whats the most interesting variation of the sicilian?

Im considering playing the sicilian as black. ....what would be the most interesting open sicilian variation to prepare for?

Scheveningen.

The Najdorf is a meme. Kasparov just got butthurt losing to Karpov with the opening so he decided to blame the opening and played the Najdorf instead and the sheeple followed.   

I also have a more general question about the sicilian. If I prepare to play some line....the scheveningen for instance....would it be possible for white to transpose into a different variation? Or as black do I get to decide what variation to play. Im not worried about the anti sicilian lines like closed sicilian, moscow, rossolimo ect. as I have played all of these as white at one time or another.

There are a few different ways to attack the Sicilian, as Black you will get to choose what ways make sense for white and what will end up with black having the advantage. A key advantage is that black has active play down the c-file, can often play e5 or d5 and if white plays even slightly inaccurately black can get on top, unlike many other passive openings where black is always playing to the tune of white and is more reacting to white's play rather than creating their own.  

The Scheveningen allows a broad range of creative play, such as a quick queenside attack, Qc7 or Qb6 or Qa5. If you play it like I do some will transpose to Najdorf variations though so you need to be prepared for that.  

I’m not going to say the Scheveningen is refuted, but it has been proven that the Keres Attack (6.g4) is very strong and dangerous. As far as the original question I think the Dragon is the most interesting.

If I try to play the dragon....is there something white can transpose to thats not the dragon?

A lot of white noise here... if you are going to play 1.c5 against 1.d4 you have to be able to play good chess, simple as that. In fact, this is true for any opening you want to play. I go for Sveshnikov but many players will play Alapin or Rossolimo or early Bc4 all sorts of stuff. You just have to play well. 

Scheveningen is certainly not refuted. In fact, Scheveningen is better against English attack than Nadjorf. Kasparov favoured a hybrid Schevenendorf, early a6. Keres attack is strong, but not a certain win, by any means. Problem is more the Scheveny has been unfashionable... the sheeppeople are busy munching on the Sveishnikov and the Accelerated London... until something else comes along. A study of rook and pawn positions would help the flock more, but few have the patience for such.

YES!  And I've played it MANY times!

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 and now, instead of 5.Nc3 g6, leading to the Dragon, you have the Prins Variation, 5.f3, against which Black has 3 effective choices.  Other moves are just bad:

1) Play an early ...e5, as in 5...e5 immediately!  White has 2 choices, 6.Nb3 (Best) and 6.Bb5+, known as the Venice Attack, which is not good if Black knows what he's doing.  After 6.Nb3, Black can play for a dull and slightly worse endgame (6...d5 7.Bg5! and now 7...Be6 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.exd5 Qxd5 10.Qxd5 Bxd5 with bad pawns and basically 2 results, loss or draw for Black, or else 7...d4 8.c3 which is slightly better for White, but nothing special.

The alternative to 6...d5 is the more dynamic 6...Be6 when 7.c4 Nbd7 8.Be3 Rc8, White must decide whether to hold the material with the passive 9.Na3 or to sacrifice the pawn with 9.Nc3, going for d5 and having a huge initiative for the c-pawn.

2) Option 2 is to play 5...g6, but you won't be in a dragon at this point, you'll be in an Accelerated Dragon, Maroczy Bind, or there is a tricky line with 6...Qb6 (after 6.c4), but if White knows it (it entails some strange moves, like 9...Ng4 (despite the f3-pawn) where White must play 10.Qd2 in that line, blocking the Bishop.  Of course, as mentioned already, a direct transposition to the Accelerated Dragon is also possible.

3) Playing an early ...e6 and ultimately going for a Hedgehog setup with a6, b6, Bb7, Nbd7, etc.

Yet I have seen so many Najdorf players think they can just "Play the Najdorf".  See the game in the following link to realize that you can't just try to mimic other lines.  32 pieces decide the opening, not 16!

http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/chess-is-game-with-32-pieces.html

Thanks for posting that, Thrillerfan.  I remember you've mentioned the Prins before, and I'm surprised it's not played more often, since the "normal" responses aren't good.  

Still, I'd say that, within the open sicilan, it's very much the exception. Apart from the Prins and the more popular Rossolimo/Moscow, once white has played 2. Nf3, Black tends to have more say (certainly not total say) in calling the shots -- and in particular, black often has options for transposing between variations, and white rarely does. 

Which isn't the same as saying black's better, of course.

My task just got a lot more complicated. lol Let me ask you this would options two or three offer black better chances to complicate the position than say....I dont know...the exchange french?

While the Prins is something eventually worth studying if you decide to take up the (d6) Sicilian, it shouldn't be what keeps you from taking up the opening.  Honestly, you'll see it in less than one Sicilian game out of every hundred.

