Sicilian Variations Tier List

Another out of curiosity post. I heard that the Najdorf and sveshnikov are supposed to be top tier but idk about the other s

Scheveningen and Dragon are both well-known systems, but are perhaps not quite as solid as the Najdorf and the Shveshnikov.

Ik it's all fine for us I'm just curious how theyd be classified into tiers based on top level practice

I normally play the dragon but I’ve been slowly changing to the najdorf. 

The Scheveningen has fallen out of fashion due to the Keres attack 6. g4! I personally do not like the dragon because the yugoslav attack just crushes you unless you know all the theory. Even then, you only get a drawn position. The Sicilian taimanov is the only other sicilian I can think is used at the top level. 

I personally love the kan and the dragon with a6.

I recommend playing taimanov and kan as they are very solid

The only issue with kan is that we attack on all sides and we just don't put the king in the corner.

I like schveningen too

Rather than asking the question "which variation is best?" you should ask what are the characteristics of the different variations, and which match your style / aspirations. I'll show you my notes...

They're long notes but I'll just copy/paste them for your benefit.

1) Taimanov/Kan hybrid (Nc6 + a6) - can lead to completely chaotic positions. you have a solid pawn structure often times if they trade off the knights. And so you can often equalize very quickly by pushing d5. but you won't always push d5 if white plays it right. the positions where you don't push d5 are whole-board positions, and are more theoretical. you can get backed up, and when that happens you have to break out, and things can be messy. But amidst the chaos there's opportunity for black, and these lines are not very well known below high elo.

2) Accelerated Dragon - much more legit than the hyperaccelerated dragon, it's a completely viable alternative to the dragon. some variations can get pretty messy, however black is still okay in all of them. most importantly it allows you to avoid the yugoslav. you can push d5 in one move in many cases and you can just get a good position. biggest downside is you must face the anti-sicilians of old sicilian, i.e. rossolimo / closed sicilian w/ Nc6

3) Four Knights - can be a very attacking sicilian. you bring the knights out quickly and often push d5 with tempo. pinning whites knight on c3 will often allow you to get d5 in. The only difficulty the four knights encountrs is via 2 specific move orders - with Ndb5 you can be forced to either go into a sveshnikov or to play a suboptimal line. however the four knights can also be a way of reaching the sveshnikov while avoiding the rossolimo. Then with the immediate Nxc6, probably the most challenging line, you get a position that's actually pretty dynamic / messy, objectively it's on par with the Rossolimo but I think you'll have a better experience advantage here, and the position quite interesting. If I were going to play the Sveshnikov I'd probably reach it via the Four knights

4) Classical - a somewhat offbeat sicilian that's also sound and generally very underestimated. 
if white doesn't play the main line rauzer you often just get an ideal setup... your setup is very aggressive due to the knight on c6. in the richter-rauzer lines, even though your pawn structure may be compromised or you may be down a pawn (depending on the line you choose), 
you still have significant counterplay. you can also just study the richter-rauzer itself very deeply because that's the only line you have to worry very much about. but in most of the classical lines it's just going to be easy equality. 
in most lines you just get the perfect attacking sicilian setup.

5) Taimanov bastrikov - if you want to throw off the opponent this is a very good way to do it. 
Not only is it an offbeat sicilian but it also brings the queen out, and the variations increase in size complexity very quickly as a result. the only thing about it is your queen can get backed up in some lines and that's kind of uncomfortable. you have to make sure the queen doesn't get trapped, and in some lines you even trade the queen for 3 pieces, resulting in a crazy position. overall it can be tough if white really knows what he's doing, but that's very rare. Generally a good option for a club play or as an off weapon.

6) Lowenthall - another very attacking sicilian, more tactical than others. The lines are also pretty forcing. it's not as objectively sound as the sveshnikov but it's a little more offbeat. but it can also transpose into the sveshnikov with a little extra effort. but otherwise, just playing the lowenthall, it's a way of minimizing the theory you need to learn while still getting a nice tactical sicilian.

