When to add the Sicilian?
Sort:
I'm a long time sicilian player, and if you're worried about people playing boring openings it's not a quick fix: they still frequently play moves such as 2. Nc3, 2. Bc4, 2. f4, or the KIA which are not near as sharp as the mainlines. You just have to be satisfied that if your opponent is going to play something that allows you to equalize, even if the game is boring you can slowly outplay them and gain the advantage.
Jan 24, 2013
0
#26
shepi13 wrote:
I'm a long time sicilian player, and if you're worried about people playing boring openings it's not a quick fix: they still frequently play moves such as 2. Nc3, 2. Bc4, 2. f4, or the KIA which are not near as sharp as the mainlines. You just have to be satisfied that if your opponent is going to play something that allows you to equalize, even if the game is boring you can slowly outplay them and gain the advantage.
:( I suppose that's true. One must take the good with the, well, not necessarily bad but, kind of boring. Oh well, chess is a wonderful game. And, when I reach a higher level, I'll get to play Marshall Attacks all I want! :)
For someone starting with the sicilian, go for the dragon variation. For a brief introduction to the sicilian dragon variation, read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Defence,_Dragon_Variation
9thEagle wrote:
Here's a little bit on the dragon:
It's very rare that white would castle K-side in the dragon. He gets no advantage at all really. Much more common is white goes Q-side, black K-side, and they try to kick the living daylights out of each other.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1504215
I love the Sicilian, my favourite is the Najdorf.
I don't believe there's a minimum rating range that you need to have to start playing a certain opening, plus I'm pretty sure 1400 LIVE STANDARD should be equal to about 1400 OTB (live standard rating is tougher than blitz) so you should be fine OP.
However, word of advice: pick up the sicilian only if you enjoy studying a ton of theory. Especially in the open sicilian you must know your stuff because you're in an unnatural position (i.e. white has so much space, so much development, and you play things like a6 or e6). Many times you'll leave your king in the centre. Other times you'll have to take on f6 with the g pawn busting your structure.
In short, the Sicilian (especially the Najdorf) is counterintuitive. You need to learn theory only to survive. On the other hand, white's play is much more natural so the white side doesn't really need to know theory to attack you.
There's a ton of variations to study, again, especially in the Najdorf.
You'll also have to prepare against a ton of anti-sicilians, for example I would say only half of my games go into the open sicilian, the rest is closed positions that can be slower than an e4-e5 opening.
In short, there's a ton of work to do to prepare the sicilian. The reward is that a game with the Najdorf contains the most exciting and razor sharp positions of all of chess - it's really fun to play.
If you just want to try something new you could just stick with e5 and throw in some Scandinavian or Alekhine. Sicilian is a lot of work trust me.
chessman1504 wrote:
Well, both Bobby Fischer and Paul Morphy are my favorite players, I admire Bobby for his genious in Chess, period! I don't mix Chess with Politics. Bobby loved the Sicilian simply because he was a great player and in these imbalance positions, somehow He was always finding ways to come out victorious; as You point out with openings like the Italian you get to balanced boring positions in which You can't make anything happen. Again don't be afraid to loose some games and some "rating" points in the long run it will more than pay back and your rating will skyrocket.
Well, I suppose I could try it. One of my favorite players is Bobby Fischer(I'm an American, duuuuuuh :) Though, I for one am not a fan of his anti-Semitic and anti-American rants), and the Sicilian was one of his favorite openings. That's one reason I was thinking about taking it up.
don,t really know it but I love the queenside attack. You might call it the bastard scilian.
Jan 25, 2013
0
#32
Conzipe wrote:
Chess is about having fun, if you find 1...e5 boring and want to play something else, do it!
It's only important for new players to play classical openings for some time to get a good and solid understanding of standard opening principals.
Even though you can just rely on these basic principals for a very long time, and there arguably is more important things to study than openings.
It still won't hurt your progress by studying them, rather it will just help you, perhaps just not as quickly as other methods.
