Totally confused by sicilian defense as a beginner? I don't get it?

Hello everyone,

I have no professional knowledge of chess and all the rating points I have gained so far is with no understanding of sicilian. So I thought may be try to learn this and try it for the first time. Then I checked some forum posts in this, and people say I'm a dragon player and nadrof player etc. I looked at the dragon variation and I liked it, so I started playing it in a few games, and I don't understand how can you be a dragon player when no one plays the open sicilian with me (even worse even if white plays d4, white will grab the pawn with queen and not enter open sicilian very confusing to me). Then I realised some of these players who are calling them dragon players, play the exact dragon moves even if open siclian lines by white is not played. Now isn't this wrong to play the exact same dragon moves whatever the opposition player plays, I thought you should play it only if open sicilian occurs. Also where do I find a youtube video describing what to play in the sicilian if white doesn't respond with open siclian response, all these videos on siclian show the variation assuming white will always play open sicilian and online players are playing everything except the open sicilian so how can you test your dragon moves etc. So basically if I like dragon variation is it ok for me to play dragon moves if white doesn't respond with open sicilian, if not what the heck should I play. Sorry if I make no sense, I'm totally confused by sicilian. Please shed some light. Thank you.

#1
"if white plays d4, white will grab the pawn with queen"
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Qxd4 is a viable side line.

"isn't this wrong to play the exact same dragon moves whatever the opposition player plays"
Against most sidelines you can do that

Once again we have to summon old master Michael Stean. It's 42 years old! Could be written yesterday.

"Minority attacks derive from the Pawn structure, Pawn structures derive from the opening. Go back to the eras of Capablanca and Alekhine and you will see Queen's Gambits, hoards of them, with hoards of minority attacks descending from them. Nowadays [1978; still relevant] the Sicilian Defense is all the rage. Sicilians here, Sicilians there, Sicilians absolutely everywhere. Why this saturation with Sicilians? Does the Mafia's influence really extend this far? The answer lies in the minority attack. The whole idea of the Sicilian is for Black to trade his c Pawn for the d Pawn. White almost invariably obliges: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (or d6 or e6 or g6) 3.d4 cxd4, when Black immediately arrives at a minority attack Pawn structure. Half-open c file, extra central pawn, 2-3 minority on the Queenside; these are all the necessary ingredients. Sounds infallible, so where's the snag? Why doesn't Black win every game? The problem is of course that White has a lead in development in the early stages, which may prove difficult to survive. Black's prospects lie later in the game when the winds of White's initiative have blown themselves out."
The structural weaknesses White accepts because he is trying to avoid Black's plan to launch a minority attack to get a winning endgame and must attack. They are not the cause of Black having winning endgames (otherwise White wouldn't weaken his position in such a way); merely they are a symptom of him having to attack the Black King. The root cause of this is the minority attack, and this is why most Sicilian endgames are winning for him. The minority attack is also a theme in any Rook endgames, so it's not just a late middlegame idea."

#2, Hungarian variation (4. Qxd4) was a pet line of mine for some decades. Successfully. :D

Yeah, this is one of the downsides of playing the Sicilian IME. A lot of e4 players are terrified of playing into their opponent's preparation (which you may not even have in reality) in a mainline open Sicilian, so as a Sicilian player you spend half your time playing against sidelines.

Andras Toth has some nice videos on YouTube about playing against some of the major "anti-Sicilian" systems (Alapin, Smith-Morra, Wing Gambit, Grand Prix Attack), although they're fairly theory-heavy and assume the opponent is actually using a prepared anti-Sicilian line and not just improvising. Against even less well trodden stuff - generic "closed Sicilian" type things - the general idea seems to be that white isn't threatening enough that you need much more than general principles to get a good game. Develop, pressure the centre, expand on the queen's side, castle etc.

The other option is to stop playing the Sicilian - which to be honest, I'm giving serious thought to.

