What is the Minimum Knowledge Needed of the Open Sicilian for Non-Sicilian Players?

I've watched some live chess videos, and the last one was the final set of the Naka-Carlsen match in the Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour.  Anyways, commentators would often say something like, "This is a Maroczy Bind structure."  Or "This is similar to Schevingen position."   Or "This is a Reverse Sicilian position...".

Not only that, but there are lots of "Classical Games" that have the Sicilian Opening.  I honestly don't want to play the Open Sicilian Opening as Black or White because of the immense amount of Opening Theory required to play it's razor sharp positions well, *BUT* at the same time I want to be at least conversant in the strategic ideas of the Open Sicilian so that I can more deeply appreciate live chess commentary, plus gain more additional value when I go over Classical Games.

What would you suggest for a player like me who doesn't want to play an opening, but just wants to minimalistically or efficiently study an opening for my overall growth as a chess player?

The quickest way to learn something about an opening is to play it.  I know you've worked hard to get your Daily rating up where it is, but I bet if you forced your self to play a dozen or so open Sicilians you'd end up with what you want.  I'm sure you've worked out a routine for dealing with an unfamiliar opening.  It probably involves following play on a database to get the name of the beast, maybe looking it up in FCO or some other general opening book, checking the usual suspects on Youtube,  And since you're a diamond member, checking the lessons and videos for something accessible.  Of course you can do all this without playing, but playing gives a certain urgency to the quest for knowledge.  Just my $.02...

You can avoid the open Sicilian by playing a closed Sicilian

Mmmmm, I never thought about playing the Open Sicilian in Daily practice games.  That's a good idea since I don't really care about my Online Rating that much.

I would say start a collection of games that inspire you from either side of the Sicilian. I can recommend some GMs from the era I like to study most:

Geller, Gufeld, Tal, Nezmhmetdinov, Polugaevsky, Boleslavsky, Karpov (White), Kasparov (White or Black).

Also MVL, Grischuk, Gelfand, Anand.....

If you have favorite players, you can look at their games with either color in the Sicilian.

I was inspired by the Fischer-Spassky 1972 World Championship Match. A few Sicilians were played there! Kasparov played a few against Karpov.....

Here is a copy of Bronstein's suggestion on how to study:

"You should not "read" a chess creation but you should move the pieces on the chessboard and make move by move exactly as the work of Chess Art was created for the very first time. On your own chessboard with your own chess pieces and in complete silence, to be able to follow closely the events as they unfold before your very eyes. The best way is to do this in three stages."

"First, play through the whole game without hesitating more than a couple of seconds at each move. If you have the urge to pause longer-don't! Take a piece of paper and make some notes if you wish, and continue to play the game to the end. Then get a cup of tea or coffee, relax and try your best to recall from memory the spectacle you have just seen. Try to establish the reasons why certain decisions were made."

"Second, play through the game again, somewhat slower this time,and make notes of everything that you did not see the first time."

"Third, now go straight to those pencil marks and give your imaginative and creative energy free reign. Try to play better than my partner and I. If you do not agree, look closely at each decision, either for White or for Black, with a critical eye. If you look at a game like this you will discover a lot of new and useful knowledge, which you can use for your own benefit."

"Write your findings in a notebook in order to look at them later when you are in a different mood, especially if you like the game. If, during stage one, you took no notes, don't look at this game again. Go on to the next one that, hopefully, will give you more pleasure and satisfaction. It just means that it did not appeal to you. Although I consider chess an Art, I will not blame you at all if you do not like a particular game. In a museum you cannot like every painting you see. As French gourmets say, taste is a very personal matter."

"When I was learning to play chess, I studied thousands and thousands of games played by the older generation in exactly the same way and gained a lot from them."

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The advantage of looking at complete games is that you see how the game's themes develop organically.

I prefer games with good commentary by top GMs. Some of the best at commentary that patzers like me can understand are:

Tal, Bronstein, Gufeld, Tartakower, Gelfand.

Thanks much, Kamalakanta!   That Bronstein fella sure was smart.

I have "Understanding the Chess Openings" by Sam Collins. In the sicilian section he goes over common structures like the Maroczy bind, how white and black should play them, etc...

As a diamond member, Pawn Structure 101 series on chess.com.

For those without premium, no video but lots of reading/pictures here:

https://simplifychess.com/pawn-structures/complete-guide-chess-pawn-structures/index.html

Read these:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawn_structure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Defence

And in general the Sicilian is an opening where black has a lot of flexibility with his two center pawns. Pretty much every possible arrangement of the e and d pawn has a different name, and then sometimes the g and a pawns come into play too.

A very simplified explanation is... when black is putting a pawn on d6 or e5, he's not trying to play d5. He's often going for piece centric play. For example on the c file and along the a1-h8 diagonal in the Dragon or pawn storming the queenside in the Najdorf.

In other cases black would like to play d5. In particular e6 helps prepare d5. And if black can successfully play d5 then that's good... in fact the desirability of the d5 pawn break goes for many 1.e4 openings, not just the Sicilian.

Sicilian

Najdorf

Dragon

Dragondorf

Scheveningen

Sveshnikov

Taimanov

Kan

Maroczy

Hedgehog

I used to have the same disdain for the theoretical obligation associated with playing any sicilian, but now I play the najdorf, and I have at least tried some open sicilians as white, mostly the english attack systems. Once you start winning in a cool way, you begin to appreciate what the opening offers. I never had a statsheet for wins and losses as a priority. Just wanted to have fun and see whether I can handle positions arising from the sicilian, with either color. It turns out to be manageable. You can start with the least theoretical ones like the kan, the four knights, the classical, the scheveningen, and then move up to the dragon, najdorf, taimanov, sveshnikov. Or you can just stick to a few ones you like regardless of what they require.

Thanks!

Thanks Llama for the pawn skeleton diagrams!  Very helpful.

Some ways you can do this it by this:

A nice website is here, anybody can use this, but this is specifically for you @Senior Patzer:

http://www.caissa.com/chess-openings/sicilian-defense.php

Enjoy my friend!

Whoa!  That's exactly what the doctor ordered.  Thanks!

@SeniorPatzer 

Of course my friend! If I can give open resources I always will try to be of aid in the best possible way by giving! Archive or bookmark these openings and you can always refer to them later.

Aww, it seems to be the only opening they cover. Too bad.

Yeah @llama it does suck they only have the Sicilian Defense for the opening lines to cover, but I guess it is better than nothing.

I'm just saying, it seemed well done, so I wanted to see how they organized some other openings.

So I meant it as praise.

@llama 

I understand my friend, I was just saying it is a bummer that they don't have any other openings like that so I agree with you.

Just grab the same junk info off any number of sites. However it is funny. The answer is elementary school chess and even that is too hard lol...so memorize this nonsense instead.