Everyone seems to have played the Caro (mostly badly) about 20 or so years ago. Busting open the position & making it more active suited my style more than the slower more maneuver-oriented lines. It can often transpose into the QGD Semi-Tarrasch though, and a good knowledge of how to play with an isolated d-pawn comes in very handy.
Chess openings for White according to Expertise87
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bigyugi9 wrote:
ThrillerFan wrote:
Fear_ItseIf wrote:
its weird to see such sharp lines agains the sicilian, and in comparison the tarrasch french and scotch game. What do you exactly base your opening choices off?
One would hope his style of play. Popularity and statistics are the WORST thing to base your openings off of. If the Najdorf scores 48%, and the Scandinavian scores 41% (Numbers are hypothetical), but the Najdorf makes no sense to you, and the Scandinavian is crystal clear to you, you understand it, and you're all over it like white on rice, then while the Najdorf may have better statistics, I'd bet you the Scandinavian would have better statistics for all games in which specifically you have Black!
Therefore, I'm not embarassed to be currently playing the Veresov as White and Modern Defense as Black. I've played many other openings. e4, d4, c4, b4, b3, f4, Nf3, Nc3, g3, etc as White (I consider 1.g3 my second option, and do play it here and there) and the Sicilian, French, 1...e5, Caro-Kann, Scandinavian, King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian, QGD, Slav, Semi-Slav, Dutch, etc as Black, but if my personal best results come in the Modern, why not play it? Because the statistics are a little worse at the GM level? Try telling that to Nigel Davies, Jon Speelman, Duncan Suttles, and other GM Advocates of the Modern!
Are you joking? the Modern is very difficult to understand and play. And white can just play 3. c4 and get a nice space advantage...
bigyugi9,
Please tell me you are kidding. The Modern is very easy to understand. You talk like White gets some huge advantage simply because he has an advantage in space. I guess you must think the King's Indian, Benoni, Grunfeld, Benko Gambit, Alekhine's Defense, Nimzovich's Defense (1.e4 Nc6), Pirc, and Modern are all busted.
Clearly you must know absolutely nothing about hypermodern strategy to make such a stupid comment. 3.c4 is fine. Not knocking 3.c4. But it's no scare to Black in any way, shape, or form. It's no better and no worse than 3.Nc3 or 3.Nf3. Black has plenty of options (3...d6, 3...c6, 3...c5, just to name a few), and you have the same typical game with White having a miniscule advantage that you get from the Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, Ruy Lopez, etc.
The Modern also has the advantage of being able to transpose into favorable versions of the Dragon, King's Indian, and Benoni, along with having many of its own independent lines. There's a lot for White to take into consideration. At the GM Level, it might score slightly lower than the Sicilian Najdorf, but again, like I said before, if you base your openings on GM Statistics, you are insane.
if you take a look at tiger's modern, he even says that 3. c4 forces a kings indian which is pretty much annoying if black is a kings indian player. There is a line called the averbakh which is a way, black can play without transposing to KID, but even tiger says its not so good. I am pretty sure modern is hard to understand. there are some abstract ideas like c6 and b5. what to do if white includes a4 bc4 ba2 etc. Anyways 3. c4 is something to worry about. Look at the mainline kings indians where white gets huge advantage. I am not saying the modern or any of the things you mentioned are busted. I am just saying all of stuff you listed are a lot more complex than they need to be.
Expertise: How did your tournament go? is the caro stuff going to be available soon?
I won some money. Caro stuff will be up soon, the major issue is I'm trying to add 1.d4 to my repertoire which is eating up my chess time :)
is caro coming soon? and d4 repertoire is nice too. Also i'm interested in the pfren game in qc2 exchange qgd could you post all these when you get a chance. Thanks
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After some experimentation, I'm finally ready to tackle the Caro-Kann.
While I don't think White has much of a chance for a lasting edge in the main lines of the Caro, I can suggest a sideline that leads to equality but White gets some nice active pieces and I've found some attractive continuations.
The line I will be recommending is a mainline, and against 4...Bf5 (4...Nd7 5.Ng5 and 4...Nf6 5.Nxf6+, I'll have analysis for these too) is 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nh3. This line, which has been played against me many times on ICC, did not seem like a serious threat as I always replied 7...Nf6 and seemed to get equality without an issue. I then learned that my opponents were not playing the most critical variations.
I have played this variation in two OTB tournaments so far and won both games in the opening as my opponents played the same bad line: 7...e6 (only OK if the followup includes a quick Nf6) 8.Nf4 Bh7 9.Bc4 Bd6?
why is there only h6 analysed in the 6.Bg5 line???
you missed some critical variations like the posioned pawn and Be7
Be7 is covered in the third post about the Najdorf.
It's true that I haven't covered the Poisoned Pawn.
I'm changing a lot of my openings around, but against the Poisoned Pawn I play (after 7...Qb6) 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Nb3. White might be able to achieve a slight edge but at the very least can enjoy a playable game.
Is this the grand prix attack? Do you have plans posting on the english or adams attack? thanks for the thread! very helpful.
I have no intention of posting anything Grand Prix, English attack, or Adams attack related. What is the Adams attack?
I've changed a lot of my openings and will update accordingly.
The Adams attack is 6.h3!? against the Najdorf, with the intention of g2-g4 and Bg2, seeking an improved g3 variation.
I see. I always thought Black could get decent play with a quick e6-d5 in that line since White is taking his sweet time organizing his play. I could be very wrong, of course.
Expertise87 wrote:
I see. I always thought Black could get decent play with a quick e6-d5 in that line since White is taking his sweet time organizing his play. I could be very wrong, of course.
white does indeed get a comfortable game but if black plays correctly white should not gain any advantage.
where are you, expertise 87?
Illinois?
are you back after a long break or am I seeing ghosts?? LOL Illinois
BTW, why no Petroff Defence? and what do you play against the pirc/modern complex? Also, a 2100 (I believe it is ThrillerFan) says the tarrasch is "not a serious try for white" after c5? I have started to play for tarrasch and i follow your lines after nf6 and play an IQP position against c5. Can you show some specific lines?
Glad you are back and your work is always appreciated.
Also, is your goal to make this a complete "white repertoire"then i think something against the center counter and against the pirc/modern complex should be next on the to-do list.
I do. I'm playing a tournament this weekend, I'll post the Caro when I have a little more time.