Help with opening repertoire

Hello,

I cam back to chess 6 months ago after an over 6 year break. When I left I was playing likely ~1600 strength, but I managed to improve and my performance in last 5 tournaments was >2000 (note, the time controls are 15'). In any case I managed to qualify to the final of a grand prix event and since it is held in January I do not have much time to prepare anything else besides openings. The playing field will be 4 FM's, a CM and a few 2000+ opponents (10 players total). I played with all of them before having mixed results. If possible I'd like to ask for advise from possibly master level players on how to strengthen my opening repertoire. I'd like to supply my tournament opening repertoire as white and black with recent games and I'd be very grateful if some experienced players would look through them and point out a) what opening ideas I missed/I am not prepared against b) suggest sources on specific openings.

Opening repertoir as white:

1. e4 (I can handle playing 1. c4 and 1. Nf3, but I have always played e4 in tournaments)

a) 1. ... c5

Against the sicilian I have always had trouble with main lines as white, but I have played a solid 2. c3 and more recently I have played 2. Nf3 with 3. Bb5. In any case I'd very much appreciate more input on 3. Bb5 since I intend to make it my main opening against sicilian:

1. ... e6

I have played quite a bad gambit line in th advanced variation with 9. Nbd2, but more recently I play

2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 and if 3. ... Nf6 I play the Korchnoi Gambit, 4. e5 Nd7 5. Nf3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Bd3 Qb6 8. O-O cxd4 9. cxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Qxd4 11. Nf3

but I did not have the opportunity to play it in a tournament yet.

1. ... c6 I play a system in the exchange variation, I'll show it through next sample game

1. ... d6 or ... g6

Frankly agains Pirc I am least prepared, I do play the mainline ausrian atack, but I have very lile knowledge in all the sidelines, again, a sample game from the last tournament

1. ... d5 I play the main line with early Ne5, but I have yet o encounter scandinavian (+ I know none of my opponents in the final play scandinavian)

1. ... e5

Here I have played the evans gambit with decent success for a while, but now that most of my opponents know that I play it they actually know how to counter it effectively. In any case I switched to mainline Ruy Lopez as shown in the next game:

1. ... Nf6

I have yet to encounter Alekhine defense, but I am not theoretically prepared against it. My main move if 2. Nc3 with 2. ... d5 3. exd5 Nxd5 4. Bc4

1. ...Nc6 

I just play 2. Nf3 with blacks best move being 2. e5

That pretty much sums up my opening repertoire as white, I am open to all constructive comments/critiques.

Now, openings for black:

1. e4

I always play c5. In the main line I play Najdorf, more specifically:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6:

6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 Bg3 Bg7

6. f3 h5 

6. Be2 Nc6 and classical structure in mainline

6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 with some very long lines in poisoned pawn variation

6. Bc4 b5 7. Bb3 Bb7

In any case I feel relatively safe playing the sicilian. In other lines:

2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 cxd4

2. f4 or Nc3 I play 2. ... e6 with quick d5, although I have run into problems with closed sicilian

3. Bb5 Nd7

In any case here one of my games in the sicilian:

1. d4

Here I play 2 systems, but both start with 1. ... d5

so if 2. c4 I sometimes play 2. e5. Here are 2 games I played in Albin countergambit:

Now, I know it's not the most solid opening, but I always enjoyed playing dynamic position, even though I might not have yet the strength to play them effectively as shown by last game. My main opening against d4 is the QGD/semi-slav, where I believe I get decent positions out of the opening. Unfortunately it did not score that well against my FM opponents as shown in next 2 games:

Against 1. c4 I try to transpose into QGD or play a line:

1. c4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 c5 4. d5 Bxc3 5. bxc3 f5

Against 1. Nf3 I play 1. ... d5 with g6/Bg7 structure and e5 if possible. Also after 1. Nf3 d5 at almost any point if white play c4 I take on c4 and play Nc6. Frankly I have not yet encountered c4 and Nf3 in tournament play, also I know that only 1 opponent in the final plays that, so I am mostly focusing on e4,d4 openings as black.

So, if you went through all of that thanks for patience and hopefully I did not bore you to death with those games :)

If you have some advise or a relevant source for me please share it, I'll gladly accept any advice :)

If you're beating masters as black, you're not going to get any useful information here.

Look into Grandmaster Repertoire series books to see if there's something that strikes your fancy, or start combing through game collections of the greats to try to draw positional inspiration from the masters.

Best of luck.

It's not the fact that on occasion I can beat a master makes a decent player. Overall against FM's I had 1 win, 2 draws and 4 losses which is hardly an impressive record considering I'll be playing all of them soon. Since there are many master level players on this site I figured people with more tournament experience could weigh in and tell me whether my opening repertoire is sound or not from a competetive standpoint.

Maybe my initial post was too long and demanding, so I'll ask simpler question to the public.

1) do you know any decent source on sicilian bb5 to learn from?

