As white, I play 1. e4 and then:
- Tarrach variation against the French (3. Nd2),
- Open Sicillian against c5 (Yugoslav against the Dragon and as Yugoslav-like against other Sicillian variants as I can)
- Italian or Spanish against e5. I'm more comfortable in the Italian, but I'm beginning to see that 3. Bb5 is slightly better
- against other defenses, I basically just put the pawns on e4 and d4, the knights on f3 and c3 and then decide what to do with the bishops based on where the other guy's pieces are
As black, I play the open Sicillian/Dragon against e4 and against closed Sicillian openings I still fianchetto the dark bishop and play d6, even if that's not officially called the Dragon.
Against c4 or d4 I usually play the KID, though I'm toying with switching to the Dutch Leningrad (in honor of Henrik Danielson a/k/a Krakkaskak a/k/a the Polar Bear) and because in the KID you're gonna try to put the pawn on f5 eventually anyway, so why not do it while the knight is still minding its own business on g8? I also tried the Benko recently once after I watched a Josh Waitzkin video about a Benko game, with some success (Game 5953349). But, I don't really feel comfortable enough to try it against strong players yet.
Originally posted by DeepThoughti've never understood what compels a person to play f6. i don't mind it when they do though. but once i played two games against the same person in a matter of weeks, and they played f6 both times. and were brutalised both times. i don't get it.
When playing as white I´m always pleased to see my opponent play Damiano´s defence.
Originally posted by DeepThoughtlol 🙂 Well, 3. ... Qe7 is not a complete disaster, but somehow the opponents that played it against me always played fxe5... only to be mated a couple moves later. One opponent actually managed 2 times to be mated in the exact same way on move 7.
When playing as white I´m always pleased to see my opponent play Damiano´s defence.