Please help with Sicilian

Hello!

I've played the English for 3+ years now. I play the 1.c4 e5 2.g3 variation, and was wondering if I should consider playing the Sicilian as black.

So should I play the Sicilian? I know 1.c4 e5 2.g3 is like a Reversed Sicilian, but what do you think? And if so, what variation of the Sicilian should I play? I have always been irrationally opposed to learning the Sicilian due to the vast amounts of theory required, but I am willing to give the Sicilian a try.

For instance, should I play the variation below (I don't know what it is called, in fact I know NO Sicilian theory.) I would only consider playing the variation below because it is just like 1.c4 e5 2.g3 but a tempo behind.

Please give me your thoughts on whether (1) I should play the Sicilian (2) What variation I should play (that is most similar to 1.c4 e5 2.g3 OR the one you most highly recommend) and (3) Should I play the diagrammed line shown above? Thanks in advance!

Please do me a favor and help me out!

You should try out your thoughts in a few semi-slow casual games. Yes, you may blunder and lose, BUT it would give you some experience on playing the position and what not to do. What better teacher than experiance? Then you can look up the line and see where you have veered off from what is considered the main line.

I suggest you try different things out. My friend who play the English exclusively as white had always played a Pirc/Modern setup as black with a delayed c5.

Thanks much to both of you!

@cornbeefhashvili: Very nice name! Quite funny. I like your suggestion about playing from experience. I guess I will play a couple games with the Hyper-Accelerate Dragon (ala Stavros_34) and see how I fare.

@Stavros_34: You give excellent advice. I am however ~1710 on chess.com Standard (which is practically the only type of games I played) and have made as high as ~1800. People told me the same thing you told me about playing center games, so for the last year or so I have implemented 1.e4 into my repetoire. I play 1...d5 as black (against e4) but want to try something new. Thanks much for your advice! I really appreciate the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon recommendation.

People, may you please give me more feedback/answer to my questions please? The more people that answer me, the better understanding I will have!

Like I say to my adult students (give lessons in my club on sunday from 10am to noon) I dont really like to give openingsadvise because everybody is different. I like this opening, you like that opening, you have such playing style, I have a different one, ... . So openings are a personal choice and so the discovery of an opening must be personal aswell.

Just dont learn the moves by heart, try to understand the plan(s) behind each and every move. There are enough people who know the theory by heart (and have lets say a 2000 opening elo) but once you side step the openingmoves they dont know what to do anymore (and there rating drops to a 1400 middlegame elo).

So find an opening you like, it may be the sicilian, thats for you to explore. I will not help with openings for the above stated reason. Another reason could be is that I do not know the sicilian opening so me giving advise at something I dont know nothing about ... .

Anyway, good luck with your exploration in new opening land!