All these openings very frequently leads to similar positions and does often even directly transpose into eachother.
That is exactly, what I am talking about Conzipe. I have the same way of thinking, I like to get into more similar positions from different openings, so I feel more confortable.
But do you think this presents a kind of weakness?? And are we missing a part of the fun in the game??
well you have the advantage of not having many positions to remember!
I play only gambits, with variations according to my mood. I'm not too serious about my opening training so I often end up a pawn down without any compensation (except opponent's overconfidence)... Anyway, i like crazy games so here it goes:
white
1.e4 (always) and danish, king's, Evans gambits. Against the sicilian I've some crazy lines against the najdorf that comes up most often (1.e4-c5 2.Nf3-d6 3.d4-c*d4 4.N*d4-Nf6 5.Nc3-a6 6.Rg1!? with idea of g4 and massive kingside attack)
black
against 1.d4
albin countergambit (1.d4-d5 2.c4-e5!?) or Benko gambit (1.d4-Nf6 2.c4-c5 3.d5-b5!?)
and King's indian def when white goes for stupid (I mean boring) systems like 1.d4, 2.Nf3
against 1.e4
italian: two knights defence which leaves black a pawn down
spanish: schliemann defence (1.e4-e5 2.Nf3-Nc6 3.Bb5-f5!?) which often ends in complete disaster, but sometimes brings nice victories.
That covers most of the games I play :)
With white, always 1.e4 (I'm starting to loose my fears against the Sicilian), aiming for a King's Gambit/Danish Gambit/Scotch Gambit. I also play the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit if Black tries to use the Scandinavian (1.e4 d5 2.d4 transposes).
With black, I use the Albin Countergambit or the Grundfeld against 1.d4, against 1.e4 I still haven't got a "pet opening", against the English I use the Halibut Gambit (1...b5!? really throws off the English players) and against 1.Nf3 I play 1...c5 and improvise from here, either going for a Sicilian, Dragon variation or for something weird if 2.c4.
Has anyone come across a good book on building an opening rep? The only advice I seem to continually come across is that it should fit a player's personality/style of playing. The books tend to either try to cover all openings and therefore lack depth or are highly specialized and lack breadth. Maybe a book that groups openings by style (agressive, conservative, etc) and/or common themes (as mentioned above). It would also be nice to find the goals of each opening such as what kind of middle game would you be striving for with that opening.
I guess it sounds like I'm trying to avoid doing a lot of research but isn't that the intention of chess books?
Anyone?
I'm starting to loose my fears against the Sicilian)
Hope I will do soon ;-)
Has anyone come across a good book on building an opening rep? The only advice I seem to continually come across is that it should fit a player's personality/style of playing. The books tend to either try to cover all openings and therefore lack depth or are highly specialized and lack breadth. Maybe a book that groups openings by style (agressive, conservative, etc) and/or common themes (as mentioned above). It would also be nice to find the goals of each opening such as what kind of middle game would you be striving for with that opening.
I guess it sounds like I'm trying to avoid doing a lot of research but isn't that the intention of chess books?
Anyone?
This is the dream book, I hope to have as well ;-)
Generally, openings could be devided ( according to my poor knowledge ) to 4 groups :
1- Open Games : 1-e4 e5
2- Semi Open : 1-e4 .... other replys
3- Closed : 1-d4 d5
4- Semi Closed : 1d4.... other replys. , English & Retti
According to your favorit play, you can pick up the right book to dig into one of these. Also, there are book written specially for players, who would like to improve their repertoire of openings; but as I think, it is not for advanced players. Only hoppy players and may be club players.
This is a link to one of , you may check it and the feedback online
http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_js/js_ht_build_chess_open_rep.html
And a very nice blog post on Chess.com as well :
http://blog.chess.com/Waldemar/how-to-build-a-chess-opening-repertoire---part-ii-your-style
I'm starting to loose my fears against the Sicilian)
Hope I will do soon ;-)
I still have problems dealing with the Najdorf and some uncommon lines, but I'm starting to get nice positions against the Dragon and the Accelerated Dragon. Also, the Wing Gambit (2.b4?!) is great to screw all the preparation a Sicilian player has.
Depends, many sicilian players are very well booked up against sidelines like that as well
Sicilian players are very well booked up even for 2.b4, 2.Ke2 or 2.Whateveryoucanthinkof.
Thanks moemen13 for your response. I have read the book reviewed by Silman but again, I guess I'm looking for a shortcut in grouping openings with similar objectives and style. Like you said, I'm afraid it is only a dream book.
Well, not awesome bongcloud stuff like 2. Ke2!! but the wing gambit is actually pretty well-known and a lot of sicilian players knows that 1. e4 c5 2. b4?! cxb4 3. a3 d5! is an effective way to deal with it and is covered in most sicilian repertoire books.
