How can I improve my Sicilian?

For 1. e4 I've always used the Sicilian, whether it be the open or closed variations, for me it's been a tried-and-true "textbook" defense if you will. But it seems this last game I thought the bad start led to a pretty disadvantaged game. I don't know. Any ways to improve it, or even just defense in general?

4..e5 is not textbook Sicilian.

It leaves a backward pawn on d6 and a big hole on d5.

I think you need to go back to the textbook.

Basic Sicilian Knowledge. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Defence

As others have stated, 4. ... e5 is not a main-line move, although it's probably marginally playable. White's answer (5. Nf3) also looked sub-optimal. A more principled response might have been 5. Bb5+ in order to trade off the light-squared Bishops, leaving you with the handicapped dark-squared Bishop.

4. ... Nf6 instead was the "book" move.

....u can try Rosetta Stone. I heard that one was good.

You should learn to play the Najdorf. It goes like this:

This line is very popular at the grandmaster level. Black does very well.

White has a number of different 6th-move alternatives against the Sicilian Najdorf.

6. Bg5 was very popular back in the 1970s, and is again enjoying a renaissance.

6. Be2 was a favorite of Karpov and Geller.

6. Bc4 was a Fischer favorite.

Nowadays the English Attack (6. f3 intending Be3) is popular.

Even 6. h3 has its adherents.

Depends on whether they want to beat other noobs, or to learn how to play the game. I agree that a 1200 player playing the Najdorf against a stronger opponent should expect to lose.

Once in my life I had a chance to play against Mikhail Tal. I was Black, in a simul. I played the Najdorf.

Draw.

He was just lucky.

@blueemu - wow, you almost beat Tal in simul, congrats!

What have we learned:

1. You have not been playing the Sicilian "for years"  You decided t play it because "Its aggressive"

2. If you are going to play the Sicilian.  learn to play it properly.

3. You need to work on Opening Principles.

4. You need to work on tactics.

5. You need to learn to double check your moves.

Well, I don't claim I'm an expert at this game. Lose some, win some. It happens. Always open to learning more. If I lose, I try to see where I could do better. I thought, for a change, perhaps I could get a 2nd, 3rd, or even more voices who are better than me in on this. It's why I came to the forum in the first place. It was my first time posting, followed all the formatting guidelines, rules, and just gave my thinking on each move in the game. Didn't expect a roast session to come by. My bad then.

And I didn't play it because it's aggressive, I played it because I just liked it better and was more used to it than e5, d5, or the caro-kann.

And I thought I knew my opening basics, things like "control the center", and "develop your minor pieces first."

But yeah. For openings, I guess I'll just play through each variation "in the textbook" and try to understand them.

What do you use for tactics training then? I don't have premium.

Lichess has a tactics trainer with infinite problems for free....my current rating there is 1914, and - given that I've never touched the toenail of a 1900 rating - the "ELO" it gives you is probably inflated. But the puzzles themselves are fine. In a lot of ways, I like them better than the ones here because a lot of the training problems here are all about finding the fastest mate in a position with many different ways to win. Lichess tends to focus more on direct combinations to win material.

For learning your openings, it;s better to look at games rather than textbooks. Quoting Reti (as is my current habit):

"It seems unfortunate that most chess players appreciate only exact variations. The opposite would be more to the point. There is more real chess truth in ideas than in variations. Although these are to be found in black and white in voluminous books of scientific aspect, they are usually after a few short years found to be incorrect. [...] Anyone with a correct understanding of the real intent and meaning of openings need never fear for his game, even without a knowledge of variations."

As then, so now, ideas are better than exact lines. The Sicilian has a fluid pawn structure, so there are a ton of variations named after all the different structures you can combine with different development plans, but that's what it boils down to: A pawn structure you like with the pieces where you like them.

I like the smaller pawn center with e6 and d6 in combination with Be7 and a Q side fianchetto. The textbook calls it a measly "hedgehog" as opposed to a kickass "dragon", but the position fits me.

Pls do everyone a huge favor and don't use Sicilian. Play either e5 or e6.

Unless you play me, cause I'll have to respond with force lightening.

The Sicilian is a counterintuitive opening. It has got a lot of theory. So it is not recommended for beginners. The move 4...e5 makes sense if you follow general opening principles, but it does not fit in this specific Sicilian on move 4. If you wanted to immediately control the centre, you should have played 1..e5. The Sicilian plays out differently.

Improve by quitting the opening Sicilian suks

Don't be upset. Most of the advice is trying to be helpful. Spend a few hours going through a book on the Sicilian and I'll bet you'll start winning more using it.

What i enjoy about "the other sites" tactics, is that you can play through the entire game from the first move to the last.  It helps you get a feel, and understanding of why, and how the tactic developed.

@AlisonHart - thank you for mentioning lichess. I'll confirm that tactics trainer there offers unlimited attempts for free, here on chess.com only 5 tactics to solve a day for freebies. Climbing to ~2200 tactics rating on chess.com took me a few months because of free account limits. Have achieved similar ~2200 tactics rating on lichess much quicker because of no limits there. I hope chess.com would lift the limits a little some day

I also agree with you about Sicilian and playing chess in general, quoting Richard Reti is always the right way

I'll endorse all articles on chess.com have written by IM Jeremy Silman and his books too, of course! I believe that every single untitled chess player would learn a lot from him, starting from his fundamentals, the books: "How to Reassess Your Chess", "The Amateur Mind" and "Silman's Complete Endgame Course". His ideas are priceless, such us 'strategy of imbalances' and 'Silman's thinking technique', according to Wikipedia:

Silman proposes in "How to Reassess Your Chess" a five-fold procedure that he recommends players to use. This procedure is to be followed after checking for tactical threats for both sides.

1. Figure out the positive and negative imbalances for both sides.
2. Figure out the side of the board you wish to play on. You can only play when a favourable imbalance or the possibility of creating a favourable imbalance exists.
3. Don't calculate! Instead, dream up various fantasy positions, i.e., the positions you would most like to achieve.
4. Once you find a fantasy position that makes you happy, you must figure out if you can reach it. If you find that your choice was not possible to implement, you must create another dream position that is easier to achieve.
5. Only now do you look at the moves you wish to calculate (called candidate moves). The candidate moves are all the moves that lead to our dream position.