Yet another topic posted by yours truly. Ok, I was looking at my games the other day, and I noticed that when I am the white pieces, I play very much classical. However when I get behind the black pieces I am either a french player to e4 or a very dedicated hypermodern player. I dont think this interferes with how well i play, but i must say that my belief is that you must know both to master chess. Anyway, let me know if you are like this, or if you stick to classical/hypermodern!

No, but I play very differently under different conditions.  

Eg

I play aggressively, more tactically and stronger when I don't know the opponent or I do and know I have the advantage.   I take risks, I will sac for initiative, I will find good moves.  The games are much more interesting too.

I play defensively, more positionally and weaker when I know my opponent is rated higher than me.    This makes for more boring games too, which I then often lose interest in and start playing even worse.

LoL, i must say i have the same problem in tournaments. Especially in long tourneys. I dont have the problem with people rated higher than myself though, to me that represents a challenge! I want to topple them even more, and i ALWAYS look for sacs, but if i dont think the risk will outweigh the gain then i hold my cards until they lay out what they have.

Yes, it's a psychological thing I need to get over.   I do get lots of draws against higher rated players as a result tho....

I haven´t really thought about it, but I´m a pretty classical player, a strong center is what I`m all about. With both sides.

ya cause i take the first move.  when i play white, i have the confidence to control the center. because of that i win most of my games when i play white. but i think playing black poses a lot of challenge cause its harder to control the tempo of the game.