Or, more precisely, my database shows 643,294 games with 1. e4 c5, and only 3381 of those, or 1/2 of 1% result in the Prins (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd5 Nf6 5. f3 (5 Nc3 is 50 times more common)).

That's at the master level of course, but I haven't found it to be any more frequent at the club level.

If you're looking for a Sicilian line that's interesting without requiring enorous amounts of work, you might try the Taimanov.  It's seen a bit of trouble at the highest levels recently, but that oughtn't to affect anyone below a Master.  It gives Black a lot of flexibility and doesn't run into as many sidelines as some others (no Rosollimo, for instance, assuming you use the 2. . . e6 move order).  And for some reason I don't quite understand, it's not seen as frequently as some of the others, and I'd bet that means White tends to be less prepared for it. (I know I am as White, anyway.)

Delchev and Semkov's "The Most Flexible Sicilian," is supposed to be a good introduction to it, though I haven't consulted it myself.

I would actually welcome the rossolimo....its my main weapon against the sicilian as white.....I guess I could try a diferent move order so I get to play against the rossolimo sometimes. I actually have an older book on the taimanov written by Mark Taimanov. its probably pretty outdated but maybe its good enough to get started on it.

Well, if you want to entice the Rosselimo, you can do that too -- 1. e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6, and then if they don't play the Rossolimo, you can still play the Taimonov with 3. d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e6.

In a lot of cases, I'd say it could be okay to consult an older book for an opening's general ideas.  But in this case, it's worth remarking that Taimanov played hte variation in a quite different way from how it's usually handled today (bringing his knight to e7, for instance).  So that book might give you a rather peculiar view of the opening.  On the other hand, his lines are uncommon enough now that you're not very likely to encounter sub-2000 opponents who know anything about them.

The latest book on the variation is Pavlidis's for Quality Chess, but like others in that series, it's extremely detailed, and I suspect the Delchev is a better introduction.

That is an inaccurate count because with just 1.e4 c5, you are factoring in 2...Nc6 Sicilians and 2...e6 Sicilians where 5.f3 is garbage.

It would be better to take the position after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 and then compare.

Out of almost 156,000 games on 365chess.com, 3346 feature 5.f3, or just over 2 percent.

So of all games where you face the Open Sicilian with 2...d6, 1 game of every 50 you can expect 5.f3.

Right.  I noted that too (it's in parantheses).  But one game out of fifty is still way too infrequent to have this be what makes or breaks an opening for you.  Plus, in my experience, it's not even that common at the club level (though I'd think it would actually be a smart practical choice and am surprised I don't see it more).

There are many interesting variations in the Open Sicilian:  Najdorf (either Scheveningen style or with e5 when possible) and Sveshnikov are perhaps the 2 most popular right now, with various Dragons not too far behind at the club level.  However, you must realize that you do not get to choose the Open Sicilian; White does that!  That means you must have something ready if White decides to play any Anti-Sicilian system (Alapin, Delayed Alapin, Grand Prix, Closed Sicilian, Smith-Morra, etc).

You only really get to choose the variation after White says "Okay, I'll play the Open Sicilian".

With that in mind, here are some thoughts:

• Najdorf:  This is flexible.  You can play it Scheveningen-style and avoid the Keres Attack, or (if White does not play Bc4 or Bg5) you can play e5 and play will revolve around control of the d5-square.  This is what Magnus has switched to following the release of the "Fight Like Magnus" repertoire on Chessable.
• Sveshnikov:  This forces the d6-e5 pawn structure for Black, where the game will again revolve around control over d5.  Magnus Carlsen used this against Caruana in the 2018 World Championship match.
• Dragon:  These are sharp games with very simple plans for Black:  push your queenside pawns.  The problem is that several of the common Dragons (Hyper Accelerated Dragon, Accelerated Dragon) walk into the Maroczy Bind which is no fun to play as Black when your opponent knows how to handle it.  And in the Dragon proper, you have to deal with the Yugoslav Attack where Black's kingside is coming under assault.
• Taimanov:  This is a flexible and more positional approach to the Sicilians.  There is less theory on this one, so you can somewhat avoid getting into a game of who has memorized the most.

So, how do you pick one?  The way I recommend picking any opening is to find a player you enjoy studying and go with their variations.  For example, I enjoy studying Fischer, Kasparov, and MVL, so I picked up the Najdorf early on.  If you enjoy studying Magnus, then the Sveshnikov would be a good choice.  If you like studying Gawain Jones, go with the Dragon.  If you like studying Harikrishna, go with the Taimanov (he is getting ready to release a repertoire based on the Taimanov on Chessable soon).

+1

My personal preferences are as follows:

1. Taimanov

2. Najdorf

3. Sveshnikov

4. Dragon

In my initial playing of the game, I sided with Najdorf, but nowadays, I feel as though one's opponent can defend against it sufficiently. I played the Dragon for some time, but it got a little too repetitive playing the standard line time and time again.