What do you think of my line against the Sicilian, (5. Qe2)

What are your thoughts?

5. Qe2 is a very awkward move in terms of development. Sure, white can play g3 and Bg2 to develop the bishop, but black can quickly play e5, and white's pawn on e4 makes the bishop on g2 bad and inactive. It forces white to use an extra move to develop the light squared bishop, and it also delays queenside piece development, because there is no immediate Nc3 like there would be in the main line.

As an example line, after Qe2, 5... e5 6. Nf3 (or Nb3) Be7 7. g3 O-O 8. Bg2 Nc6 black has a lead in development because only the light squared bishop is not developed, whereas white still has to castle, and figure out what to do with the knight and bishop on b1 and c1. The engine agrees that white is worse, giving -0.3 at depth 27 after 8... Nc6

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I think you're blocking your bishop in an open position.

this is the idea lichess.org/CgTAVpV1

And a terribly slow idea it is too (whether you agree with yourself or not). ;)

@Serial_Checkmater C'mon, don't use a comp for the first 10 moves... ;)

Interesting.
What if e5 right away, though? That seems a bit awkward for White.

I also think the principled answer would be e5 by black, because white has given up control of the crucial d5-square by playing Qe2, where the play in these structures usually revolves around. Meaning, if white doesn't do anything drastic, I will just go e5->Be7->0-0->Nc6->d5 as black and I'll be happy. I think the position is probably equal but I wouldn't be too scared as black if I just prevent this e4-c4-bind by white. Getting d5 in this early as black is usually a sign that whites opening was suboptimal.

I recomand this book to all sicilian player:
amzn.to/3cg1Vto