How to annoy your opponents (without abusing)

@bresando

Agreed. Its not like Black is fully booked up on the Sicilian either. Also, I think people just get scared away from the Open. They hear about some shortcut Anti-Sicilian and go to that, saying oh I don't have much study time and stuff. But, if you play Open Sicilians and get a great feel for the position (go through a bunch of master games and stuff), you can do quite well.

And as for a #4, the Albin is only annoying if your lost and don't have any idea of what to do. If you have a line against it, you will be fine and should be better.

Lavarook,I'm happy you agree, although i see we continue to disagree on the albin

Returning to the topic, you explained the point very well, and i would add that this is a more general point regarding opening play. Playing mainlines is not as hard as generally tought. I know tons of players who learn enormous amounts of lines in the attempt to make a dubious surprise weapon work. They do this for the sake of avoiding theory, not realising that playing a mainline opening (maybe in a less trendy variation, such as the ruy with d3) will bring them to equally interesting positions with almost no theory. I play myself offbeat stuff, but not with the faulty idea of avoiding theory or making my opponent uncomfortable; simply because i like the resulting positions.

Also i'm not sure if you're doing yourself a favor when trying to transform everything in the sort of game you like. Playing various setups will benefit your understanding in the long term (and is much more fun!). It's true for example that i such against the french and i would probably score better with the exchange, but i want to stick with Nc3: one day i will learn how to play french-style positions and become a better player. Feeling unconfortable at the board is a great thing: it means you are discovering something new and stretching your limits.

I gotta agree with bresando, that being uncomfortable is a good thing...especially if you don't know much theory (like me!).

At least it improves your ability to defend your inferior position.

The King's Indian Attack is hard to encounter without some general experience with some plans. Most seem ideas so passive but can really surprise an unprepared opponent.

@Strep, if you want to fight against Scandinavian then study from GM Tiviakov's games.

More annoying openings? 1.e4... for sure... And all its religious preachers proclaiming a strange Fischer's "best by test" gospel... BTW, if black wants to draw, its dream is a white's 1.e4... E.g.: Petrof defence, italian game, spanish game...

Get back to the point. Most people at my level don't know Caro-Kann, so I like it.

Looks like you can win a pawn directly with Bxb2+. <Maybe it's a little risky but still not quite drawish.

I vouch for the OP. I am learning the French and decided to try it out in a blitz game only for someone to do that stupid exchange! It certainly annoyed me lol.

While the Exchange French is annoying, it isn't that good. Whenever I see it, I'm just about assured that my opponent knows about nothing about the French and really is too lazy to figure out how to get a good space advantage and make Black squirm for 30-40 moves. And for all its drawish reputation, I have seen very few Exchanges end in draws. Usually one side starts snoring and the other darts in for the kill.

#5

Pull out the Shirov-Shabalov Gambit against the unsuspecting Semi-Slav player!

Now thats a nice gambit. White gets great compensation. I suspect many class players aren't that prepared for this. 

But then again, a Semi-Slav player should never be afraid of a wild game unless they chicken out and answer 5.Bg5 with Be7 or Nbd7 and transpose to a QGD rather than going into the Botvinnik or Moscow/Anti Moscow. Or if they are the type to avoid the Meran....

After 1.e4 e6 Top 3 moves for white are

1. Nf3
2. Bc4
3. d4

After 1.e4 e5 2.f4 one of popular moves for black is 2...f6?! (instant disaster) That is what I see all the time in live chess.

Also, what I like to do and try to make my opponents little nervous is Nimzo-Sicilian

Interesting the Nimzo-Sicilian...

This is all useful advice for people who are afraid of theory.  If you run into a player who has better overall positional understanding than you, and you pull out an opening that you chose because you wanted to avoid theory and precise play, then you will most likely be slowly and painfully pushed off the board because you failed to achieve the subtle advantages that main lines offer.  In your hopes of frustrating your supposed over-studied opponent slowly fade, as my french defense suddenly includes Bf5, my sicilian cannot be bound by an early c4, and your counter-gambit reply to my king's gambit plays right into my hands, since I wanted an open, tactical game anyway.  

Long story short, a prepared player will be ready for any and all responses to their pet openings, especially early deviations from the main line, and if you're counting on your opponent to be unprepared, well then this article is pointless in the first place.  

That being said, if you truly like the positions that arise from simpler lines, then by all means play them.  For example, I consider the endgame to be the strongest part of my game, so I have recently adopted the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation, which would probably fall into the category of openings with less theory than the main line.  I didn't choose this line because of who I'm playing, but because it tends to lead to slightly favorable endgames for white (often with a nice king side pawn majority), which fits my style of play.  From a theoretical perspective, the exchange french, closed sicilian, and falkbeer counter-gambit are all viable openings, however they should all be chosen because YOU like the positions they lead to, and catching your opponent off guard should just be a bonus.

Tnx themax but you and few others are missing the point here.

1. YOU WILL FIND NO MEANING OF LIFE IN THIS TOPIC
2. I WILL NOT SOLVE CHESS IN THIS TOPIC FOR YOU
3. THIS IS A JOKE

Does anyone really think that you can throw your opponent off balance by playing less popular line? In most of my live games, I'm out of the book in move 3 or 4. And when I stay 10-12 moves in the book, that is only because every move me and my opponent make IS IN THE BOOK. We can make no mistake there. Thats why we have principles of chess.

  what's that? just for fun?

Yeah!!! Just for fun!!! Like chess for common players!!! I mean not the titled ones...

 ahh.. now I made it clear.. ahaha