2) should I try to prepare a few ultra-agressive lines in evans gambit or stick to my solid spanish game? if the latter, please also point me towards a good source for the closed ruy lopez and marshall gambit

You mention in your post that the time controls are 15'.  Is that game in 15 minutes?  If so, I would go with agressive lines from the evans gambit.

Otherwise, in slower time controls, I would play more solid with the Spanish.  Opening for White according to Anand, Vol. 2, is a good source for closed main lines as well as the anti-Marshall 8.h3 system.

Do remember your c3 Sicilian lines, 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 sidesteps 3. Bb5

I would study up on your Spanish for white more than anything else.  I think 1..e5 2..Nc6 is really trending right now.  I played in a tournament yesterday against several masters and that's almost all I saw after my usual 1.e4.  I know how you feel with the Evan's gambit.  My main weapon has generally been the Scotch gambit but all the good players seem to know the theory so well that I have my doubts if I should still be playing it.  I think the Evan's gambit is the same way.  A very playable opening that has at least a little surprise to it but probably doesn't give as much.  Out of curiousity, do the masters you've played the Evan's with typically accept it?

Thank you MervynS for reminding me of that, I should refresh my memory and study some lines after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 which is bacically a transposition to standard Alapin 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 e6.

Actually I played the Evans Gambit twice against a CM with reasonable success (1 win, 1 loss), here are the games:

So I played Evans only against the CM, against FM I chose the spanish where I had one quick draw and one loss in a winning position (as shown in the first post). Other FM's play classic sicilian to my best knowledge.

I had I think 3 other games in Evans (all won) against ~1600-1800 rated opponents, but that does not seem relevant at this point.

dtrossen, all time controls in the games I have showed are 15' and so will be at the final I mentioned.

Be sure to also have something against 3...d5 here, which is what I usually play.  Here is a high-level example: 

Utut Adianto vs Gata Kamsky 0-1

1. e4c5 2. Nf3e6 3. c3d5 4. e5d4 5. Bd3Nc6 6. O-ONge7 7. Na3Ng6 8. Re1Be7 9. cxd4cxd4 10. Nc4Nb4 11. Bxg6hxg6 12. a3Nc6 13. d3b5 14. Ncd2Bb7 15. Ne4Qd5 16. Ng3f6 17. Re4g5 18. h3f5 19. Re2Nd8 20. Rc2Nf7 21. Rc7Rc8 22. Rxc8Bxc8 23. Qe2Bb7 24. Bd2Bc5 25. Rc1Bb6 26. Bb4Kd7 27. Bd2g6 28. a4a6 29. axb5axb5 30. Ra1Ra8 31. Rxa8Bxa8 32. Qe1Bc7 33. Qf1Nxe5 34. Nxg5Nxd3 35. Nh7Ke7 36. f3Qb3 37. Kh2Bd5 38. Bg5Kf7 39. Nf6Bc4 40. h4Qxb2 41. h5gxh5 42. Nfxh5Nf4

Check what openings your opponents play(especially the titled ones), in a database like chesstempo.

Then focus on the lines they play the most.

https://chessmood.com/courses Check out suggestions of Grandmasters. Step-by-Step opening repertoire for white and for black

Some items you are missing:

1) Sicilian - What do you do if 2.Nf3 and Black doesn't play 2...d6 or 2...Nc6?  Against other responses, 3.Bb5 is no good.  You have to come up with something else.  These possibilities include:

A) 2...e6

B) 2...Nf6 (Nimzovich Variation)

C) 2...g6 (Hyper-Accelerated Dragon)

2) French Defense - MANY issues

A) In the Korchnoi Gambit, also now known as the Universal System, Black is under no obligation to play 7...Qb6.  There is also 7...g6, 7...cxd4 without ...Qb6, 7...Be7 (The "Official" Universal System), etc.

B) The reason it is called the Universal System is that it can come from 3...Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ngf3 Be7, 3...c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.c3 Nc6 7.Bd3 Be7, OR 3...Be7 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bd3 c5 7.c3 Nc6.  However, White cannot force it.  You also have to account for:

B1 - 3...c5 4.Ngf3 (4...exd5 is another option) Nc6 (Typical of those that play 3...c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 Nc6)

B2 - 3...c5 4.Ngf3 cxd4 (Typical of those that play 4...exd5 Qxd5)

B3 - Other 3...Be7 sidelines, which I don't know, because I don't play 3...Be7 nor do I ever play the Tarrasch as White.

The only time you will get 3...c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 is when you face players that normally play 3...c5 4.exd5 exd5 5.Ngf3 Nf6.

I myself play both 5...Nf6 and 5...Nc6, but I play 4...Nc6 against 4.Ngf3, avoiding the Universal System.

3) Ruy Lopez - You have to account for all lines without 3...a6, the biggest of which being the Berlin Defense (3...Nf6).

About six years late with the detailed advice, thanks to thread necro.

Very nice place!