Is the Sicilian meant for chess experts only?

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12 days ago

#1121

Gamificast wrote:

I have become a better player over the past few years, but I still shy away from Sicilians due to the massive amount of theory and preparation required.

I believe that my record with the Sicilian is worse than with my other preferential moves against 1. e4. This is despite the fact that I have read that 1... c5 is Black's best scoring response to White's 1. e4. So does this mean that you need to be of a certain skill level to play 1... c5 successfully?

Yes, of course it does. The Sicilian can be tactically very sharp but mainly it's very positional. In the open lines, black has an extra central pawn in return for development, which obviously demands posiitional skill which beginners haven't developed yet. Then, there are many different ways in which white can avoid the open lines. Finally, each open line has quite a number of dangerous replies.