By the way, your post would be a lot more readable (and might get more answers) if you broke it up into paragraphs a bit - it seems kind-of stream-of-consciousness as it is.

Welcome to the exciting world of the Sicilian, where you'll get to play the variation you've spent some many hours of diligent research on, half the time if your opponent even knows what they're doing!

Yes, that was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it's true. There's no way to force the variation you want to play as White has so many sidelines to take. Quite simply, if White knows you want to play a certain line, he/she is under no obligation to entertain that, and many will divert away from playing into a line that's double-edged and that they expect you to know better, thus nullifying the advantage they perceive you might have, especially when other variations exist that are playable and that they may have prepared. One thing that I find amusing at the amateur level is how many players will complain about not getting to play their main line as Black, but are reluctant to do so, themselves, as White.

That being said, the Sicilian is a great defense and Black has excellent counter-play in all lines. In terms of ideas and themes, as @Sarg0n said, it is important to understand the pawn structures as these will determine where the weaknesses, potential outposts, and lines for activity exist. The Sicilian game is incredibly complex and can be difficult to understand the positions and see tactical opportunities on the board. For a good (general) intro into the ideas, use this reference here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawn_structure

As @RamblinDave said too, there's always the option of playing something else... like the 'Small Sicilian' (1.e4 c6) or the 'Delayed Sicilian' (1.e4 e6)...

I kinda wish less people would play the french/Sicilian/Caro-Kann and play more gambits it would make life interesting once in a while...

Hello everyone, thanks for all the responses

@Sarg0n : Thanks for the response. Indeed relevant for today. Do you think I should then switch to Caro kann or french, rather than trying to learn sicilian, because I don't understand this minory attack concepts.

@RamblinDave :Thanks for the response. Yeah I agree with you. I'm also thinking of switching. Yeah you are right I wrote this post in haste because I was frustrated, now editing time has expired, will do next time.

@Mezmer : Thanks for the response I'll check that. Do you think it is better to learn caro kann or french instead.

@tpr : Thanks for the response. Also now I feel nadjrof suits me better. Is it ok for me to play this line against all the sidelines. even if it is not open siiclian

Seriously someone should make a video on how to play the sicilian, if white plays like an italian game with sicilian. With normal chess player who are not professionals and have not studied chess most will try to play there normal italian/giuoco piano line against this, any video to punish this. I mean there are videos on how to handle anti sicilians like alapine, rossolimo, grand prix, smith morra. But no video on how most people who don't know theory will play against it like an italian line.

@sameerawije - both are good, it's a matter of preference. If you want to play the Sicilian, that's good too, you just have to be willing to accept that White can deviate (as they can in *any* line). As to learning what to play against them, that will come with experience - play according to fundamental opening principles and evaluate the positions when you don't know what to do, and then analyse the game afterwards and identify what you could have done better in the opening, and compare it to master level games to see what ideas they have.

#7
You should not switch openings like you switch underwear. Pick one and stick to it so as to accumulate experience. If you constantly change, then you will never understand.
Najdorf is even more complicated than Dragon. Dragon is more natural: you play ...d6 to open the diagonal for Bc8 and you play ...g6 to fianchetto Bf8. Both have enormous amounts of theory as both have been heavily played on top level.
Many beginners play the Bowdler attack with Bc4 against the Sicilian, as it is quite natural. World Champion Adolf Anderssen used to play like that too. As black you cannot punish anything white plays.
www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001357
www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001427

Hey here is one game I played today. I only learned nadroj for like 2 days and I held on as much as I could with this 2000 player, then crumbled and lost. Did I play allright in the spirit of nadrojf or I should quit this defense and learn something else. What should I have done better. Thanks



Points from this game

1. When both sides castled king side, I was shocked at his pawn advancenment from the king side, since we are both have castled same side I didn't expect. Is this common in nadrof that after white has castled same side as black it will advance its pawns.
2. Also in another game today we both castled same king side, but they sacrificed some of their pieces like bishops on my castled side and exposed my king and won.