Grand Prix: e5 or f5

I have looked at dozens of annotated GM games and I destroy a lot of beginners with this great system, but I still have not found a pattern of when to play e5 or f5. Is there a rule for this, or will it come with time?

There is the standard chess principle of "open the center when you have castled and your opponent can't". Beyond that, I don't think there is an easy pattern, but I could be wrong. Let me know if you find one -- it is still a bit mysterious to me, which is one of the reasons I like the opening.

f5 is what we want to play from the very beginning. What I have found is that if you calculate and find that f5 works, you should first stop and calculate if inserting e5 will make your f5 push even stronger. Some ideas behind e5 in these situations:

• Chasing the knight on f6 away from defense of the the kingside.
• Denying your opponent the e5 square for a pawn or a piece
• Clearing the e4 square for your c6 knight, so it can join in the attack

What I don't yet understand is recognizing when it is best to play e5 without the f5 follow-up, vs. keeping both pawns on e4 and f4. If you push e5 too soon, you risk losing a lot of your typical kingside play.

Hope this helps. Sorry I don't have all the answers.

Thank you so much! I don’t have the greatest understanding of the opening (I’m 1400)  but I didn’t realize my results were so bad, around 20% wins. Is it a lack of understanding, or an opening which I should wait until I’m more advanced to learn?

I'm only about 1600 OTB myself. My correspondence rating is inflated -- if we could use the analysis board in real-life matches, I'm sure many of us would be Expert-level.

My advice is play whichever opening you enjoy and stick with it. Learn enough to get the basic ideas, then it's just tactics-tactics-tactics.

As for the Grand Prix, the tactics are a little less clear than in some of the open games, but it has taught me a lot about how to slowly build up pressure and carry out a more plodding/inevitable attack, sort of like the Kings Indian Defense. The ideas are perhaps not the most critical, but are versatile enough that you can use them against a variety of black and white systems. I've had good results, but it took practice.