Build an e4 opening repertoire!

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clunney
szeweningen wrote:

Ok, now that actually some people are involved I'll start posting this Sunday. I'll start with the Petrov (or is it Petroff?) defence and the caro since they should be relatively easiest to handle. I'll post 2 pgn files with opening trees and then I'll be looking for input, both theoretical (suggesting better lines) and practical (suggesting overall plans in a given position or pointing out missed sidelines for black).

1. e4 e5 2. f4 handles the Petroff quite nicely!

mattchess

I think these hang together fairly well:

Vienna Gambit a large majority of the time

French Exchange with c4

Panov-Botvinnik against Caro Kann

150 Attack/Argentinian against Pirc/KID/Modern

Transpositions into BDG against Scandanavian or just play white side of Scandanavian

Smith-Morra Gambit against Sicilian

clunney
mattchess wrote:

I think these hang together fairly well:

Vienna Gambit a large majority of the time

French Exchange with c4

Panov-Botvinnik against Caro Kann

150 Attack/Argentinian against Pirc/KID/Modern

Transpositions into BDG against Scandanavian or just play white side of Scandanavian

Smith-Morra Gambit against Sicilian

Not bad at all.  Mine is something like:

King's Gambit versus e5

Tarrasch with Bd3 and Ne2 against the French, or King's Indian Attack

Advance Bayonet Attack (4. Nc3 5. g4) versus the Caro-Kann (I like pushing pawns Smile)

Rossolimo or c3 versus the Sicilian

3. f3 intending a Samisch versus the Pirc/Modern

3. c4 Nb6 4. d4 d6 5. cxd6 versus Alekhine's Defense

I play more stuff of course, but 1. d4 is much more fun, and I play that a lot more than 1. e4.

ozzie_c_cobblepot
Till_98 wrote:

Thanks for your opinion NM ozzie!

Holy cow you're the same guy from the other thread!

Till_98

haha lol :D youre right

Till_98

but why "holy cow" ? :D Are people saying this in Usa?

ThrillerFan
clunney wrote:
mattchess wrote:

I think these hang together fairly well:

Vienna Gambit a large majority of the time

French Exchange with c4

Panov-Botvinnik against Caro Kann

150 Attack/Argentinian against Pirc/KID/Modern

Transpositions into BDG against Scandanavian or just play white side of Scandanavian

Smith-Morra Gambit against Sicilian

Not bad at all.  Mine is something like:

King's Gambit versus e5

Tarrasch with Bd3 and Ne2 against the French, or King's Indian Attack

Advance Bayonet Attack (4. Nc3 5. g4) versus the Caro-Kann (I like pushing pawns )

Rossolimo or c3 versus the Sicilian

3. f3 intending a Samisch versus the Pirc/Modern

3. c4 Nb6 4. d4 d6 5. cxd6 versus Alekhine's Defense

I play more stuff of course, but 1. d4 is much more fun, and I play that a lot more than 1. e4.

I'm with you on that last sentence.  Playing 1.e4 is like pulling teeth!

Therefore, Mine is something like:

1.d4 and then:

   Torre vs 1...Nf6 and 2...g6/2...e6/2...d6/2...b6

   Colle Zukertort vs 1...d5/2...Nf6 or 1...d5/2...e6

   e3-Slav (or "Slow Slav") against 1...d5 with early ...c6

   Accept the Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.dxc5 or 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.dxc5)

   Anti-Benoni (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 w/o c4)

   Dangerfield Attack (1.d4 f5 2.Bf4)

Yaroslavl
Gothmog0 wrote:

Yaroslavl, could you please explain a bit how you'd build a repertoire using your approach? Does it involve having the computer generate candidate moves and you deciding on what your answer to each one is?

If you own ChessBase 5 milllion+ games database,  Houdini 64 Pro 64,a GUI, Openings Wizard (use to be Book Up) or ChessBase's version of it, also  2  CPUs running simultaneously in your PC;  then learning how to use them will explain how you would build an e4 opening tree and repertoire.  If you don't, the answer to your question will be pretty much useless to you.

Oraoradeki

An already-made repertoire lol. EDIT: I forgot Caro and Sicilian... i'll do those later

 

and now...



najdorf96

To be honest, mainline caro is the hardest to meet.

VietNameseKnight

 i play the french,1 e4 e6.If 1 d4,i play 1...d5 2 c4 dxc4 3 e3 e5 4Bxc4 exd4 5 exd4 Bd6 6 Nf3............

TheGreatOogieBoogie
Till_98 wrote:

but why "holy cow" ? :D Are people saying this in Usa?

Because "Holy vulgar version of crap" is unfortunately an infractable offense here. 

pfren

All openings are good if you don't have the habbit dropping pieces right after the opening (or sometimes during the opening).

Yaroslavl
Fiveofswords wrote:

well i also took up the alapin...and the lines i choose against other semi open games can intersect with the alapin. Panov vs ...c6. Tarrasch vs French...chase variation of alekhine. Also I play 1e4 d5 2 ed Qxd5 3 d4!?...notice 3...c5 4 c3. If you look at how various lines can transpose, and know you like that position, if can reduce your workload quite a lot.

I get the sense that you have devised a system based on the facts in chess that holds water.

