Why does white have an advantage ? What does it consist of ?
Without argumentation your arguments are hollow
Has the Berlin completely neutralized 1. e4?
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i read somewere that white has the endgame advantage but because knights are so slow and black has the 2 bishops that its about equal.
If all pieces would magically disappear from the board white has a superiour pawn structure and should win in normal cases (not all cases are normal as Grishuk - Kramnik shows though !).
People who claim that the bishop pair is the compensation for the worse pawn structure are most of the time wrong. In many variations black exchanges his dark squared bishop quite happily against a white knight. Where in the berlin defence the white advantages are quite clear (better pawn structure and more space) the black advantages are much more subtle.First of all black has the posibility to block the white kingside majority quite well on g4 (for this reason black exchanges his dark squared bishop against a knight. The dark squared bishop does not help the blockade on g4 while the white knight can help the white majority passed g4.
Another advantage of black is that the white queenside pawns can easily because very ill. In most games white ends up with a4/b3/c4 a majority that can be attacked by blacks whitesquared bishop and by a potential knight coming to d4
black has some other advantages that i will let people figure out for themselfs for now :)
best way to do it is play d4
There's one in every crowd.
if you think it has neutralized 1. e4 (which it clearly hasn't) play 1. d4
who cares 1.e4 is bad anyway
[I bet, even if i write in these brackets im trolling, someone will quote me and try to argue]...
Fear_ItseIf wrote:
who cares 1.e4 is bad anyway
noob. 
Of course not! 1. e4 is a good starting move that doesnt break any rule. The Berlin defence is a very good defence maybe Slight advantage for white or maybe equality it all depends on what variation. And in the case the Berlin neutralized the Spanish. White still can play Scotch! 1. e4 is impossible to neutralize. Is as good as 1.d4 just that 1.d4 is more solid and is on fashion right now. Just my humble opinion.
pfren wrote:
srikanth_narahari wrote:
One of the worst chessbase products ever.
Alyosha right from the start complains that he never, ever had much success against the Berlin, that he is frequently at a loss about what plan he should follow, and decorates the whole thing with a few interesting, but theoretically totally irrelevant games.
One of the best tries for a consistent white repertoire against the Berlin Wall is to be found in the nice book "The Grandmaster's Battle manual" by the Greek GM Kotronias. I think he is slightly optimistic about white's chances, but still his suggestions make very good sense, and are very well laid out and analysed.
Interesting. Should check out that book some time. Thanks for sharing. :)
JRgascon wrote:
Of course not! 1. e4 is a good starting move that doesnt break any rule. The Berlin defence is a very good defence maybe Slight advantage for white or maybe equality it all depends on what variation. And in the case the Berlin neutralized the Spanish. White still can play Scotch! 1. e4 is impossible to neutralize. Is as good as 1.d4 just that 1.d4 is more solid and is on fashion right now. Just my humble opinion.
I agree. :)
e4 is quite easy to neutralize by easy, direct development and countering threats.
d4 is not when white chooses to push the c-pawn to c4 to contest for the center, where imbalances are made.
JRgascon wrote:
Of course not! 1. e4 is a good starting move that doesnt break any rule. The Berlin defence is a very good defence maybe Slight advantage for white or maybe equality it all depends on what variation. And in the case the Berlin neutralized the Spanish. White still can play Scotch! 1. e4 is impossible to neutralize. Is as good as 1.d4 just that 1.d4 is more solid and is on fashion right now. Just my humble opinion.
I love the Scotch, never really liked positions in Ruy Lopez.
falcogrine wrote:
JRgascon wrote:
Of course not! 1. e4 is a good starting move that doesnt break any rule. The Berlin defence is a very good defence maybe Slight advantage for white or maybe equality it all depends on what variation. And in the case the Berlin neutralized the Spanish. White still can play Scotch! 1. e4 is impossible to neutralize. Is as good as 1.d4 just that 1.d4 is more solid and is on fashion right now. Just my humble opinion.
I love the Scotch, never really liked positions in Ruy Lopez.
Matter of taste.
quak170 wrote:
What is the latest Berlin theory?
I think 5.Qe2 is very powerful, as played by Short, Negi.
srikanth_narahari wrote:
Matter of taste.
yes, but still proves that there is no refutation to e4, as there are so many continuations that have been well-established and analyzed, with theory going 20+ moves deep. If you don't like one, there are almost infinitely many others to choose from!
falcogrine wrote:
srikanth_narahari wrote:
Matter of taste.
yes, but still proves that there is no refutation to e4, as there are so many continuations that have been well-established and analyzed, with theory going 20+ moves deep. If you don't like one, there are almost infinitely many others to choose from!
True in any sensible opening.
White objectivly has an advantage in the berlin endgame.
Realising it is the problem