You're talking about the Sicilian. EVERYTHING has a Name: 
http://www.chess.com/opening/eco/B20_Sicilian_Defense_King_Davids_Opening
You're talking about the Sicilian. EVERYTHING has a Name:
Isn't it the most well studied opening ??? or I just think so!!
I mean too much stuff about Sicilian....
I just play d4 to avoid the Sicilian altogether
I just play d4 to avoid the Sicilian altogether
Welcome on board!! It seams that more ppl have the same issue with Sicilian!!
Shall we make a group or what?? Anti-Sicilian !!
As white I play king's pawn openings, trying to get unfamiliar positions such as the king's gambit or even positions like this:
1.d4 is probably the best Anti-Sicilian.
But 1.d4 isn't as fun to play as 1.e4 for me!
1.d4 is probably the best Anti-Sicilian, apart from the obvious Anti-Sicilian (the most popular one, 1.e4)
Nigel Davies has a series of videos on building a 1.d4 repertoire. It covers various system setups and ideas before starting to dig into real lines (with c4).
My current repertoire as White consists of playing 1.e4. At this point I categorize Black responses into three categories:
1. Moves that have a unique response. This includes moves that attack the e4 pawn, and 1...b5. So 1...Nf6 2.e5, 1...b5 2.Bxb5, 1...d5 2.exd5, 1...f5 2.exf5.
2. Moves that challenge d4 with a pawn. This is 1...e5 and 1...c5; against both I play 2.Nf3 and 3.d4. (Actually I play 3.c3 against many Sicilians including 2...g6, 2...a6, 2...e6, 2...Nc6 more often than not; but I will probably be switching to 3.d4 against 2...Nc6 and 2...e6 soon enough)
3. Moves that do not challenge d4 with a pawn, that are not listed in #1 above. Here I play 2.d4.
As Black, I play setups with pawns on d5 and c6 against everything. For example: Caro-Kann defense, 1...c6 against English, Slav against 1.d4 (although I play the refutations of all of the system openings, 1.d4 d5 2.e3 Bf5!, 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5! 4.c3 Nc6 5.e3?! Qb6 6.Qb3 c4! =+, 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 c5!)
An IM recently told me that he learned from a grandmaster that a great way to learn openings is to play the same kind of positions every game. He plays the Sicilian as Black and the English as White, although he also has the Pirc/Modern lines in his repertoire as well as Bc4 Sicilians.
It is not your choices; but your awareness of each of them and the abilities behind.
I hope, I would be able to get into such awareness, soon.
Thanks for sharing
You're talking about the Sicilian. EVERYTHING has a Name:
http://www.chess.com/opening/eco/B20_Sicilian_Defense_King_Davids_Opening
People can come up with silly little names for whatever variation they want but playing e4 followed by Ke2 will always be a bongcloud!
For an improving player I believe that playing open positions is best until you are confident in them. (1.e4/gambits/etc.) A closed position can open up, but can an open position close up? I also believe that stylistic considerations should be ignored in favor of developing basic competency in the more important aspects of the game. I.e. tactics, piece play, attacking, avoiding blunders. You will develop these more quickly when you practice them more often, by playing open positions.
Don't fear it; embrace it and learn it.
Well my repertuarie is at the moment
White:
Birds (f4)At the moment play it always,(OTB)
e4 (OTB vs dragon), sometimes in blitz, usualy by some anti-sicilian/advancer french/exchange caro/ and four knights.
Some times Blackmar-Dimmer, Grob, or something random
Black: Vs e4
Dragadorf sicilian (main otb)
Sometime frecnch (still learning it)
vs d4
Grunfeld or some kind of slav with g6,
Almost always some setup with g6, Bg7 and so on.
Hi All,
I was wondering; how do chess players generally build their opening repertoire?? is it a matter of choice after study, I bet consequences also may interefer sometimes.
Then I come to the idea, that as hoppy players, we could benefit each other, by swapping our opening repertoires, explaining pros & cons to each other. That should be only general discussion with headlines. To put as much as possible headlines in one thread.
my opening repertoire; which comes as follow:
As White, I play d4 ( No exceptions ); well prepared for d5, with QG & occassionally I play BlackmarDiemer Gambit (1-d4 d5 2-e4 )
As black, I play Petroff defense (1-e4 e5 2-Nf3 Nf6) & CaroKann. I reply 1-d4 with d5 as well.
I am into strategic and positional play; as you can see, I ran away from (1-e4 )
because of the Sicilian defense and some other complications, I am not really used to. Still, I have no rigid reason to do.
So, what is your favorits? and why ?