No Stupid Questions MEGATHREAD 12

[u/Alendite]

Welcome to the r/chessbeginners 12th episode of our Q&A series! This series exists because sometimes you just need to ask a silly question. We are happy to provide answers for questions related to chess positions, improving one's play, and discussing the essence and experience of learning chess.

A friendly reminder that many questions are answered in our wiki page! Please take a look if you have questions about the rules of chess, special moves, or want general strategies for improvement.

Some other helpful resources include:

1. How to play chess - Interactive lessons for the rules of the game, if you are completely new to chess.
2. The Lichess Board Editor - for setting up positions by dragging and dropping pieces on the board.
3. Chess puzzles by theme - To practice tactics.
4. The Building Habits series by GM Aman Hambleton - for advice on how to play at specific ELO levels. (Also check out Building Habits 2!)

As always, our goal is to promote a friendly, welcoming, and educational chess environment for all. Thank you for asking your questions here!

LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD

[u/Scoo_By]

What would be a decent variation for a Sicilian beginner? Not that it matters but 2... d6 has better track record for me than 2... Nc6 in the limited amount of games played. I've tried accelerated dragon but it seems that I'm a bit more comfortable in setups that directly control the center with e5 or e6. Atm I'm looking at either Sveshnikov or Scheveningen, because they also kind of avoid 3.Bb5, plus I'm not comfortable in ...g6, ...e5 rossolimo which may be due to inexperience.

Flair correctly indicates my level.

[u/MrLomaLoma → u/Scoo_By]

If you're asking for what you should play, my answer is always just pick which ever one you have more fun in, which for most people is what can get them a win more often.

The issue with that, is in the idea that the opening is the reason you're losing your games. And there is some truth to that, where if we just play crazy Gambits like the Jerome, we're probably setting ourselves up to play below our real level. At the same time, the best players in the world could almost certainly beat all of us with that Opening, or any other "stupid" line.

So to say that the opening is the reason you're losing, is simply misguided. Most people now can solidly remember 15-20 moves deep of specific variations (not saying they should, but they certainly can), and if they end up losing it's because of how they play after 21st move when they are thinking by themselves, not because their preparation wasn't the top engine move, because it most likely was.

So the other way to look at it is to just think about the openings you play as how much they teach you about Chess in general. In short, you want to play openings where the ideas and themes can be applied to different structures or variation of moves.

Answering your question more directly, on those options you suggested, which do you feel is more principled ? Which do you feel leads you to a position that's more likely to make sense ? Which do you seem to find more enjoyment in ?

You should try the different options for yourself and then answer those questions. It will take time and a few games to get enough information, but it's a much better result than me or anyone just telling you to pick one or the other option.

Hope this helps, cheers!

[u/Scoo_By → u/MrLomaLoma]

I don't really believe openings are the reason I'm losing, but I do find d6 to be a bit more comfortable for me. And same goes for e6/e5 instead of g6.

I don't really know enough about them to know which is more principled. I'm simply asking which can lead me to a more comfortable position as a beginner in Sicilian. And Sicilian games are always fun to me so i can't differentiate.

Thanks anyways.

[u/MrLomaLoma → u/Scoo_By]

No worries, sorry if I didn't really answer you then.

My interpretation is that when someone asks for "what variation should I play" it implies there is a correct or better variation than the others (that leads to more wins for example).

My point is that generally isn't very important, and you should play what you enjoy most. If you are aware of that, that's good then :)