pfren wrote:
You certainly have more to study if you pick any of the major Sicilians.
Yeah, a LOT more. 
French vs. The Sicilian
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pfren wrote:
You certainly have more to study if you pick any of the major Sicilians.
That is true - given the info that I provided would you be so kind as to offer a suggestion that would fit the bill.
Apotek wrote:
hi time for tea,no doubt e5 is an excellent reply,however it demands of you to know tons of theory and i think the op is trying to avoid that.
Well, I don't know tons of theory and I've been doing all right with it ;-) . If 1..e5 is too much theory for the OP then Sicilian shouldn't even be in the discussion.
time 4 tea,if e5 works alright for you then be my guest and use it as your main weapon!
TheChessAnalyst wrote:
The French seems to have the most support here. Isn't the therory kinda long and tough with the French though.
White has several ways of handling the French, The Advance, the Tarrasch, heck even KIA - seems that I could get bogged down in opening therory. With the limited time that I have to study - I want to spend most of that on Tatics and/or Pattern reconigition not opening therory. Kinda why I picked the Tromp and the Tarrasch not a lot of therory but they still have some sting for the the ill prepared.
Any opening you choose is going to have a lot of different lines and some level of theory to master it. But, why are you so concerned with opening study anyway? At our level, it's not as if your opponent is going to know the theory either ..
Time4Tea wrote:
TheChessAnalyst wrote:
The French seems to have the most support here. Isn't the therory kinda long and tough with the French though.
White has several ways of handling the French, The Advance, the Tarrasch, heck even KIA - seems that I could get bogged down in opening therory. With the limited time that I have to study - I want to spend most of that on Tatics and/or Pattern reconigition not opening therory. Kinda why I picked the Tromp and the Tarrasch not a lot of therory but they still have some sting for the the ill prepared.
Any opening you choose is going to have a lot of different lines and some level of theory to master it. But, why are you so concerned with opening study anyway? At our level, it's not as if your opponent is going to know the theory either ..
Not to worried about therory - as much as the underlying stradigies behind the opening and expected endgame. Most players at my current level are "out of book" by the 10th move anyway.
As I mentioned just looking for something that I can play for the next 20 years that will give me good practical chances - and provide some good entertainment.
Dec 27, 2014
0
#29
For entertainment, the Sicilian is never dull. But, for lower amounts of theory and solidity, the French is always a good choice. I can see why this is a difficult choice.
AlexandraThessa wrote:
There is one opening which can be played at any level with minimal theoretical study. It's the Scandinavian with Qd6. Even Karpov has played it recently. Maybe you should try this instead of the French. This way you can avoid all indian attack systems or the systems starting with 1. e4 e6 2. f4.
Scandinavian is not for me - in my prime I use to chomp at the bit when someone replied d5 - The queen comes out to early, way before there is any peice development.
Lets follow a few opening principles, and at least develop a few peices before activating the queen, and castling before queen play and within the first 8 moves is always nice.
AlexandraThessa wrote:
This way you can avoid all indian attack systems or the systems starting with 1. e4 e6 2. f4.
Black is fine against the KIA provided he knows what he's doing and doesn't play mindlessly. As for 1.e4 e6 2.f4, it's a complete joke. It gives Black free reign in the center while giving false promises of a kingside attack and is overall a bad move after 2...d5. Not sure why you would want to avoid it in the first place.
I think I will try the French and see how it fits me. Any good starter books, ones that cover opening principles and stradigium. Not just a move order book.
modern or pirc perhaps?!
drybasin wrote:
Black is fine against the KIA provided he knows what he's doing and doesn't play mindlessly. As for 1.e4 e6 2.f4, it's a complete joke. It gives Black free reign in the center while giving false promises of a kingside attack and is overall a bad move after 2...d5. Not sure why you would want to avoid it in the first place.
Every move that is not a blunder should be treated with respect- else nasty things like this one may happen!
TheChessAnalyst wrote:
Lets follow a few opening principles, and at least develop a few peices before activating the queen, and castling before queen play and within the first 8 moves is always nice.
It mostly depends on preference and what sort of middlegame you want. Many French lines have quite a solidly closed pawn center and play is fairly positional (playing to prepare pawn breaks, etc.). Also, castling Kingside quickly can sometimes be dangerous, as White is usually looking to attack there (you always have to be wary of greek-gift sacrifices, etc.).
If you want quick piece development and castling and more open play then I still think 1..e5 is a great option.
nice game!
Dec 27, 2014
0
#37
If you play the Romanishin variation (3. ... Be7) against both 3. Nc3 and 3. Nd2 then there's not that much to learn until you hit about 1900 elo which is when your opponents will start to know the theory against those lines in any depth that would cause you problems.
Dec 27, 2014
0
#38
AlexandraThessa escribió:
Unfortunately, at higher level French is doomed. There are very few variations where black barely holds and almost all endgames are theoretically won for white.
On the other, hand in Caro-Kann black solves all problems, there no bad bishop, the pawn structure is better and almost all endgames are better for black. I think nobody plays French nowadays at high level.
Petroff is also nice but it's hard to win with it while in Caro-Kann you can play for win in many variations.
Sorry, but French is usually played in high level, and so many times, not like Sicilian, but is not strange, and is not dull, the counterplay that you have in french is so interesting. (in my opinion, of course;)
pfren escribió:
You certainly have more to study if you pick any of the major Sicilians.
You can also use the same variation (Rubinstein) against 3.Nc3 and 3.Nd2. Grandmaster Georg Meier plays it almost exclusively with great results (mainly because of his excellent positional technique, and less because of the opening, mind you).
Thank you, I'll take a look at his games anyway, since I do the same for practical reasons (you practically must only know about Advance and Exchange besides of that).
The French Defense is a good defense. You either love it, or hate it. The stratagies are very unique for the system, and it takes a while to truely get a good grasp on it. Plenty of the obscure not-so-often-played lines are very fun and usually always result in an exciting game. However, it takes time to build up a good counter-attack so long as your opponent plays soundly. It requires patience and an awareness that your forces are going to be considerably restricted until the late middle game.
You certainly have more to study if you pick any of the major Sicilians.
You can also use the same variation (Rubinstein) against 3.Nc3 and 3.Nd2. Grandmaster Georg Meier plays it almost exclusively with great results (mainly because of his excellent positional technique, and less because of the opening, mind you).