You've been on the wrong track the entire way. As I mentioned in a post earlier in this thread the culprit is the pawn on c4. White can't get a bishop to c4. 2 e4 is a better response to 1...d6. It's still a playable game, but yes it is more difficult for black then, which I also mentioned.
Repertoires
If I could count on white to play 2 c4 then I'd know for a fact that this is the defense for me, but because of 2 e4 I'm indeed hesitant and still thinking about it. I'm just not too keen about playing the same stuff most others play, that's why this has caught my attention. I'm still considering The Sniper defense, it's gotten some bad press in threads but I think it may have good practical merit on the club level. I'm still considering the The Dark Knight System with 1...Nc6 too.
You like the sniper?you can try the benko or the benoni defence which have the g6 Bg7 C5 moves in them
e4 into the Italien as white whenever possible, its really intuitive to play.
Modern as black, I like that I can use it against everything, don't have to learn a lot of lines and it usually gives me a clear gameplan.
nimzovitch how many games are in the databases that you have collected your statistics from?
After 1 d4 d6 2 c4 the move 2...e5 has 1167 games in my Hiarcs 14 database, and at 365Chess it has 4526 games.
The database I'm using in Hiracs 14 is called H-Ref, I paid extra for it as an add on after I had gotten Hiarcs. It's a subscription and updates Hiracs's database every 3 months. The database that came with Hiracs 14 shows 763 games, but I don't use it anymore ever since I got the enhanced database version. The site 365Chess's Big Database is based on all ratings, whereas the database in Hiracs is based on ratings 2400 and higher, that's why 365Chess has far more games.
As black triangle against d4 and o'kelly against e4.
As white bg5 against the dutch and 1..nf6.
Against 1..d5 i switch between 2.c4 2.e4 and 2.Bf4
im a ruy lopez guy and a sicilian defence wih black pieces i like to look up and try all openings and defences though thats way i'm ready for anything anywhere any tiem gambits and sacrifices that result in mates are loasd of funn my best time spent on playin over the games from grandmasters;.
if it was that good i think it would have been chosen more often from GMs and they wouldnt choose openings like nimzo or KID etc...so there must be sth wrong about it or the games are before this line was analysed in depth and they found some move that destroys blacks plan...
Speaking as one that owns the book "1...d6 Move by Move" by Lakdawala, which basically advocates the Pribyl/Rat (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6), No Name Defense (1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5) and Wade (1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4), I can say that the numbers given are true, and that Black gets a really good game with 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5. The problem that many people have is most masters don't particularly like Black after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6, which White can easily play after 1.d4 d6.
I only started playing this in February or March. I have about 15 to 20 OTB games playing this repertoire against player ranging from 1800 to 2200. I can think of at least 2 instances there, and 1 in a correspondence game I have ongoing, that started 1.d4 d6 2.e4. I also have a very high score. I literally have won 2 out of every 3 thus far with an even split of draws and losses in the last third. Of course, I don't expect to retain a 75% score with it, but it really is better than its reputation, and I definitely like the Pribyl and Philidor better than the Pirc. Let's not forget that Kasparov played it against Deep Blue in Round 4 in the rematch in 1997. The result was a draw, but Kasparov blundered on move 43 and allowed a draw, and the game ended 2 moves later. Two other options on move 43 win for Black. Some suspect Kasparov threw the match, thinking it would lead to a tiebreaker, and more money. This game, by the way, is Game 5 in the book by Lakdawala.
if it was that good i think it would have been chosen more often from GMs and they wouldnt choose openings like nimzo or KID etc...so there must be sth wrong about it or the games are before this line was analysed in depth and they found some move that destroys blacks plan...
Speaking as one that owns the book "1...d6 Move by Move" by Lakdawala, which basically advocates the Pribyl/Rat (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6), No Name Defense (1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5) and Wade (1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4), I can say that the numbers given are true, and that Black gets a really good game with 1.d4 d6 2.c4 e5. The problem that many people have is most masters don't particularly like Black after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6, which White can easily play after 1.d4 d6.
I only started playing this in February or March. I have about 15 to 20 OTB games playing this repertoire against player ranging from 1800 to 2200. I can think of at least 2 instances there, and 1 in a correspondence game I have ongoing, that started 1.d4 d6 2.e4. I also have a very high score. I literally have won 2 out of every 3 thus far with an even split of draws and losses in the last third. Of course, I don't expect to retain a 75% score with it, but it really is better than its reputation, and I definitely like the Pribyl and Philidor better than the Pirc. Let's not forget that Kasparov played it against Deep Blue in Round 4 in the rematch in 1997. The result was a draw, but Kasparov blundered on move 43 and allowed a draw, and the game ended 2 moves later. Two other options on move 43 win for Black. Some suspect Kasparov threw the match, thinking it would lead to a tiebreaker, and more money. This game, by the way, is Game 5 in the book by Lakdawala.
I have the 1...d6 book by Lakdawala. I never could get into liking 3...c6 because 4 f4 looks worrisome and scores well for white, as black's percentage drops to around 40% or so. In the Philidor I like 3...e5 (instead of 3...Nbd7) as advocated in one of the Philidor books I have, 3...e5 dodges 4 f4 (3...Nbd7 doesn't) since after 3...e5 4 f4 black scores well enough, plus 3...e5 entices white to play 4 dxe5 after which black does well. The catch though is after 3...e5 white can play 4 Nf3 and now Philidor players have to go 4...Nbd7 transposing into mainline and black's percentage goes down to something like 40%. So it seems to me that both 3...c6 and 3...e5 suffer if white plays the best move, 4 f4 against 3...c6, and 4 Nf3 against 3...e5.
If I'm going to deal with those kind of percentages it would make more sense to just play 1...b6, since I already play 1 b3.
Another thing to keep in mind is theoretical percentages are only useful in correspondence, not live here or over the board.
Here's a game played in March. Both sides blundered in the opening (This was maybe my 2nd or 3rd game of the 15 to 20 I've played this opening thus far), but Black is fine after 9...Bg4. That said, you'll see that while White may "theoretically" be better with his space advantage and stuff of that nature, the practical side of things are not so easy for White, and Black wins.
http://www.charlottechess.com/games2/1163.htm
In a nutshell, I play the Ruy Lopez as both White and Black, against 1. d4 I play the Dutch.