the discussion about "hard to play") and not rich positions (btw others did this)

and, that isnt off topic as i think the original post was open enough for interpretation such as "xx opening is also very good and tactical"

and i mean, i think samuel wants to discuss the merits of the sicilian even in non sicilian threads "every thread that samuel visits becomes a sicilian thread" so really i want to tell-

there are other perfectly fine openings; chess starting position isnt the one with whites e pawn on e4 and blacks on c5!