Why doesn't the Tarrasch work for you? I don't see any dangerous alternatives for White after, say, 1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 c5. What line(s) are you having trouble with?
How to play against the English. The KID maybe?
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Dec 28, 2012
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#3
There are several easy, relatively active plans to play against the English. In order to answer the question of what you personally should play, it would help to know what you play against 1.d4 openings. This is especially pertinent because many players transpose from the English into a QG line.
It's rather difficult to force a transposition to the Tarrasch, but here's one way to do it:
pellik wrote:
If white knows what he's doing the main line of the Tarrasch is pretty miserable for Black. White gets good pressure against the isolated pawn and generally has more activity then black. Granted at a lower level maybe white can't handle the Tarrasch often, but I imagine English players who intended to fianchetto anyway are well prepared for that structure.
This is a very common misconception about the Tarrasch.
A friend of mine, now a retired National Master, was going to play at the 1980 Balkaniad against GM Slavo Marjanovic, an aknowledged Tarrasch afficionado. Our player was very confident: "Nah, the Tarrasch is losing by force. I will block his IQP, and then proceed eating it".
Here is how the game proceeded:
Around move 22, and apparentrly inspired by the comical situation at the board, a player from our team told Natsis "well, Trifon, you told us that you are going to eat this pawn at d5, and you did it- bravo!. However, you didn't reveal that you are going to eat it with the king...".
If you want to avoid theory you can't play the Kid against the English. I play the Kid, but you have to be ready to play pretty much all the main line stuff after say, 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. d4 then if ... Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 and your in the maze. I love the maze but don't end up there by accident, you can also play 3... D5 but then your in a labyrinth! A beautiful labyrinth but REALLY don't get there by accident.
Dec 29, 2012
0
#6
Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I've read them all - now I'll take my time working through the games. ;-) I think my main problem is learning to bring out Black's pawns and pieces in a form that approximates the "ideal" Tarrasch. I'll keep working on it. BTW, I found that one of my 3 books on the Tarrasch DOES mention the English - the very last opening mentioned. It's in Aagaard and Lund's "meeting 1d4" on page 170, in case anyone is interested. Again, thanks to all.
I'm abysmal against the English opening. I've had the King's Indian Defense recommended to me for this purpose, but would like videos or articles about how to do so, without having to go through all of the KID literature. I do play the KIA, but not the KID. Any suggestions? Or do you have something better against the English? My real preference would be to use the Tarrasch Defense, since I do play that. I hav no success against the English with it, though. Thanks.