Taking Out The Trash - Intro

A couple years ago, as an improving 1800 player making a rapid climb to the coveted "expert" plateau (2000+), I found few things annoyed me more than "lifetime 1800's" (as I contemptuously called them) who maintained their mediocre results by stealing "garbage wins" with "cheap trick" openings.  

For the most part, I was able to avoid losing to these players thanks to my ample (for an 1800) opening preparation.  At the time, my repertoire consisted of 1. e4 mainlines as white, and 1. ...e5/Grunfeld as black against e4 and d4 respectively.  It turns out that such a narrow repertoire saved me a great deal of trouble.  

Nevertheless, in an effort to help those players trying to improve, or if not, to steal of few weapons from those "lifetime 1800's" we all know, I have decided to begin work on a series of blogs designed to challenge "trash openings". 

Each blog will contain a suggested response to a specific 'trick' opening.  Often, the response will be an outright refutation of a horrible opening.  In other cases, the best modern theory has been able to accomplish is find a risk-free position with only the slightest of advantages.  I will also include lines that many people find 'problematic' to face, and show a (relatively) simple path to equality for the black pieces.  

The length of this series will be dependant entirely on reader response.  If you have an opening question/problem that you would like to be discussed in this blog, or if you would like to present a refutation for me to review, please send me a private message on this site!  And so, without further adieu, I refer you to Part 1 of this series.