Hello all. I have started a group dedicated to discussion of the English Opening. Tired of the old e4 d4 grind? Give 1. c4! a try! Karpov, Fischer, and many many others did!

We will have English Opening Game of the Week, monthly English Opening Tournaments in various variations, and vote and team matches in the English.

Anyone is welcome to join.

http://www.chess.com/groups/home/english-opening-lovers

Good idea! 

I myself is waiting for Marin's two volumes on the English... will they never be released?! I want to see what he recommends against Slav/QGD-set-ups. Is he sacrificing pawns in these variations? He promised not to transpose into the Catalan.

I have (by the way) considered the Catalan, as a weapon in these variations. Anyone, thoughts? Ideas?

I don't know about that setup, or anything about Marin's books. I would recommend Watson's "Mastering the Chess Openings, Volume 3" however. I have found it very helpful. I also recommend Davies DVD on the English. He advocates the same 2. g3 system that gained popularity in Kosten's book.

Join the group, we'd love to discuss your Slav/QGD question. We're only a day old, and over 10 members. People seem to have been wanting a more active English Group.

How are the three volumes divided? I assume one is on 1. c4 e5 one is on 1. c4 c5, and one is everything else?

I think both of Marin's books already came out but I don't know where to get volume 2.

Volume 1 covers 1.c4 e5 and volume 2 covers everything else. I managed to figure out what I'd play against other moves without the other book though.

I first started playing chess with the English for many years before I changed to 1.e4.

Why did you switch? Particularly to 1. e4. Seems like if you liked 1. c4, 1. d4 is the logical switch.

I think it was when I learned the Italian Game and it became my favorite opening.  Now, I only use 1.c4 on occasion.  I was known to also play 1.Nf3 as well, with c4 played later.

I see. I guess we all fall in love with one opening or another. I picked 1. c4 initiall because 1., it is subject to fewer responses than 1. e4 or 1. d4, and 2., because, well frankly, I like to be a bit offbeat. But eventually, I switched and tried a variety of things, the Scotch, the KIA, the Colle-Zukertort, the Bird's, etc., but ultimately returned to the English, mainly because it is so flexible. I feel I can do a lot of different things in it to keep things interesting.

Anyway, if you want to join, even if the English is only your off-weapon, we'd love to have you!

Once i took chess seriously (which was with about 11), I always played 1.d4 (usually followed by the queen's gambit). Some years later I switched to 1.c4 and this is still one of my two main openings with white. (Nowadays I quite regularly play 1.e4 as well.)

Now I'm really happy to have found an active English Opening group: The English Opening Lovers. I can truly recommend to join this group to everyone, who is interested in this dynamic opening.

Visit us at http://www.chess.com/groups/view/english-opening-lovers

You may also want to take a look at our forum, which has already different chess puzzles, an "English Game of the Week" and active discussions going on.

English Opening Lovers Forum