Help me build a repertoire

So what you think would be good? I would appriciate any suggestions.

I need eight openings. Four each for white and black.

Broken down into two general categories.

1. e4 - positional      1. d4 - positional             

1. e4 - sharp            1. d4 - sharp

1.e4 sharp             scotch

1.e4 boring           KIA

1.d4 boring          slav (or pretty much any of them

1.d4 interesting, perhaps benoni.

I think your basic premise is flawed. (just my opinion)

Sharp and posutional? I suggest choose one of those.

Then as white, decide on either d4 or e4.

As Black, decide on a main defense against e4, and a main defense against d4.

I would add to the foregoing comments, concentrate on picking up a couple of openings that will help you learn about chess.

If getting better and setting a sound foundation is important, that is.

No hypermodern stuff. No difficult openings.

Try the Scotch or the Center Game. Giuoco.

Can't one make a genral distinction between a sharp or active opening and a positional or boring (as Chessy put it succinctly) opening?

For example, I've heard the general remarks that The Sicilian is an active response to 1. e4 wheras the Caro Kann is a more quiet response to 1. e4

Now I've heard that generally speaking for white 1. e4 is sharp and 1. d4 is more positional. But isn't there a distinction withing those individually?

Like say the Ruy Lopez is more active than the Giuoco Piano, or whatever.

don't play the sicillian at your level (and my level), it is very complicated, and you can spend a long term learning it. Play e5 or e6 as black.

Thanks Chessy, you got the gist of what I'm looking for.

What I play is this: (not saying   anybody should play the same, but it gives an idea of the structure)

Black: Against d4 I play Nf6, aiming for the Budapest

           Against e4 I play e5, Find one good line each against the Spanish, Italian Scotch and 2 Knights

As White: I play e4. After e5 I play the Vienna. After c5  I play the Grand prix. You need a working knowledge of Scotch, French and Scandinavian.

When I'm feeling ornery, I open with 1 b4

This gets me through most games, although there are obviously a lot of gaps....

This brings up a question I've always had.

Is a particular opening more complicated because there's more variations associated with it that you have to account for? And if so, aren't the various variations based on sound chess principles?

In other words...if my opponent plays 1. e4 and I respond with 1...c5 then I've essentially played the Sicilian and I should try and base my subsequent moves on sound opening principles (e.g. develop your pieces, protect your King etc. etc. )

I mean I still have to make those same sort of decisions if I play 1...c6. right?

So what makes one so much more complicated than the other that I should avoid it?

Ah, that's it. Pefect. Thanks

This thread is all about getting some feedback for what openings people generally like so I can go and explore them using the resources here and see if they set off a spark in me and make me want to choose that as the one I'm gonna stick with for a while. I've read that you should stick with a few openings and get to know them well rather then jumping from one to the other.

A sound opening with counter-chances and annoyes many e4 players would be the french defence.

The french has sharp lines like the poisoned pawn.

More positional lines like the Nf3 variation in the winawer.

The classical variation of the french defence is good for nutrilizing white's advantage though the Alekhine-Chartard attack can get quite wild

What I find helpful is collecting games of the lines I play. In SCID I made a Database called My Repertoire, and add games of all my lines. Then the tree window tells me which moves are more succesful in a perticular position, and you can also see why common bluders fail. Here is a great place to download game collections by Opening variation:

http://www.pgnmentor.com/files.html#openings

sicillian is really sharp, black often allows white to take a huge initiative

THe accelerated drahgon is not so sharp

yes, but you have to learn the closed, grand prix and open, there are loads of line,

grand prix is quite easy to play against.

The only anti-sicilian that gives black any real problems would be the closed sicilian with nc3 and bb5 after nc6.

For open you can play the accelerated dragon.

Someone learning the semi-slav would probably have more to learn than that

Scotch -E4 white

Sicillian-E4 Black

Queens Gambit-D4 white

Budapest-D4 Black

The budapest is not sharp. usually black gets a solid but worse position.

The seni-slav is probably a better choice for a combative player.

The French-

Awesome as Black

Torture as White

Amateurs don't need that many openings for White & Black. You just won't be able to master all of them simultaneously. And even strong players usually have only 2 of them (I mean main weapons, not some special prep before the game).