you sound so professional;)
learning to play c4
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Aug 10, 2012
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#3
After 1...d5 there aren't many options ; the best move is 2.cxd5. By doing that not only have you traded a wing pawn for a center pawn, you have also gotten tempo off the black queen. This is because after the queen takes back, you are free to play 3. Nc3, devoloping a piece and attacking the queen. After you can't develop and attack the queen on the same move, you should probably control the center with pawns by playing 4. e4 or d4.
e3
I have played the English Opening over 5,000 times in my chess career and have very high winning percentages with it. The main idea behind the English Opening, (first and foremost), is patience. The English is a very unique opening with its own special flavor and it is a slow, developing opening. If you try to win in 20 moves with the English, you will lose. There is no other opening like it. If you try to play the English in the same style as you might with other openings, you will fail miserably. It is a very positional opening and you don't occupy the center so much as attack it from the flanks with bishops and knights. Sticking pieces in the center is not the idea behind the English.
One of the key elements of the English are the bishops, which are a very powerful piece, but usually don't get into the battle very much until the middle game. With the English, (especially with double fianchetto'd bishops), they exert their power very early into the game and cut like laser beams right through the four center squares, which again is very unique to this opening. If black is not very careful, the laser beams of those bishops will burn them!
Aside from your opponent making a horrendous blunder, you will not win with the English in 20 moves, as it is a positional opening that strives for a superior position that will all lead into a decisive end game. However, (again, aside from blunders), neither will you lose with the English in the first 20 moves, as played correctly it does a wonderful job of controlling and restricting black's play. This is one of the cardinal advantges of the English in that black only has a select few responses that are worth their while. However if white plays 1.e4, or 1.d4, black has a whole host of weapons to choose from. Playing the English, you avoid the nasty weapons black has in their arsenal, such as the sabers of the Sicilian Defense, or the slow crushing power of the French Defense. In short, using the English you remove all sorts of well established weapons that are at black's disposal. This is a huge advantage for the English player.
The English is actually quite common and is the third most popular opening for white behind 1.e4 and 2.d4. The English has been played by virtually all the great World Champions, including Bobby Fischer who used it to help him defeat Borris Spassky for the World Championship, even though Bobby had never played it before in any professional games.
I have spent many years studying the English and my all time favorite line is the Advanced Fianchetto Variation; 1.c4, 2.g3, 3.Bg2. After this somewhere along the line I like to play e3 and then Ne2, which keeps the white diagonal open for your bishop on g2. Moving your queenside rook to c1 shoots its power down the very often semi-open c-file, which you can then use to infiltrate black's position. Also Nc3, b3, Bb2 and then as long as black is obliging, d4 to blow up the center and end up with the queen on d4 backed up by the bishop on b2, shooting down the black diagonal all the way to g7, putting huge pressure and a checkmate threat on blacks king. "Moo haa haaa!" 
Lastly, the English is a hard nut for black to crack, so it's also a good defensive opening. So good in fact that many times white can delay castling and use the extra tempo to gain a positional advantage or a solid attack.
Go to --> 365Chess.com, (it's free), and use their Opening Explorer to explore the various lines of the English. This research tool will provide you with the winning percentages of every single opeing move. You will find that in general the English has very high winning percentages, particularly the potent Advanced Fianchetto Variation.
I hope this helps everyone out. Now go get 'em! 
BishopCannons wrote:
I have played the English Opening over 5,000 times in my chess career and have very high winning percentages with it. The main idea behind the English Opening, (first and foremost), is patience. The English is a very unique opening with its own special flavor and it is a slow, developing opening. If you try to win in 20 moves with the English, you will lose. There is no other opening like it. If you try to play the English in the same style as you might with other openings, you will fail miserably. It is a very positional opening and you don't occupy the center so much as attack it from the flanks with bishops and knights. Sticking pieces in the center is not the idea behind the English.
One of the key elements of the English are the bishops, which are a very powerful piece, but usually don't get into the battle very much until the middle game. With the English, (especially with double fianchetto'd bishops), they exert their power very early into the game and cut like laser beams right through the four center squares, which again is very unique to this opening. If black is not very careful, the laser beams of those bishops will burn them!
Aside from your opponent making a horrendous blunder, you will not win with the English in 20 moves, as it is a positional opening that strives for a superior position that will all lead into a decisive end game. However, (again, aside from blunders), neither will you lose with the English in the first 20 moves, as played correctly it does a wonderful job of controlling and restricting black's play. This is one of the cardinal advantges of the English in that black only has a select few responses that are worth their while. However if white plays 1.e4, or 1.d4, black has a whole host of weapons to choose from. Playing the English, you avoid the nasty weapons black has in their arsenal, such as the sabers of the Sicilian Defense, or the slow crushing power of the French Defense. In short, using the English you remove all sorts of well established weapons that are at black's disposal. This is a huge advantage for the English player.
The English is actually quite common and is the third most popular opening for white behind 1.e4 and 2.d4. The English has been played by virtually all the great World Champions, including Bobby Fischer who used it to help him defeat Borris Spassky for the World Championship, even though Bobby had never played it before in any professional games.
I have spent many years studying the English and my all time favorite line is the Advanced Fianchetto Variation; 1.c4, 2.g3, 3.Bg2. After this somewhere along the line I like to play e3 and then Ne2, which keeps the white diagonal open for your bishop on g2. Moving your queenside rook to c1 shoots its power down the very often semi-open c-file, which you can then use to infiltrate black's position. Also Nc3, b3, Bb2 and then as long as black is obliging, d4 to blow up the center and end up with the queen on d4 backed up by the bishop on b2, shooting down the black diagonal all the way to g7, putting huge pressure and a checkmate threat on blacks king. "Moo haa haaa!"
Lastly, the English is a hard nut for black to crack, so it's also a good defensive opening. So good in fact that many times white can delay castling and use the extra tempo to gain a positional advantage or a solid attack.
Go to --> 365Chess.com, (it's free), and use their Opening Explorer to explore the various lines of the English. This research tool will provide you with the winning percentages of every single opeing move. You will find that in general the English has very high winning percentages, particularly the potent Advanced Fianchetto Variation.
I hope this helps everyone out. Now go get 'em!
Thanks, Scott. I see you love the bishops in your games the most, eh?
I would like to thank you a very large amount for posting so many interesting facts about the English Opening. I didn't know it was the third most popular in the world! I have truly gotten better now, in chess, that is.
Ken
Yeah i once played a game with english where me and my oponent did not exchange anything but pawns until the 34th move.
The English is not a very common opening, but it is a good one. There are many options of play after a move like 1....e5. My favorite is Nc3, followed by g3 and Bg2 which gives White great control of the d5 square.