Hey everyone, before I begin I'd like to say this is my first post in this section so forgive me if I use it wrong :)

I play chess with my friend at school quite often, and the opening seems to play out the exact same way every time. Our games are all ways even, but he usually comes out of no where exploiting a blunder by me in the end game and polishes me off for a win.

From here I get stumped. Where would you play from here?

I think 3... c5 would be more natural for black directly challenging the centre. White could also consider 5. c4 (or 4. c4) before developping the knight to c3. Maybe still 5... c5!? for black altough he has lost a tempo, so I am not that sure about this. Anyway black has to do something about white's threat 6. e4 and 5... Bb4 doesn't seem entirely satisfactory to me.

In the final position white's most natural plan seems to be to play e4. So 9. Bb2 (to protect d4) Nbd7 10. e4 and black faces the difficult question how to activate his light squared bishop. Maybe white could also sac d4 by 9. e4!? dxe4 10. Nxe4 Bxd4 11. Nxd4 Qxd4 12. c3 Qd8 13. Bg5 Nbd7 14. Qc2 with some compensation.

Not a fan of saccing the d4 pawn, but I like the 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. e4 line. Thanks for your input :)

I couldn't help but laugh.

Yes, that's propably the sane alternative. There's need for unclear sacrifices when normal play seems to promise some advantage.

Hey Shakaali, played my friend earlier using the line you suggested. Sacced all my minor pieces and trapped him into mate. Thanks for the help buddy! :)

Glad you found it usefull. Sounds like a fun game! If you have the moves written down and it's not too much trouble, could you post it here?

If your friend always plays that line as black against d4, you might want to look into either the Torre Attack or Colle System.

*Sorry if this is a double post, first time I posted it it didn't work*

Sorry Shakaali, because me and my friend play so often we no longer record our moves. I tried my best to recreate the game for you though. It isn't the exact game, but it's very similar. The mate worked pretty much the same except I had slightly less material when I mated.

Sorry I couldn't give you the exact game. I hope this meets your expectations :)

Ok, if you don't remember the exact game it's not that important.

Re1 is almost always a solid move in the late opening during a struggle for the center.

why not move the horse on c3 to d5 that will also open your queen

regerding to the first game

Have you looked into the Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2. c4)?

I have looked into that before, however this situation arose numerous games after my opponent and I agreed that we would not be using the openings we had used the last 10 games we played (the previous 10 games were Queens Gambit Accepted. We were getting quite bored and wanted to mix things up so we agreed to play different openings.). Instead of playing Queen's Gambit I decided to go for a more passive game which is where this situation comes from. Thanks to Shakaali however, this position is rarely reached now between me and my friend, as using the line Shak provided I soundly defeated him.

We have once again agreed on not playing the same openings, and have ruled out 1. d4 as a white opening. I'm now trying out the Nimzo-Larsen Attack: Classical Variation, and I'm really having fun with it.