System/Ideas against the English

Would anyone here know a good system or improvement on my ideas against the english? I just played a very depressing game at our Bloomington Open against a player rated 200 points lower than me and seemingly got outplayed, I'm wondering if I made any opening errors, or if it was just tactical failure. I've been playing f5 systems against the English for quite some time now, although after today's game I'm almost ready to quit that..but its fun when it works :P

Any suggestions? What systems do you guys play against the english that work for you? I also tried out Semi-slav structures and systems with d6 and Bc5, but never played them as much as I did with f5. 

Thank you! It seemed like I was going to be squeezed to death so I tried to quicken the pace.

I agree with what Fiveofswords said. I play the English, and I hate what white did in this game. He played so passively.

Personally, when I play against the English, I prefer to play the Symmetrical, and I seem to have a tougher time against it too. As an English player, I see 1...e5 much more often and thus feel better prepared for it. However, a lot of my lines as black feature an early ...c5 also (Benoni, Pirc), and so maybe part of it is just being more comfortable with those pawn formations. It's definitely less aggressive than the Reverse Sicilian with an early ...f5, but maybe it's worth looking into?

What do you think of d6 and Bc5 lines, as well as the Bb4 idea?

Plus looking at engine analysis it hated d5 due to d4 as whites response

if somone plays te english aganst me i play 1c6 trying to get into my slav variation

Your defeat has nothing to do with the opening.

5...Bb4 followed by ..d6 and ..O-O was a decent idea if you wanted to keep it closed.  I agree that 5...d5 6.d4 looks problematic.  If you take on d4, your f-pawn move looks out of place, and if you push ..e4 he can answer Ne5.

Moving your Queen away from d5 was not completely mistaken, if you thought that White might play e4 and you wanted to play ...f4 in response which is not possible if your Q is hanging.  But if your only motivation was to avoid losing a tempo, that is, well, not good.  11...Qb3 would have been a nice move there.  I do think Black has a fine position in this reverse Sicilian scenario.

So if not d5 then what would be my best option?

Both 5...Bb4 and 5...d6 look fine to me- actually more consistent with and early ...f5.

I know there are systems where black plays d5 and it's a reverse accelerated dragon type position, supposedly it's the theoretically best line but it seems hard to play for a win with black there, unless you play it like the white side of the sicilian, if that would work

So should I ditch the f5 or g6 idea?

3...f5 is a good move.  Just don't combine it with ...d5.  Put your bishop on c5 or b4 and play ..d6 instead.

I don't like the 3...f5 systems for Black at all.  White has at his disposal:

The only reason d5 worked is because he didn't find d4 which stronger players would.. and against the two knights setup it's actually hard to find something good especially if they play e3. I find it very hard to play against e3 more than g3.

True... white might even think he has something after 5.d4 e4 6.Nh4 g6 or 6...d6 (I prefer the latter, but it's pretty much a matter of taste) while in reality he has nothing.

There are many examples of the right Black strategy in that kind of positions. I particularly like this game, where Black played almost perfectly, positionally-wise (great moves like 7...Qd7! do not make much sense if you have not understood the nature of the position).

The way Black first blocked the kingside, and then wrapped things up on the other flank is very nice.

@fiveofswords

Great analysis and good pointers. Thanks.

What do you think about the Kramnik variation with an early Bb4?

But 2...f5 3.d4 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3+ while not exactly belonging to the "patzer sees check" category, is a tad cooperative.

5.Qd3! makes more sense positionally, followed by normal development, when white does have a regular opening advantage- that pawn on f5 is rather silly-looking.