Whenever I watch Lichess TV, and someone chooses sicilian defense, I know he is going to loose, even if he is higher rated.
Me too, I face a lot of dangerous surprises from white when I try sicilian, and most of the time I loose. But its strange that the top players still play this difficult defense, even though its easier for white to find the moves.
Do you thing sicilian defense is worthy to be played? Why people say its the most agressive defense, while black only suffers?
Why dont you check the statistics:
www.365chess.com/opening.php?m=2&n=3&ms=e4&ns=3after c5 black wind 34% of the games and adter e5 only 29%.
So c5 gives black more winning chances due to asymmetry. Less draws obviously. When I used to play I suffered with it. Obviosuly you have create some sort of repertoire for it.
Sicilian usually is riskier, but it gives black more chances to win too. It creates imbalanced positions. Top GMs use it frequently when they need the win.
I'm no expert but I find the sicilian to be a really solid opening. From observation white usually (for me) ends up with a lead in development in the early stages of the game but it can make for dynamic positions with chances to win for black. There's plenty of ways it can go wrong but you could say the same about any opening. The sicilian was the first opening for black that I learnt and I almost always use it because it's just a lot of fun to play.
If you want to keep transposing 1.e4 ... then here are some related openings:
Each have 201 related openings ...
1.e4 d6
1.e4 Nh6
1.e4 h5
1.e4 b5
Each have 80 related openings ...
1. e4 c5
1. e4 e5
It has 20 related openings ...
1.e4 e6
It has 10 related openings ...
1.e4 c6
It has 4 related openings ...
1.e4 Nf6
It has 3 related openings ...
1.e4 g6
At the look of it, the rest of the possible responses to 1.e4 ... only have one related opening name.
Only the best players could say why they pick a category of openings that fit in the 80 related openings, rather than the 201 related openings.
Maybe it's to reduce the response options.
The stronger players play the Sicilian so as to have a chance to win with black. If a weaker white player wants to draw, he can more easily get to the draw in the open games than in the Sicilian. If you are a top grandmaster and you want to win a tournament, then you have to beat the weaker players when you play black.
@GentjanLici : I doubt this. Or I don’t know it. Probably you should better take a look at some publications from Chess Informant before you jump to a conclusion. See
www.sahovski.com/ Regards.
Small number statistics?
FWIW, Sicilian has 47% win rate for White and 47% for Black across 8 million games played by players rated 2000+ on Lichess. At this rating level, Sicilian and Caro Kann perform best against e4 among the most common openings (and e5 is actually the worst reply among common openings).
Hi! I played the Sicilian against you but you beat me good
