Change to 1.d4. what do I need to know?

Hi all, I'm considering a change to 1.d4 and need to find out the key details behind it.

I'm rated around 1400 online, and have been a 1.e4 player all of my short 14 years. I played 1.d4 for fun against a lower rated player, beat him badly, and in the King's Indian tournament, I've got a 3/4 so far and winning position in just about every one of the other games.

Is there anything special I need to know? Openings to try and avoid, maybe openings to play?

Thanks for your help and time.

Well, 1.e4 and 1.d4 are two very different ways to open.

Generally 1.e4 involves more tactical concepts.

Generally 1.d4 involves more positional concepts.

I think your change of heart in openings is a little premature.  You need to play more games with 1.d4 to get a feel for the opening an the variations.  What variations were you playing with 1.e4?

Look into Queen's Gambit lines, but be aware of the plethora of defenses devised to counteract this important opening. The Torre Attack can be fun, as well. Have fun. A lot of d4 lines are fun to play, and they will often intimidate lower rated players.

I normally always play an italian game, and sometimes I might play the Ruy Lopez.

well, since you play the ruy lopez you might adjust well to the 1.d4.  The thing is that you need to really develop your middlegame skills as most 1.d4 games are decided in the middlegame.  The Italian is a very different game than 1.d4 because it is a fight out of the opening.  The middlegame is inportant there as well, but you need to know the opening to have a good position.

Check out the games from the Alekhine v Capablanca World Championship match in 1927. Tons of 1.d4 games, with tons of Queen's Gambits.

I have played both 1 e4 and 1 d4 . With 1 e4 I find I face a smaller variety of openings ( mostly sicilians ! ) than with 1 d4 . It also seems to me that most players are not as well prepared in their 1 d4 defenses as they are in their 1 e4 defenses. This is just my personal experience.

I have had the same experince as Reb:  most players have less prepared for defense against 1 d4.  Just a note: you can cut down on some of the theory by playing the Catalan.  That can help you avoid the Nimzo, the QI and the QGD.

Years ago I decided I didn't want to learn about the Benko Gambit, so I play 3.Nf3 after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5

You certainly have to learn how to win the pawn back in the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Many players bring themselves in big trouble when they're trying to defend that pawn.

i actually want the excactly opposite...i suggest you to buy a book about the kings indian defence which i find pretty annoying!other than that i agree with most comments

Look into the Queens gambit. Also watch out for the Gruenfield 1. d4,Nf6 2.c4,g6 3.Nc3,d5

Kingdoogie

gruenfeld is fun (Y)

and also, look at the recent rapidplay between karpov and kasparov..

I suggest buying chris wards book, how to play the queens gambit. Ward is a strong grandmaster who loves playing the QGD Exchange Variation, which he reccomend in the book. I have learnt so much from the book and when i switched from e4 to d4 it was this book that helped me do it. I feel much more comfortable playing white now!

I favor 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Qc2 -- a Benko declined that's easy to understand.  See my profile for an example game.  Besides, it's fun to play against the regular Benoni, you don't want to be missing out on that!

I've played both e4 & d4.  The biggest difference is that, for the most part, d4 games are not as tactically sharp as e4.  Move order is not as critical; it's more about identifying a deployment strategy that flows into a cohesive middlegame plan.

However, probably because of that, you'll encounter a LOT more transposition than you're accustomed to.  Nf3 THEN d4 is a common move order.  After Nf6-e6, I count 8 different common named systems that you can easily get to (QGD Orthodox, Semi-Slav, QGA, Nimzo, Bogo, Queen's Indian, Catalan, Benoni).  One of my opponents recently surprised me with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 (Orthodox QGD) 3.Nc3 c6 (now a Semi-Slav) 4.e3 Bd6 5.Nf3 f5 (now a Dutch Stonewall!).

So needless to say, you need to be prepared for a number of different defenses.  Even aside from the transpositional tricks, you'll see a lot more variety in what you encounter.  With e4, you probably see like 40% e5, 40% Sicilian, maybe 10% French, and 10% misc.  With d4, you'll very commonly meet QGA, QGD, Slav, e6 Indians, KID; maybe Grunfeld at a higher rating level.

Enjoy playing around with it, though.  If you've been playing e4 for 14 years, it'll probably be good for you to get some experience in a different style of game.

you should either try the queens gambit, which i play or the queen's pawn game

I find that I do pretty well with both QGA and QGD. QGA is fun because 3.e3 wins the pawn back instantly with 4.Bxc4. Another option is Qa4+ followed by Qxc4, but it develops the queen a bit too early for my tastes. Either way, it's a nice fair exchange.

I switched to 1.d4 because the Queen sitting behind the d pawn is a nice insurance policy. I found that 1.e4 openings have you overly concerned about guarding pawns to the point that one book deviation can have you down in material.