hey guys, I need help against the english so I thought I would go to the source

for a while against the english I would just play 1...Nf6 and try to transpose to my d4 defense, the grunfeld. as Im sure you all know the english and nf3 player as tons of ballbreaking anti grunfeld lines that just kill that idea for me. so I need some lines to put into the repertiore. what would be a good agressive line? or what about the one thats looks like a reverse maroczy bind? I like space.

thanks, I saw the thread in the openings forum but it couldnt help me with it

I guess a good place to start is to try to play some english myself as white, and that should deepen my knowledge and ideas

c4 c5 is good

Everyman recently put out an excellent book on playing flank openings (in the Dangerous Weapons series) that addresses the English (both sides) in some detail (by Palliser, Kosten and Vigus).  Since many folks who play the English used Tony Kosten's book as their base of knowledge (since it is short and fairly concise book), the method of play that's mentioned in that book is specifically addressed.

There's also an earlier book by Palliser that addresses "unusual openings" but that covers more than just the english (but has some good ideas for playing against the English.

I refer you to the three books:

Palliser book:  http://www.everymanchess.com/chess/books/Beating_Unusual_Chess_Openings%3A_Dealing_with_the_English%2C_Reti%2C_King%27s_Indian_Attack_and_other_annoying_systems

Flank Openings book:  http://www.everymanchess.com/chess/books/Dangerous_Weapons%3A_Flank_Openings%3A_Dazzle_Your_Opponents

Kosten's Book:  http://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-English-aggresive-players-traditional/dp/1901983145/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268485434&sr=8-1

I like the variations where black plays an early Qb6 (when white plays an early d4 in the symetrical variation).

Another option is to play 1...c6 and try to get it into a QGD or something akin to a reversed Colle....check those books or search around online.

Personally, my standard reply is more Nimzo-Indian/Queen's Indian/Dutch-like with ...e6 and ...b6 directly challenging their g2 bishop...sometime it works, sometimes not.

Good Luck!

ZV

I like b6

thanks vader thats a lot of material to go over! I will tell you what I come up with :)

b6 or f5