Help me solve this gigantic hole in my repertoire: 1. Nf3 g6

Hello.

I had almost finally finished my White repertoire, based on 1. Nf3 to reach the following openings:

• King’s Indian Defense Fianchetto Variation
• Grünfeld Defense Fianchetto Variation
• Symmetrical English with a Kingside Fianchetto and d4 on move 6 or 7
• Queen’s Gambit Accepted with Nf3+e3
• Slow Slav 4. e3
• Dutch Defense with c4, d4, g3, Bg2
• Queen’s Indian Defense
• Catalan

… when suddenly, to my horror, I found a gigantic hole in my repertoire: 1. Nf3 g6

The problem is that after 2…Bg7 the Black Bishop would control the e5 square and therefore Black would be able to play …e5 entering the Reversed Sicilian which is out of my repertoire.

And if I play d4 to prevent …e5 then Black would be able to play …c5 which would force me to enter into either a Benoni Fianchetto Variation or a Maroczy Bind both of which are out of my repertoire (since I play the Symmetrical English with a Kingside Fianchetto and I delay d4 until move 6 or 7).

I’ve looked at all my possibilities:

• 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 e5 : Reversed Sicilian
• 2. c4 Bg7 3. d4 c5 4. e4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 : Maroczy Bind
• 2. c4 Bg7 3. d4 c5 4. d5 : Benoni Fianchetto Variation
• 2. c4 Bg7 3. d4 c5 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 : This is just equal
• 2. c4 Bg7 3. d4 c5 4. e3 : A variation of the Symmetrical English which I don’t play
• 2. c4 Bg7 3. d4 c5 4. g3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nc6 : This even gives Black the advantage
• 2. c4 Bg7 3. g3 e5 : Reversed Sicilian
• 2. c4 Bg7 3. e4 c5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 : Maroczy Bind
• 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 e5 : Reversed Sicilian
• 2. d4 Bg7 3. g3 c5 4. c3 : Here White’s advantage is way too small
• 2. d4 Bg7 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 : This is just equal
• 2. d4 Bg7 3. g3 c5 4. d5 : Benoni Fianchetto Variation
• 2. d4 Bg7 3. e4 : Modern Defense
• 2. d4 Bg7 3. Bf4 : London System

All of these are not in my repertoire. So there seems to be no way of getting around this problem.

The horror! My entire repertoire is defective!

I need to modify my repertoire, but how?

Now I could just play a Maroczy Bind against 1. Nf3 g6 while keeping my usual repertoire against 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 (a Kingside Fianchetto and d4 on move 6 or 7).

But it would not be very economic and cost-efficient.

I don’t want to play two different things against the same Black setup depending on the move order that Black uses to achieve this setup…

I could also consider playing the Modern Defense since if I’m not mistaken White’s advantage in the Modern is much bigger than his usual first move advantage. But firstly this is a 1. e4 opening not a 1. d4 opening so it would seem weird for me to play it, and secondly by playing Nf3 so early in the Modern I believe that White has lost many of his strongest options.

Maybe I should slightly change what I usually play in the Symmetrical English, by continuing to play a Kingside Fianchetto against …e6, but by playing a Maroczy Bind against …g6.

It would mean that in the Symmetrical English I would need to delay playing g3 or d4 until Black has committed to moving either …e6 or …g6:

- when Black plays …e6 I would need to play g3 and make a Kingside Fianchetto

- when Black plays …g6 I would need to play d4 and get into a Maroczy Bind (no Kingside Fianchetto here)

But unfortunately Black can hide his intention by playing 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 and then I must commit first to either:

- a Kingside Fianchetto 4. g3, when Black would be able to play 4…g6 getting me out of this repertoire (since against …g6 we were supposed to go into a Maroczy Bind)

- or a Maroczy Bind 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4, when Black would be able to play 5…e6 also getting me out of this repertoire (since against …e6 we were supposed to go into a Kingside Fianchetto)

So this repertoire doesn’t seem to work either.

Another possibility would be to play an early d4 (on move 3) against everything in the Symmetrical English, going for a Maroczy Bind against everything.

But there would be two problems with this:

- Firstly, if I’m not mistaken the Maroczy Bind is supposed to be effective only when Black makes a Kingside Fianchetto, but if I play it against everything by playing d4 as early as move 3 then I would give Black the option of playing …e6 and developing his King’s Bishop on the a3-f8 diagonal in which case White’s advantage won’t be as big as his usual first move advantage.

