This is a great topic.
As White:
1. c4, Nf3, b3, or g3.
As Black:
Against 1. e4:
Pirc!
Against 1. d4:
Modern Benoni, and I am gonna start with the Benko.
Against 1. c4
Modern/Pirc Setup...Symmetrical. As well against most of the oddball moves.
These are the positions that I think I play best, and feel really comfortable in.
One of the reasons I play here,is to try out openings,so I pretty much play anything.Though with white,always 1.e4,currently aiming for an Italian game,when facing sicilian,I go for the Bb5 lines,vs french I have tried just about every possible line(god,I hate the french),and vs anything else I just use my common sense,develop quickly and try to play active chess.Or I look up some intrsting lines in a book,and try one of those.
As black,vs 1.e4,I'm currently trying out the Caro-Kann,have tried the ruy too,but don't like it,otherwise just e5 and see what white does.
Against 1.d4,for the moment Nf6,hoping to play nimzo,with the budapest gambit as surprise weapon,if white plays something I don't know,use common sense or look up in a book.
All that may change at any given time.
Excellent idea,this thread 🙂
Originally posted by gambit3No, I'm not being very nice.
You are not being very nice. There is no need to start or continue some trouble.
And you are right. There is no need to start or continue trouble, but he will do it anyway.
Let a jerk have his way, and he will continue being a jerk.
I think everybody needs to be careful here. Obviously, mateulose is looking for opening ideas that are guaranteed to give him a win, and if you post one and he plays it, and loses, he's likely to go on another rampage whining about what a rotten idea you gave him, and claim his loss is all your fault.
Just be aware...
Originally posted by dpressnellHe does seem to be his own worst enemy.
I think everybody needs to be careful here. Obviously, mateulose is looking for opening ideas that are guaranteed to give him a win, and if you post one and he plays it, and loses, he's likely to go on another rampage whining about what a rotten idea you gave him, and claim his loss is all your fault.
Just be aware...
Originally posted by mateuloseThat bit about the English is just complete crap. In no way shape or form will a symmetrical position where white moves first be in blacks favor. Have you ever seen Tony Kosten's stats when he uses the English. I remember reading something by him where he was mad because he lost his first game in a year or two with the English. That is a hell of a streak, not losing a game in an "inferior" opening for that long. BTW, Kasparov can do that to anyone. I can't believe you said that. It's ridiculous!
White:
Play 1.d4 then c4 Queen's Gambit. Usually I end up playing some slav/QGD or KID. I avoid playing e4, as I hate the French, and it can transpose to that easily if you play e4.
Black:
Against e4, Sicilian Taimanov, hard to refute, even in closed Sicilians or Rossolimo attacks. Sometimes I throw in the Center Counter game to mix things up, I ...[text shortened]... how Kasparov demolished and checkmated ppl in 20 moves when they played the English against him!
well, lets see...
as white:
King's Gambit. Duh. 🙂 And I usually try some sort of thin-on-actual-theory (ie. I know about 3 moves in) rossolimo against sicilian, and the winnawer or advance against french. The only other response to e4 I face with any regularity is the caro, where I don't play any specific lines. Those rare occasions when someone plays the pirc against me, I gun for the austrian attack and usually blow myself up.
As black:
against e4: I'm actually getting pretty sold on the najdorf.
against d4: either dutch leningrad, some other dutch, modern benoni or, in certain very select situations, albin.
against c4 or Nf3: f5 usually makes it transpose into normal dutch lines
against anything else develop normally, and don't play any "line" as such.
As white d4. If it's QGA the e3 variation. If it's QGD the Orthodox variation hopefully aiming for Rubinstein type setups. If it's KID then the four pawns attack. If it's the Nimzo Indian, well it won't be because after e6 I play g3 to move to the Catalan.
As black against e4 it's Sicilian Dragon or the Qb6 Sicilian. Against d4 it's the KID. Against f4 (yes I have faced it enough times to have a plan) e5 going towards the From Gambit. Against c4, Nf6 and hope they play d4 so I can get to some known territory.
