Upgrade to Chess.com Premium!

Openings for a positionally-minded player

Jump to forum:
« Previous | 1 2 | Next » | Last Post
25th October 2009, 03:28pm
#1
by nqi
Otago New Zealand
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 1073

Can someone please give me some decent ideas for the start of a game. My positional play seems to be my strength, but there seems to be very few openings out there that support this style of play. Any suggestions?

25th October 2009, 03:51pm
#2
by RainbowRising
London United Kingdom
Member Since: Oct 2008
Member Points: 6518

QGD is definately one. So are some variations of the English. KIA is another I believe, although I think that can get sharp pretty quickly later on.

25th October 2009, 04:30pm
#3
by Absolute_Fear
Dallas United States
Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 99

Caro-Kann.

25th October 2009, 04:32pm
#4
by RainbowRising
London United Kingdom
Member Since: Oct 2008
Member Points: 6518

Hmm I'd say not really, but that could just be my choice of variations ( I play it excluseively Vs e4). Could you give some variations Fear?

7th January 2010, 09:00am
#5
by Evasan
Johannesburg South Africa
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 211

1. d4 is good for positional play. Its advantage is that it gives White more control over tactical surprises and often provides more lasting initiative and pressure.

My recommendation:

Smile
7th January 2010, 09:43am
#6
by chry3841
fiumicino,rome Italy
Member Since: Dec 2009
Member Points: 482

against e4 try the sicilian kan or taimanov, the kan was played even by karpov.Against d4 there are the slavs(some of them are tactical too) and the nimzo/bogo/queen indian complex

7th January 2010, 10:00am
#7
by Tricklev
Sweden
Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 2190

If your strength at level 1400 is positional play, you really need to continue with e4 and not avoid complications. Most likelly the tactical misstakes you do are outright blunders, and if you try to avoid that by going the positional way, you will hamper your improvement.

7th January 2010, 10:43am
#8
by rich
United Kingdom
Member Since: Jul 2007
Member Points: 27854

Well normally people who play positional use 1.d4, I prefer d4. your better off learning some good d4 openings. And Caro kann as black.

7th January 2010, 10:59am
#9
by AnthonyCG
Washington DC United States
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 6616

One day you will face 1.d4 e5 and all that positional glory goes out the window.  You'd be better to just work on tactics. All the cool kids are doing it. Laughing There are plenty of ways to throw you off:

1.d4 e5/1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5

1.c4 b5

1.Nf3 Nc6 2.d4 d5 which can get pretty rough if you can't make it slow again;

1.f4 e5

So you can't avoid tactics. Every game you ever play will have tactics regardless of what opening you use.

7th January 2010, 01:29pm
#10
by Elubas
United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 7816
Tricklev wrote:

If your strength at level 1400 is positional play, you really need to continue with e4 and not avoid complications. Most likelly the tactical misstakes you do are outright blunders, and if you try to avoid that by going the positional way, you will hamper your improvement.


You should work on tactics for sure, but that doesn't need to reflect what opening you play. I didn't play tactical openings, just solved lots of tactics and I was fine in that area, and then could concentrate on the positional stuff that I love lol. I like that stuff not because it's more important than tactics but simply because I like that part of the game, I just back it up with tactics.

7th January 2010, 01:32pm
#11
by Elubas
United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 7816
AnthonyCG wrote:

One day you will face 1.d4 e5 and all that positional glory goes out the window.  You'd be better to just work on tactics. All the cool kids are doing it. There are plenty of ways to throw you off:


But the good thing about 1 d4 is that most tries for early tactics by black are very loose and give white a favorable game. I'm not saying they're nothing to worry about, but comparing it to e4 there's the sicilian a sound way to complicate, which is going to cause more problems than lots of traps you have to avoid to get a very good position. When I play d4 I figure if my opponent tries for too much at least he'll have to take away all the solidity of his position, when his position can crack at any moment. And otherwise I usually have the initiative and my opponent not much counterplay, like in the QG for example.

7th January 2010, 01:52pm
#12
by AnthonyCG
Washington DC United States
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 6616

Yeah. I played 1.d4 and then switched to playing 1.Nf3 to avoid ...e5 gambits. If you don't know the theory (which I don't) you could be in trouble. I just want to deal with as little theory as I have to. 1.c4 isn't so bad and you can get away with just knowing what to do rather than knowing a lot of theory. 

