Sicilian Vs 1..e5

So it came down to the Sicilian vs 1…e5. I wantde to take my time figuring out which would best suit my style, and gives me the most/best opportunities for a win. In the past when choosing an opening to play against 1.d4 I made the mistake of rushing to experiment with many different replies for black. The problem with this method, at least for me given my time constraints, was that I tended to assess positions at a superficial level, and didn’t get to spend enough time looking at early strange, yet ok deviations for white, hoping that in practical play I would arrive at positions very similar to theoretical positions. I remember vividly some of my defeats in my experimental phase with black against 1.d4, and definitely wasn’t about to repeat the same learning method with 1.e4. I suppose this method could work if you had enough free time to deeply study each of the experimental openings, but sadly I don’t. This time there is less variety, but more depth.


The one obvious drawback with 1…e5 is that at club level it is much more popular than 1…c5, and my opponents, on average, are going to be more comfortable in the middle game positions – this also means you probably have to spend more time learning longer lines of theory than the Sicilian (at master level I think Sicilian is a lot more theoretical, requiring much more time learning book lines). But the main problem with 1..e5 is that I just don’t enjoy the middle game positions (assuming I play a non-risky opening). This was the reason I decided to play the Scandinavian all those years back (as well as benefits of learning less theory), and even though my chess has changed considerably since then, I still don’t like 1…e5 positions for the same reason. I think it’s because black lacks an extra pawn on the kingside – probably the same reason I went from 1.e4 to 1.d4 all those years ago. The extra pawn makes my king feel safer.

There are strong players/masters who strongly recommend 1..e5 for lower rated players, and to definitely not touch the Sicilian until you become a strong player. I came across many interesting arguments for and against an open Sicilian at this great forum  http://www.chesspublishing.com/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1117345342 – but at the end, after carefully considering pro/con arguments, I decided that I would take up the Sicilian challenge.