It's true that knowing a whole bunch of openings by rote is useless. I find I get a balance by learning the basic moves then playing the opening. Then when I lose I go back and see where I left the opening book. This is the first move I look at to see if it was bad. Say in the KID I quickly learnt that Nc6 is bad and that Nbd7 is much better. You quickly learn the squares that your pieces should occupy and the plans that come up often.
Originally posted by dpressnellFrankly, I don't know what brought about this response. All that was asked was what openings one plays. No matter what you want to believe, whether or not one memorized line of moves or not, one does play an opening, and generally the same ones. For years when I first began playing, I played the Ruy Lopez even though I did not recognize it as such. I was just the moves I made when I played. I then picked up Reinfeld's and Horowitz's "How To Think Ahead in Chess," which was my first exposure to opening theory. For a long time I used their suggestions (Stonewall for white, the Scicilian and Lasker's Defense for black). I found that opening study did help to a certain extent, if for no reason that it does help in learning opening principles. If one limits study to memorizing line with no understanding of why one makes a particular move, then yes, it is a waste. However, I'd say one will "always suck at chess" if one does not at least undertake some study of openings
You will always suck at chess, because you think that to get better at chess, all you have to do is memorize a bunch of moves out of a book.
You are not smart enough to realize that chess is more than that, and when you opponent plays a move you haven't memorized, you are lost and you come here complaining that you lost because your opponent is not as smart as you.
With that, here are my openings.
As white, I play the Reti and the English, with the occasional Nizmo-Larsen thrown in for variety.
Against e4, I play the Nimzovich Defense or the Pirc, with the occasional Alekhine Defense..
Against d4, I play the King's, Queen's, and the Nizmo-Indian Defense (Mostly the Nizmo).
Against everything else I play the Modern.
I know, these aren't the "best" openings, but I have fun with them.
As white i play D4 then playing either the colle, stonewall or the torre attack. As black against E4 I play the scandinavian and against D4 i play a random mix depending on how im feeling which is either, the benoni/benko, budapest gambit, or the benoni where you lay NE4 after they play D5. Think its called the turkey attack.
Btw this is a pretty interesting topic.
Originally posted by mateuloseWhite:
White:
Play 1.d4 then c4 Queen's Gambit. Usually I end up playing some slav/QGD or KID. I avoid playing e4, as I hate the French, and it can transpose to that easily if you play e4.
Black:
Against e4, Sicilian Taimanov, hard to refute, even in closed Sicilians or Rossolimo attacks. Sometimes I throw in the Center Counter game to mix things up, I ...[text shortened]... how Kasparov demolished and checkmated ppl in 20 moves when they played the English against him!
Simply 1. e4. I tend to like games that have patient positional build-ups before exploding in tactics and the Ruy fits my taste. Most non 1. ... e5 replies are usually a French or a Sicilian, so I've developed some play against these. Against the Sicilian Dragon, in particular, I've had reasonable success in the past with the Yugoslav Attack. I used to play the French for a long time, so I'm not particularly uncomfortable with those games either.
Black:
To 1. e4 - simply 1. ... e5. In the Ruy, I tend to play the Arkangel a lot. Most other games end up as Pianos.
To 1. d4 - as of now, the NID. This is one area of my repertoire I need to work on.
To 1. c4 - usually 1. ... e5.
Originally posted by mateuloseExcellent thread! One of the most interesting ones I have ever seen
White:
Play 1.d4 then c4 Queen's Gambit. Usually I end up playing some slav/QGD or KID. I avoid playing e4, as I hate the French, and it can transpose to that easily if you play e4.
Black:
Against e4, Sicilian Taimanov, hard to refute, even in closed Sicilians or Rossolimo attacks. Sometimes I throw in the Center Counter game to mix things up, I ...[text shortened]... how Kasparov demolished and checkmated ppl in 20 moves when they played the English against him!
🙂