- Secondly, there is the sound and strong Black gambit 1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nf6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d5 6. cxd5 Bc5 7. N5c3 O-O, in which White is scoring pretty poorly.

So this repertoire is not without its flaws either.

I probably need to make some bigger changes to my repertoire to cover this hole…

Any ideas and opinions on how I should modify my repertoire to solve this problem?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

I lost interest after seeing the first 3 openings...

2. b3 looks like it has some merit.

1. Nf3 g6 2. b3 Bg7 is just stupid, it even gives Black an advantage.

Doesn't anyone have any better suggestion than this?

There is no reason need to avoid either the Benoni or the Maroczy Bind.

Simple. dont play  1 Nf3, start with D4 , C4 or E4 . Problem solved

You could let black execute his plan and still play a Kings Indian Attack.

You can't always get what you want...

But if you try sometimes, You just might find...

You get what you need!...yeah, yeah

Seriously, no disrespect intended, if you are afraid to play d4, you are probably not ready.

No it's not. Skynet's problem is that after 1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 he still has to recon with both e7-e5 and c7-c5 by black. After 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6, in order to stay in his g3 King's Indian repertoire, he has to play 5.g3. That's when 5...c5 6.d5 e6 will lead right into the full value g3 Benoni.

@ Skynet: Unfortunately there is no solution. Learning to play the white side of the Pirc/Modern is probably the best idea, not only because it's rather fine for white from a theoretical standpoint, but also because it teaches you to play a different type of position. But I understand how it makes you feel unwell to have a pawn on c2 and a knight on c3. As a live-long non-e4 player, these positions do not come naturally to me either.

I'm no GM, but at the risk of offering my "stupid undergm idea" you could just play g3 and after Bg7 3. Bg2 it's his turn to commit something.

There is no watertight repetoire.

I am still very confused lol.

Maybe it is because I woke up lol.

However, What exactly is your problem again?

After 1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7

are you saying black is going to play e5 as a gambit?

I have played this modern move order from time to time.

In the English as well and normally once d4 is played many players from the black side follow up with Nf6 at that point.

Ah, sorry, I have to correct myself. I missed that you listed the following as part of your repertoire.

• Symmetrical English with a Kingside Fianchetto and d4 on move 6 or 7

How is that different from the position after 1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 0-0 5.g3 c5 6.Bg2 cxd4 7.Nxd4? It seems to me like you transpose to Symmetrical English with 6.d4.

Yeah I think you do not have a gigantic hole.

The only line which would be off your list. I believe would be if they played c5.

1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 c5

You may enter into Marcozy Bind or Benoni territory than.

However, With that move order there is one new line you might get scared about lol.

Its called The Modern Defense/Improved Macrozy:

1.Nf3 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 c5 4.e4 Qb6

Now that does seem tricky.

@Rumo75 and @X_PLAYER_J_X :

The problem with 1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. c4 is the move 3...c5 which like I said:

@Marcos-Jekyll : Nope sorry, I don't like the KIA because it gives Black instant equality. When I have the White pieces I want an advantage.

You love to fianchetto your king bishop I see! :P

I dont understand all the concern/worry over move #2?

But that is an inferior Benoni, as you have not moved your c-pawn yet.

@Rumo75:

In the variation you quote, White has moved his c-Pawn on move 3...

If White doesn't move his c-Pawn, then it would go like this instead: 1. Nf3 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. g3 c5 4. d5 d6

But here Black is definitely not in an "inferior Benoni", in fact Black is probably already equal.

Anytime someone asks a serious question about an opening, they can count on responses telling them to a) play something else, and b) stop worrying about the opening, because you're not a GM! 

Seriously, though, you seem committed to and comfortable with the Nf3/c4 fianchetto English positions, so why not just stick with that path?  1.Nf3 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.g3 e5 4.e4 isn't strictly accordingly to your repertoire, but hardly looks appealing for Black.  You are not compelled to play d4 into the Maroczy bind, and frankly I wouldn't in that position.

Honestly, I don't think most people play 1...g6 & 2...Bg7 with the intention of enforcing a quick e5 anyway.  You are probably not likely to run into that often, and you're probably already confounding Modern Defense players a bit with your refusal to commit in the center yourself... no e4 or d4 to attack! 

@Spiffe:

The line you give 1.Nf3 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.g3 e5 4.e4? is a positional blunder which gives Black instant equality if not more...

Oh and after 1. Nf3 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. g3 my games database say that Black will play 3...e5 or 3...d6 4...e5 about 40% of the time. So your conjecture that I'm "not likely to run into that often" is unfortunately false.