No rematches with Sicilian openers

After looking at some of your games, i will guarantee that an opening has nothing to do with why osmeone will not grant a rematch.

I play against Sicilian all the time. Everytime I see it, it makes me happy because most players don't actually know any setup of reason behind it they just throw it in to look "cool". And when I do find players who are good at it I can test my super basic setup and just play defense until I see a blunder or a pawn storm. It's a fun opening but it is overplayed alot

I play against Sicilian all the time. Everytime I see it, it makes me happy because most players don't actually know any setup of reason behind it they just throw it in to look "cool". And when I do find players who are good at it I can test my super basic setup and just play defense until I see a blunder or a pawn storm. It's a fun opening but it is overplayed alot

I have played the White side of the Sicilian numerous times in my lifetime, and as Black I've played the Najdorf, Scheveningen, and Taimanov many times along with facing all of the Anti-Sicilians, but that said, in this day and age, I almost never get a Sicilian as I play 1.d4 as White and as Black it's French and Petroff against 1.e4 and King's Indian Defense against 1.d4.

About the only way I end up in a Sicilian is via transposition to the Closed Sicilian via Bird's Opening, which actually happened back in September:

1.f4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 O-O 5.d3 d6 6.O-O c5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.e4.  Move order compared to the game may not be "exact", but this was the position after White's 8th move, and you have a direct transposition to the Closed Sicilian, which I ended up winning.  If I were guaranteed an Anti-Sicilian, I'd play the Sicilian more often, but the Open Sicilian was annoying, which I know is just the opposite of why most avoid the Sicilian!

Yeah that's probably true at your level but your over 500 points ahead of us. The respect for the game and the understanding of the complexity of offbalance positions like the Sicilian probably come more into play. I'm guessing that plays more into why it's not played as much from what you've seen. But at least on here I see it almost every 3 games. Open Sicilian is my game though on the White side because I can get a Scotch like opening which is a formation I'm more comfortable with. And at my level throwing d4 in after seeing c5 is just an reflex. I'll probably get more involved some day when I feel up for studying but currently my games have more to do about minimizing mistakes and playing positional moves rather than opening memorization

Here is an example of what I'm talking about. My opponent came at me with an aggressive play, and I just played defense. Now I'm sure the computer can note things I did wrong and there is probably bad mistakes made by me, but in general at my level this is how I win my games. 

Just basic defense at first (unless an attack is obvious) and try and make the best positionally sound moves I can think of to solidify my positon.

I think one mistake I made was not taking c5 right away but I am not 100% on Sicilian theory, but overall I had a basic plan and acted on it. A lot of people at my level don't come with a plan greater than checkmate the king, I think developing a good plan and sticking to it will help anyone at my level or lower struggling with Sicilian 

SillyChessMoves,

First off, I am shocked that even at say, the 1300 level, that Black doesn't even understanding that he needs to take on d4 on move 3.  Even 1000 players that I know that try to say they know the Dragon (when they really don't) at least know to take on d4 on move 3.

That said, there is a major flaw in your thinking.  You mentioned the Scotch.  There is absolutely no comparison between the Open Sicilian and the Scotch.  Just because White's first 3 moves are the same doesn't make them anything alike.

For example, when Black plays 1...e5, he has already weakened the a2-g8 diagonal.  The same cannot be said for 1...c5 as he still has the move ...e6 available which blocks the a2-g8 diagonal.  Sure 1...c5 does weaken certain diagonals, like a4-e8 and a8-h1, but those are significantly different diagonals than a2-g8 or h4-d8.  For starters, neither weak diagonal in the Sicilian intersects with Black's weakest pawn at the start of the game, f7.  The a2-g8 diagonal does intersect.  Also, the ability to play ...e6 by Black after 1...c5 significantly changes what White must do with his pieces.  Maybe not on move 2, but shortly after that!

Chess is played with 32 pieces, not 16.  It's just like how I, and many others, have repeatedly stated that the French and Queen's Gambit Declined are nothing alike.  The King's Indian and Pirc are nothing alike.  Sure, Black has made the same moves initially in both cases, but in the King's Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O), White has played both c4 and e4, which weakens d4, and hence why Black often attacks the d4 square and gains control of it.  In the Pirc (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7) White has not moved his c-pawn yet, and once he moves the Knight out of the way, he still has the potential to play c3 instead of c4, blunting Black's Dark-Squared Bishop, and removing Black's total dominance of d4.  This is why the King's Indian is seen often at the GM level and rarely the Pirc.  The Pirc is more of an ugly stepsister to the King's Indian.

Same thing goes for White.  Open Sicilian and Scotch Game are like Fresh Apples and Stale Oranges!  (Not saying the Scotch is bad, just emphasizing how different they are!)

A prime example why low rated players need to quit obsessing over openings.  

Well yes people memorize the first 3 to 4 moves of the Sicilian I'm not saying that 1300 level players don't know the basic patterns, but I don't believe that most understand exactly why (like myself).

I don't mean to shock anyone or really speak for everyone as a whole this is just in my personal experiences.

And your right they are fundamentally different, I didn't mean to say they are the same, Its just that for me.

This position

And this position

FEEL the same, not that they play the same but my setup as white defensively is similar and although I cannot play all the same ideas I can with the basic Scotch opening, I am comfortable with whats guarding what and what's being attacked.

That's all I really meant, I do not want to insult the openings by comparing them, but from someone who doesn't have a super sound opening theory knowledge the movement of the pieces and the options I have to defend FEEL similar. It's hard to describe the feeling of an opening but I hope that makes more sense as to what I was thinking.

Hahaha you might be right but I have no idea what a Benoni even is so please forgive any misunderstandings. Like I said I don't study openings very much. 

I studied the heck out of the Scotch and Ruy Lopez when I first started playing and it got me some general ideas, but it took some of the fun out of chess and there was too many variation for me to fully memorize them so I stopped studying and played more just focusing on solid chess. But I still have a ways to go.

Still gotta give SillyChessMoves credit for Queenside castling, an inspired decision.

EDIT: Actually the computer really doesn't like how I played the Sicilian opening in my example I might have to look more into it.

Let's see how many "rematch" complaint threads we can revive.

but, but  ! sicilian or dragon variation? im too much confused.

Depends on how tactically agressive you are.  if youre an agressively tactical player then yes.  But if youre a tactically agressive player then no.  But...If you are a highly tactical player, that likes to play it safe, then maybe.  Also...You need to keep in mind that if youre playing highly agressive, and tactically, then you need to play agressively safe.