If you have not read, "Pawn Power In Chess", by Hans Kmoch, read it. Especially beginning with pg. 107 of my edition.  In other editions it is contained in Chapter 5 Rooks and Pawns.  It has to do with 6 characteristic pawn structures that the position on the board assumes after 6-10 moves in almost every opening. 

Read from pg. 107 thru the end of the book before reading from the beginning of the book as it will discourage you.  I know because it happend to me.  But I pressed on until I got to pg. 107, then everything became clear.  

omprakashtambi

for paulsen just do Nc3, Be2, Be3, 0-0, Kh1 and f4 and you will get a stable postion.

 

magipi
omprakashtambi wrote:

for paulsen just do Nc3, Be2, Be3, 0-0, Kh1 and f4 and you will get a stable postion.

What is the point of responding to a random post that is 8 years old?

DrSpudnik
magipi wrote:
omprakashtambi wrote:

for paulsen just do Nc3, Be2, Be3, 0-0, Kh1 and f4 and you will get a stable postion.

What is the point of responding to a random post that is 8 years old?

If it was good 8 years ago, it should still be good!

Ethan_Brollier

I play Alekhine's Defense as black in both blitz and rapid (U1600 in both, but I've done my research and tested variations), and Four Pawns Attack is best, as it gives you the largest center, Exchange Variation is also pretty good, but if your opponent knows how to play traditional 1. d4 openings, you'll get out-prepped 100% of the time, and the Modern (the Mainline), actively gives your opponent's LSB a good square and a tempo with which to move to it, also negating the Knight's defense of e5 and d4, the whole reason behind the move. Below are my two recommendations: one showing theory for Black castling short, one showing theory for Black castling long.
Alekhine's Defense: Four Pawns, Korchnoi Variation
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Bf5 7. Nc3 e6 8. Nf3 Be7 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O f6
Alekhine's Defense: Four Pawns, Main Line, Tartakower Variation
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Nc6 7. Be3 Bf5 8. Nc3 e6 9. Nf3 Qd7 10. Be2 O-O-O 11. O-O Be7
In the Ruy Lopez, make sure to include prep against the Arkhangelsk, Neo-Arkhangelsk, and Jaenisch Gambit variations, in addition to your Mainline Closed Morphy prep.
In the Italian, make sure to include prep against the Polerio and Traxler if you want to play the Italian: Knight Attack, and then make sure to include prep against the Giuoco Piano: Giuoco Pianissimo if you want to play the Italian: Modern Bishop's Opening.
There's a tricky sideline against 1... c6. The Breyer Variation is a gambit, but it is a somewhat solid gambit, as at the very worst, you will have two pieces developed, an open center, the ability to castle, and the ability to take back the lost pawn, while your opponent will have only one piece developed to a sub-optimal square. At best, you can have a +3, +7.5, or M6 advantage by move 7.

Another good sideline against 1... c6 is the Advanced Panov Attack, Toikkanen Gambit, which engine evaluates as almost perfectly even, but most players won't know any of the best moves to get to this even position.

Against the Scandinavian, I don't know if there's any established theory in the Mieses-Kotrc, but I usually play 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Be2 Bxf3 5. Bxf3 Qd6/Qd8 6. d4 Nf6 7. c4 and have a stronger center, development, and ability to castle easily. Against the Modern Scandinavian, I play Marshall (3. d4) and then when 3... Nxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 and transpose back.
Against 1... e6, use your line in the Winawer, and if instead 3... Nf6, 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7, then you can play the Mainline: Alekhine-Chatard Variation (or Alekhine-Chatard, Albin-Chatard Gambit), Steinitz Variation, Tarrasch Variation, or Rubenstein Variation.

pfren
Ethan_Brollier wrote:

Against the Scandinavian, I don't know if there's any established theory in the Mieses-Kotrc, but I usually play 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Be2 Bxf3 5. Bxf3 Qd6/Qd8 6. d4 Nf6 7. c4 and have a stronger center, development, and ability to castle easily. Against the Modern Scandinavian, I play Marshall (3. d4) and then when 3... Nxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Be2 Bxf3 7. Bxf3 and transpose back.

 

IT's is very good for you that you don't fall into Black's trap and play 6.Bxb7. I have forgotten the refutation, but I trust your vast knowldege.   tongue.png

WCPetrosian

Too much work, and it's a difficult task for club players. 

I'd rather let a better player do the work for me and buy the book if I like the choices. I'm using the Keep It Simple 1 e4 book's repertoire. His Two Knights against the Caro Kann has been working out fairly well for me. I've gotten a few easy draws against stronger players with it. Granted, I didn't get any winning chances against them but neither did they. 

I've noticed some players have complained about his choice against the French Defense --- the Exchange. I'm ok with that choice, seems practical to me, plus I like the psychology (many French players hate the exchange). 

If I like a book but it has a choice I don't care for as much I write in some lines the choice I prefer and keep the book's choice on the backburner for possible use at times. For instance, in the Hanham Philidor book I'm using as black the author accepts the pawn after 5 g4. I don't know if I like taking the pawn even though it is best to. I've written in a couple of declining the pawn choices that can be played (I don't yet know which decline move I prefer) and even wrote in the counter pawn sack 5...d5, which seems like a good psychological counter gambit. 

That way I'm tailoring books to suit me without trying to write an entire book.