7) Nimzowitsch - people act as if there's a very hard counter in main line, but this actually isn't true... the main line can be played reliably if you study the line deeply, it's even objectively better than the yugoslav. This can be a good off weapon, maybe not a main weapon but especially in online play, when it isn't expected, the opponent often has no idea how to handle these strange knight maneuvers, and you often just get an edge in the opening as a result. I generally think of this as an improved alekhines, many of the positions have a hypermodern tone to them. One of the biggest selling points of this sicilian is it avoids most anti-sicilians, since it begins on move 2.

8) Najdorf - so it's very theoretical, and commonly played sicilian. It's also a more defensive and positional sicilian, a6 is not an attacking move, it's a theoretical move that keeps the balance and refrains from committing to a setup. This is going to be the most equal and objectively sound sicilian. there are alot of different variations you have to learn with this, like 10 or so, and they're all pretty theoretical. but if you learn the vast amount of theory it's quite good. there are many attacks white can launch but at the same time there's always a way of holding off the attack.

9) Scheveningen - this is a very underplayed line. people assume the g5 pawn advance can't be dealt with but if you study it you're capable of hanging on. Almost no one actually knows the theory here. you do have to know precise theory not only for the keres but for the English setup which also requires careful navigating. however if you know the theory you will hang on and you can achieve equality in practice. there are also going to be some attacking opportunities, because this is a sicilian that focuses on development. Note that there are actually two ways of reaching the Schveneningen - via the french sicilian or via the modern (d6). The french sicilian is more played, here you can delay Nf6 a bit and play Nc6 first, this deals a little better with the Keres. I wouldn't write the Scheveningen off but I probably wouldn't use it in a tournament setting as a main weapon, in online play it's very viable.

10) Dragon - in this line you'll often find the kingside comes under attack. While the yugoslav doesn't appear to be objectively very good for black, the dragon is not refuted by any means, 
and infact black is scoring well in the yugoslav. Probably because the yugoslav is the only really challenging line for the dragon, so black can just focus very heavily on learning the theory and out theorize the opponent. It's similar to the classical in this respect. And this makes it very practical for online play / for the club player. For white to maintain the engine edge in the yugoslav it's a very long sequence of moves, black can just play this until the opponents knowledge of theory is depleted. And once you can deal with the yugoslav attack everything else is quite easy to deal with for the dragon. The bishop on g7 is more active than on e7, most other lines are a breeze to deal with.

11) Sveshnikov - very tactical, attacking sicilian. It's a completely crazy attack, but it's also very theoretical. Here the effort is really to try to out-theorize the opponent in these sharp tactical lines. Allows black to play a very attacking style of chess. However you have to tolerate some very dubious positions especially with your king exposed. Overall it's alot of theory and it puts alot of burden on the opponent to know all that theory. A good option for players who like this kind of line.

12) Hyperaccelerated Dragon - your goal is generally to transpose into the dragon through another move order while avoiding the yugoslav. this line is a little dubious and often requires you to play very sharply to hang on. that said if black knows the lines very well he can hang on. 
but overall it's an unusual offbeat opening which transposes back into a mainline opening while avoiding most anti-sicilians. basically you end up needing both theory from the dragon and all this sharp theory for the hyperaccelerated dragon, but you avoid many anti-sicilians.
By comparison, the accelerated dragon has to tolerate some difficult anti-sicilians (rossolimo), and the dragon has to face the yugoslav, so it's a tradeoff. I think I actually prefer the dragon since you can just buckle down and study the yugoslav, but it's worth experimenting with each of these and deciding.

13) Kan - some of the lines against the kan are quite sharp on black, and you have to know the theory well. but if you know the theory well, with the right maneuvers, you can fight for equality. what you'll get out of it is a very theoretical sicilian that's not very common, 
so it puts pressure on white to know his theory.