What is your preferred/favorite opening opening, both as white and black, and why?

Call me old-schooled but I always open 'e4', when playing with white pieces and 'nf6', when playing with black pieces...

Lately, Ruy Lopez and KID if I can. However, I'm consider others:

Inigo Montoya: You are using Bonetti's Defense against me, ah?
Inigo Montoya: Naturally, you must suspect me to attack with Capa Ferro?
Man in Black: Naturally... but I find that Thibault cancels out Capa Ferro. Don't you?
Inigo Montoya: Unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa... which I have.

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which planet are you from?

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They don't play the Ruy Lopez or KID on your planet? Interesting. You are doing well with our language.

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Is that the answer to my question, do not think so...

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Okay, maybe you aren't doing that well with our language. Would it help intergalactic relations if I adopted a different favorite opening? I'm not totally committed to the Ruy Lopez or KID. I thought they were fairly "old schooled."

I'm not sure why but I revisit the Ruy Lopez periodically to explore "new" lines. There's a lot there to explore.

Lately, I've been interested playing black in the KID vs London match-up, especially the KID vs. the Tarzan variation of the London. It's interesting because it can remove one of the opportunities presented by the KID, the fianchettoed bishop.

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'I' am not doing too well with 'our' language, which may I know it is?

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 That's funny !

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What you find funny is beyond me...

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 Hmm Considering they are not chess, but Sword fighting styles from the film "The Princess Bride", The anology is apt.

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I'm sorry. I assumed the Yoda-like sentence structure was intended as a joke since we were talking about language barriers. I also assumed we shared a reference point in terms of common names for openings, i.e. Ruy Lopez and KID.

If I was mistaken about these assumptions, clearly my Princess Bride quote was too subtle. I was trying to convey my observation about the historical evolution of a particular opening. The opening is matched by a counter, the counter is matched by a counter-counter, matched by a counter-counter-counter...

Obviously, not everyone finds that aspect of studying openings, amusing. I also assumed it was a common observation. Oh well...

The following thread might be useful to you. There's a danger the present thread might turn into a discussion of pancakes.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/1-e4-or-1-d4

Good luck.

I have mainly three favorite openings which are all quite unorthodox and not very well explored which creates a lot of room for creativity which is always something I'm looking for.

#1 English defense

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#2 Clarendon court defense

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#3 Mikenas defense

 

 

 

 

 

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its a movie called princess bride. good movie.

As white:

1.d4

if black plays 1...Nf6, then 2.c4, e6 3.g3!

if black plays 1...d5, then 2.c4,

after 1...d5 2.c4, if black plays dxc4, then Nf3

after 1...d5 2.c4 if black plays c6, then e3

after 1...d5 2.c4 if black plays e6, then Nc3

as Black:

against e4, when i play seriously, i play 1...c5

in blitz, i play 1...e5

against d4, i always play 1...Nf6

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Will watch it...

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Is it a matter of preference or did you realize that your win-rate is higher using these openings?