Most people answer 1.d4 wildly and end up shooting themselves in the foot.

7th January 2010, 02:02pm
#13
by Elubas
United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 7816

I found it necessary to know some theory against the tricky albin countergambit, but only like the first 7 moves or so so it's not that bad. Now that I'm somewhat prepared I usually do well against the gambit. Once I get rid of that nuisance, I get into positions I like when black chooses the calmer moves.

7th January 2010, 02:14pm
#14
by rich
United Kingdom
Member Since: Jul 2007
Member Points: 27854
AnthonyCG wrote:

Yeah. I played 1.d4 and then switched to playing 1.Nf3 to avoid ...e5 gambits. If you don't know the theory (which I don't) you could be in trouble. I just want to deal with as little theory as I have to. 1.c4 isn't so bad and you can get away with just knowing what to do rather than knowing a lot of theory. 

Most people answer 1.d4 wildly and end up shooting themselves in the foot.


 I sometimes use the Englund Gambit.

7th January 2010, 02:31pm
#15
by AnthonyCG
Washington DC United States
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 6616

I avoid it because of the theory. Maybe it's just lazyness, or something. Frown

There is some fun in accepting a gambit and defeating it though.

7th January 2010, 02:56pm
#16
by checkmateisnear
Canada
Member Since: Sep 2009
Member Points: 753

d4 is good in the QG white has atleast a small advantage in all lines and as Elubas stated above if black tries to make the game more tactical then usually he has to compromise his position in some way. A good line for learning the importance of pawn structure(also a personal favourite) would be the QGD exchange variation where the infamous "minority attack" shows how a single pawn weakness can put Black under long-lasting pressure.

7th January 2010, 03:05pm
#17
by Sceadungen
Liverpool United Kingdom
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 1205

If you put a top class player who only plays positionally against a top class player who only plays tactically, tactics will win every time.

Fact of life got to work on all aspects of the game, as Anthony says up there in his post.

You play 1 Nf3 expecting a nice quiet Reti you get

1..Nc3

1.. d5

all playable and all tactical cant avoid it only seek to control it.

7th January 2010, 04:03pm
#18
by Elubas
United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 7816

Sceadungen, I don't really agree with you on your first claim, unless you are saying a top class player who sucks at tactics will lose to one who is good, but that doesn't make any sense, as whether or not they want to play positionally, they would never be a top class player if their tactics were not very strong in any case. there would probably be more draws for the positional one though. Two top class players with the same rating regardless of style should have about equal chances to win, though there are other small factors like specific preparation for the opponent that might give one a slight advantage.

But I do think tactics are the most important at the amateur level, but he shouldn't neglect everything else.

7th January 2010, 04:22pm
#19
by KedDuff
Jamaica
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 166

for black the

philidor hanham variation very good positional opening.

white usually goes for it all the time.

for white the queens openings and gambit. which leads to a slower positional game

7th January 2010, 05:13pm
#20
by Atos
Montenegro
Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 4193
Elubas wrote:
AnthonyCG wrote:

One day you will face 1.d4 e5 and all that positional glory goes out the window. You'd be better to just work on tactics. All the cool kids are doing it. There are plenty of ways to throw you off:


But the good thing about 1 d4 is that most tries for early tactics by black are very loose and give white a favorable game. I'm not saying they're nothing to worry about, but comparing it to e4 there's the sicilian a sound way to complicate, which is going to cause more problems than lots of traps you have to avoid to get a very good position. When I play d4 I figure if my opponent tries for too much at least he'll have to take away all the solidity of his position, when his position can crack at any moment. And otherwise I usually have the initiative and my opponent not much counterplay, like in the QG for example.


The KID, the Gruenfeld, the Benoni / Benko are all sound ways to complicate against 1. d4. It may just be that a lot of people spend their time studying the Sicilian or the French and pay less attention to responses to 1.d4, but this hasn't put me off playing 1. e4 yet.

« Previous | 1 2 | Next » | Last Post

Add your comment:

Join Chess.com for free to add your comment! Already a member? Then login now to comment.