First of all, it depends which Sicilian you are talking about. Not all of them give White such a hard time. Also, while I agree that the Sicilian is an excellent response, I would say that with best play White retains an advantage vs most. However, you have to discount about 85% of the lines which are suboptimal.
I will give my thoughts on all the stuff that cmsmaster talks about:
The Open Sicilian - Probably the best option, obviously white looks to exploit his inevitably quicker development, but does give up a center pawn for a flank pawn. Like I said, probably best, but definitely requires an insane amount of knowledge, and the White player has to feel at home in positions where both sides have chances.
The Closed - I used to play the Closed with g3 and all that jazz, but don't really get into it now. Too slow, too easy for black to play against. Good for positional players or players who really don't wanna study alot of lines, since White can almost play it like a system. And the plans are easy. White plays on the kingside, black on the opposite flank.
The Grand Prix - I like this option more and more, especially since Alburts new book came out. Not alot of people play this line anymore, and I can honestly say that I have taken some savage beatings on the black side of this line. Interesting, easier to play than the open, and tricky. 5. Bb5 is much better than 5. Bc4, and 2. Nc3 is definitely better than 2. f4, since 2..d5! is at least equal for black.
Smith Morra - No matter how much I want this line to work, it doesn't. For me, I am a little reluctant about donating black a free center pawn. It kills amateurs who have no idea what they are doing though. Personally, I think the line 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cd 3. c3 dc 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bc4 a6! 7. 0-0 Nf6 8. Qe2 Bg4! 9. Rd1 e6 10. Bf4 Qb8! kills the most common way to play as white. Black stops e5, which makes it extremely hard to make progress as white.
Alapin - I have no experience in this line, but I know Tiviakov won alot of games with this line in the Dutch Championship. As a Sicilian player, I rarely see this, and haven't really done alot of work on it. If I didn't like the Grand Prix or Open Sicilians, I would definitely play this.
Originally posted by !~TONY~!Thanks for the response...I agree on everything. I REALLY want to test the Alapin out a couple of times though 🙂.
I will give my thoughts on all the stuff that cmsmaster talks about:
The Open Sicilian - Probably the best option, obviously white looks to exploit his inevitably quicker development, but does give up a center pawn for a flank pawn. Like I said, probably best, but definitely requires an insane amount of knowledge, and the White player has to feel at home ork on it. If I didn't like the Grand Prix or Open Sicilians, I would definitely play this.
Originally posted by exigentskyNah, I only care about tony's response 😛.
While I'm not TONY, I've heard only good things about Play the Sicilian Dragon from GAMBIT. Hope that helps.
Just kidding, I figured with Tony being a "dragon master 😛" he'd be the best to ask, but thanks for the suggestion and I'm gonna go look it up on amazon right now.
Exigentsky is right. The only books that are really recent and accurate enough are probably Martin's "Starting Out: The Dragon" and Dearing's frickin awesome "Play the Sicilian Dragon". If you aren't looking for some heavy reading, then the first is a reasonable survey of pretty much all the options, but really, if you are trying to take up the Dragon seriously, then Dearing's book is the only book worth it. Ward's books are really good, but too old. If you want to see some typical and exciting dragon games, then Wards book is really fun, since all the games are interesting. His coverage of all the other lines except the Yugoslav is probably still good, and incidentally, if you want to see an OTB David Tebb game, he takes on Ward and the book is in there (It's an insane game). Dearing's. It's the only book I really use, along with trying to keep up with the most recent games played in tournies, which I slack on quite badly in fact. 🙂 Good luck to you sir! My recommendation comes with some warning. Once you start playing the Dragon and win some sick games, it's tough to stop.
The Best Sicilian Is The "Chinese Dragon"
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxf3 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rb8!?
Black is gonna push b5 and then play Ne5/Na5-Nc4 or Nxb3.
When Bxc4 comes Black answers: bxc4! and then Attack along the b file.
After b5 a5! is also a move, chasing the Bishop.
FixarN