Find an opening that suits my playing style well.

I have been trying for a while to choose an opening for white that fits nicely with my playing style. Until some point last year I played the 'Fried Liver' attack but stopped because I now see Black's advantage in it. The Italian ends up in a lot of symmetrical positions when I don't play the Fried Liver (when I play it) and it just doesn't have the same feel to it.

I tried playing d4 openings but then I realised how much I prefer open positions and that e4 openings are probably a better idea for me.

I prefer bishops over knights and open positions over closed positions. I don't like openings where both sides have pieces in the same places such as the four knights.

I quite enjoy playing against the Sicilian Defence, especially the Dragon because I love playing the Yugoslav attack.

Any help would be appreciated.

I believe any type of opening has it's value! you can't determine an opening as the best and it depends on some factors: your playing style, your knowledge of chess, your momentary mood and even your personality,... I believe it's you that can help you the most.

Can you reccomend a good way to practise tactics?

Pfren, 

I agree with your comment about opening study to some extent.

But the people here are playing correspondence chess for fun. A large part of correspondence chess is studying openings. While your point about studying openings may be appropriate for people who focus only on live games, it's not appropriate for players who enjoy correspondence chess, regardless of their level.

There are many reasons to play chess. Not everyone wants to break 1800 FIDE. For those people, finding an opening that they can enjoy is important.

Thank you!I'll definitely check these out!

yes. earth shattering advice

Until you change one really bad habit you have, you will never get better.

I say this to everybody.  As long as you shown a marked preference for Bishops over Knights or Knights over Bishops, you will ALWAYS FAIL!

You must be objective about your minor pieces, and prefer the Knight when the Knight is better in the given position at hand, and prefer the Bishop when the Bishop is better.

There are even times when a Knight or Bishop is preferable over a Rook.  Being able to judge when that is the case is part of understanding simple strategy.

Forget about openings until you can get these basic concepts down, especially determining which piece is better in say, 1000 different positions where the imbalance is one side has a Bishop, the other a Knight.

I think most of you misunderstand me. I have studied endgames and mid games and tactics. I just want to know if there is an opening out there that would help me turn the game into a position that I find interesting and useful.

I'm not trying to make the opening my main point of training, I just want an opening that will fit, so to speak. I don't plan on studying my openings too much, and I haven't yet. This is because I prefer to get experience in the opening by seeing what positions result from certain moves.

You misunderstand me. I prefer knights over bishops in closed positions.

I was just stating that I would prefer to have two bishops in an open position than two knights in a closed position. I prefer the bishop, but if the position is closed I will either plan a breakthrough or try to trade a bishop for an opponent's knight. (I usually don't find effective breakthroughs but I have my moments)

As a sidenote, Bobby Fischer preferred bishops over knights and was the best chess player of his time. I'm not saying that bishops are definitely better than knights, I'm just saying that a preference doesn't matter so long as it doesn't cloud the playing style

I can barely remember that game. But yes I realised Nd5 was a bad move as soon as I made it. I have played the Yugoslav attack enough times to know how much difference a queen trade can make and at the time as white I never wanted to trade queens in the Yugoslav.

This was because I played through a few of Bobby Fischer's games against the dragon and every time he traded queens he wither lost or drew the game. A bit of a generalisation I know, but that was how I saw it.

Thanks for the help and advice. I really appreciate it.

Although it pains me to do so when 1-it's pfren, 2-it's a point open to discussion and 3- it is rude out of line-analysing, I must admit it is true.

An opening that suits you ? And when you're out of it, huh ?

I just want to find an opening that will suit my current playing style. I'm going to learn about it before it becomes the opening I play most often.

Just because my rating is lower than yours doesn't make me an inexperienced dumbass. I barely ever play by the book. I just don't enjoy playing the sort of positions I keep getting into with my current repertoire of openings.

I'm asking for help, not offensive criticism. Constuctive criticism I don't mind, but you are making a great many assumptions.

Maybe I should mention I have been trying to find an opening that suits me for a while now. I asked for help on Chess.com because I know there are a lot of experienced players on here and I wasn't getting anywhere.

If you want to help, then help. But if you just want to throw insults at me, piss off.

I'm not trying to find the 'best' opening because the answer is definitely subjective. I have tried to explain those factors in my first comment so as to make it possible for others to help me. I wish I could find an opening myself, but I haven't found one yet and I thought I may as well see if there is anyone on Chess.com that could help me. There are a lot of players here that are more experienced than me and I'm hoping someone can tell me what I wish to find.

Thanks for your help anyway. It was much more informative than pfren's comment

Thank you. That is all I am after. I actually do want to break 1800 FIDE but that isn't a main focus of mine. At the level I play chess at it won't be happening anytime soon. I want to represent my school's chess team (I am the captain) as well as possible, but I don't want to focus my whole life on chess just yet.

Against ..e5 you could play the scotch game, or the goring gambit. Both are quite good.

I'll research the goring gambit. I've never heard of it before. Although I usually dont like gambits, its worth a shot.

I'm playing the scotch game at the moment but I dont like how the b file ends up open a lot of the time.

Anyway, thank you for your input. It helps to have some suggestions to work from. :)

PS. The reason I don't like gambits is I'm not always aggressive enough to compensate for the loss of the pawn, not because I have to give it up. (Just put that there for those that take me for a dipshit because my rating is lower than theirs)

I just looked up the goring gambit. Not the sort of opening I like. Not quite. I just don't like that the c3 knight can be pinned so easily with Bb4. It's someone else's opening, but not mine.

Thanks anyway.

I just realised I should clear something up. It's only after 1. e4 e5 that I need an opening for. Every other move I have a response for

As the captain of your school's chess team, you may want consider that you set an example to the rest of the team. 

In that case, learn to play 1.e4 e5 first and foremost, from both sides of the board.