e5 or c5?

I play e5 because I like to play the Traxler(its rare when i get to) and I also like to play the Marshall against the Ruy(again its rare, tho not as rare as the Traxler)

I play both e5 and c5 regularly these days. Although it depends a little bit on your style, I recommend trying to learn the Sicilian.

Against higher rated players, its definitely harder to play for a win with e5, but it is more solid.

I've always found the closed sicilian (without white playing d4) easy to play against weaker players. Just do the Nc6, Ne7, Bg7 development and expand in the center or the queenside, and play f5 to stop whites kingside attack. Works against a wide variety of set-ups and even if white doesn't follow any typical book lines. This alone was worth a lot of victories when i was a junior.

The open Sicilian is where you need to learn the book lines, which can be complex and difficult to understand. One pretty straightforward variation is the Sveshnikov (1 e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5). there are too many wide gambit lines and black gets good play quickly if white plays passively.

I switched from e5 to c5 and have seen a marked increase in my wins as black. I play 1.d4, 1...g6, and 1...c5. For me anything else seems uncomfortable and cumbersome. I like the flow of these openings.

Originally posted by paulbuchmanfromfics
With the Sicilian, you are basically playing the English Opening a tempo down. Players that would never even open with 1.c4 don't realise that they are doing just that.

After cxd4, black has gained an extra central pawn. In a lot of the variations, he has a backward pawn on d6 and on e6. This is part of the looseness I was talking about. ...[text shortened]... ionally that it is not the best move.

I know a lot of my stuff overlapped yours. 🙂