If you wanna try something new and find the world of openings interesting, just dive in!
You learn best when it's actually entertaining.
You hit the nail on the head, sir. We can go round and round all day discussing how much theory you "have" to know, how much this or that will help your development, what you "should" be studying, but at the end of the day, do you want to get back on your computer tomorrow and play more, because you had fun today?
I would say that 1400 is not strong enough to play the Sicilian well. But it's strong enough to play it, have fun with it, and learn from it.
chessman1504 wrote:
Fear_ItseIf wrote:
Personally id advise you to stick with what you have and become more proficient in it, I wish i'd done the same.
If you feel the need for variety, try a different variation or sub variation, this will change things up and help you to increase your understanding of the dynamics of positions you play.
What positions exactly are you getting bored with? I, or others here may be able to suggest something.
Well, the Italian game can be somewhat boring and incredibly tame. Ruy Lopez is fine. In fact, I love playing against the Ruy Lopez, but it's the other games that are kind of.... meh
then you should try out the two knights defence. you sacrifice 1 pawn for very active play. this line requires you to do some studying but it will give you many points
9thEagle wrote:
Fear_ItseIf wrote:
9thEagle wrote:
most people agree that I would be rated much higher if I didn't blunder so much
most people agree that I would be rated much higher if I didn't blunder so much
lol, wouldnt we all.
Well, yes. But I blunder a larger percentage than most people. I completely dominate almost all the games I play against people near my rating, until I blunder. I probably blunder about 80% of my games, but I'm already winning by then, so we usually end up equal.
In that case, it's obvious isn't it? It doesn't matter one iota whether you play 1...e5 or the Sicilian. Just play everything, it doesn't matter.
The only thing that will actually improve your chess is learning to avoid those blunders.
i suggest you get used to the french defense and e5 before moving on to something as tactical as the sicilian the french defense is easy to learn and has very basic concepts after you learn that it would be a good time to learn the sicilian or who knows maybe you might want to just play the french
blasterdragon wrote:
i suggest you get used to the french defense and e5 before moving on to something as tactical as the sicilian the french defense is easy to learn and has very basic concepts after you learn that it would be a good time to learn the sicilian or who knows maybe you might want to just play the french
I like playing the french as black but I don't like playing against a sicilian as white :)
The post by blasterdragon introducing the French into the discussion isn't helpful. The French is messy, and it is an entirely separate issue. The OP was purely asking about the Sicilian.
Jan 27, 2013
0
#38
chessman1504 wrote:
Hello,
I finally reached my rating goal for live standard chess on chess.com (1400+). I was wondering when I should add the Sicilian. I know that beginners such as myself should not focus on openings too much since there are more dire considerations. However, I'm getting very bored with 1...e5 and want something else for at least a little variety. The Sicilian, though, appears to have much theory surrounding it. My experience and lack of understanding may render any investigation into the opening somewhat meaningless until I have a better grasp of the basics. What are all of your thoughts? Should someone, who is 1400 here( around 1300 OTB, approximately, right?) think about adding the Sicilian for a little bit of variety, or should I stick with the 1...e5 openings and master those? Maybe I'm just impatient :)
Just play whatever you want : you're the one moving your pieces 
However, if you want to become strong, it's a good idea to specilaize a little and have a main weapon you use most of the times and try to develop.
ghostofmaroczy wrote:
The post by blasterdragon introducing the French into the discussion isn't helpful. The French is messy, and it is an entirely separate issue. The OP was purely asking about the Sicilian.
no its not you should really read the ops post AND THE TITLE OF THE THREAD which asks when to add the sicilian and i said that you should add the sicilian AFTER you have played the french idiot ...
Just go for it man! Sicilian is fun. You are not gonna get better at it if you don't use it. Playing it will reveal the logic of the opening to you and the right moves will come naturally.
Well, I will try to add it and I also won't give up on `1...e5! :)