I think I play the most attacking repertoire in chess!

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Avatar of EasyChessOfficial1980

For almost every opening, I go on all out attack! 

My rating is 2100 Rapid, so these openings do work. If there any Blitz players out there, you might want to try them. I know that in slower chess, players over 2000 will usually punish players for giving up a pawn. I also know that these wont work in Daily Chess, because of the book explorer. But for Rapid, Blitz, this attacking approach is so much fun!

Bishops Opening-- this opening has so many gambits and traps, and I keep uncovering new ways to destroy my opponent in the first 10 moves.  No matter what they do, you can attack. I think the only way for black to play for  a boring game is do the Hungarian defence, or Giuco Piano plus d6. 

Caro Kann-- play this Von Henig gambit. Most fun ever! The vast majority of Caro Kann players below 2000 have no idea what this and they are desperate to put their bishop on f5 which often gets them into huge trouble 

French- play the NEW (not the old) Milner Barry Gambit. Again, French players below 2000 never see this coming and it is actually +0.6  on the engine  even with the pawn gambitted!

Pirc- Byrne trap. I reckon many Pirc players below 1900, and even some who are higher, will fall for the Byrne trap, and you basically get a free rook! Even if they avoid it, you can still get a nice attack with queen and bishop in the style of the 150 attack

Scandinavian- almost no Scandinavian players below 1900 rating are expecting the Von Popiel gambit, which is normally played against d4. Great fun, and very tricky. Long castle for white, super aggresssive!

Sicilian- Go with the wing gambit! There are so many versions of the Sicilian so it makes perfect sense to throw off your opponent and learn the wing gambit.  A lot of players below 2000 rating play e6 , which is actually very bad for black. Later on, you can often perform the Greek Gift, and that is basically an easy win. If players play Nc6, you can even go into the Mengarini trap. 

For black

against e4: try the rare Norwegian Rat formation. Many players will play e5 and kick the knight, and it is very easy for black to make them over extend and fall apart. Great fun! If they refuse it, you can just play the Pirc or sometimes the Grand Prix version of the Sicilian

against d4: I always play c5, which is the old Benoni. It amazes me how many people, even rated as high as 2000, think they can just take that pawn and keep it! The Benoni gambit is a free knight, and the game is over in 5 moves.

If they push the pawn, as they should, there is the benko gambit. It is a very clever slow moving gambit that allows you to take control of the queen side of the board, and in fast time controls you have a very good chance of getting your pawn back, dominating the B and A files, and gaining loads of time on the clock. 

Enjoy attacking chess! I am happy to go into more detail on any of these

Avatar of ThrillerFan

You have a glaring hole, and it's what I do as White.

1.d4 c5 2.d5! And you sat Benko? There is no Benko against me. After 2...Nf6, I do not play the Naive 3.c4?! And allow Black to go back into the Modern Benoni (3...e6), Czech Benoni (3...e5), or Benko Gambit (3...b5). NO SIR-EE!

1.d4 c5?! 2.d5 Nf6 3.Nc3!, basically leading to the Closed Benoni (3...e5), Schmidt Benoni (3...e6 or 3...d6 followed by 3...e6), 3...g6, which isn't very good, or the d5-pawn is still protected with c4 coming after 3...b5? 4.Nxb5 and if instead 4...a6, then 5.Nc3 and Black lost a pawn for nothing.

Those that play an immediate c4 after Black stupidly plays 1...c5 are failing to take advantage of why the old Benoni is bad.

Avatar of EasyChessOfficial1980
ThrillerFan wrote:

You have a glaring hole, and it's what I do as White.

1.d4 c5 2.d5! And you sat Benko? There is no Benko against me. After 2...Nf6, I do not play the Naive 3.c4?! And allow Black to go back into the Modern Benoni (3...e6), Czech Benoni (3...e5), or Benko Gambit (3...b5). NO SIR-EE!

1.d4 c5?! 2.d5 Nf6 3.Nc3!, basically leading to the Closed Benoni (3...e5), Schmidt Benoni (3...e6 or 3...d6 followed by 3...e6), 3...g6, which isn't very good, or the d5-pawn is still protected with c4 coming after 3...b5? 4.Nxb5 and if instead 4...a6, then 5.Nc3 and Black lost a pawn for nothing.

Those that play an immediate c4 after Black stupidly plays 1...c5 are failing to take advantage of why the old Benoni is bad.

but your rating is 2100- a bit higher than what this is intended for. Obviously as you get towards 2200 rating, you need to be more cautious.

I still think it works most of the time at the level I play at . is this position so bad for black? Maybe in a slow time control it is

Avatar of crazedrat1000

You're using the word "attacking". I would rather look for aggression in a repertoire. Aggression is a broader term, in that it can mean many different things. For example... which is more aggressive - an opening that's surprising, or an opening that's attacking? An opening that reaches a chaotic midgame, or an opening that's trappy and requires precision during the early stages? An opening that challenges the opponents preparation, or an opening that is objectively difficult to refute? The best openings manage to be "aggressive" in multiple dimensions. 
Regarding your lines -

a) The lines that follow 1. e4 are attacking, but also very predictable. Black sees these lines in 60% of games.

b) the benko is a good line, but reaching it via the old benoni means playing hypermodern positions that require you to be very passive well into the midgame.

c) Almost all of your lines have known formulaic responses that neutralize them.

d) In many places the theoretical lines you're avoiding are just more chaotic, give you more initiative, and are harder to deal with. The Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, and Scandinavian are all that way. When the complexity reaches a certain limit, chaos breaks out and there is no predicting things. You avoid that kind of complexity in favor of algorithmic short-term wins.

Overall I would characterize your repertoire as trappy and requiring precision early, moderately surprising, very attacking, but short-lived in that if your opponent knows the response (which doesn't seem that unlikely), it's neutralized.

Avatar of EasyChessOfficial1980
crazedrat1000 wrote:

You're using the word "attacking". I would rather look for aggression in a repertoire. Aggression is a broader term, in that it can mean many different things. For example... which is more aggressive - an opening that's surprising, or an opening that's attacking? An opening that reaches a chaotic midgame, or an opening that's trappy and requires precision during the early stages? An opening that challenges the opponents preparation, or an opening that is objectively difficult to refute? The best openings manage to be "aggressive" in multiple dimensions. 
Regarding your lines -

a) The lines that follow 1. e4 are attacking, but also very predictable. Black sees these lines in 60% of games.

b) the benko is a good line, but reaching it via the old benoni means playing hypermodern positions that require you to be very passive well into the midgame.

c) Almost all of your lines have known formulaic responses that neutralize them.

d) In many places the theoretical lines you're avoiding are just more chaotic, give you more initiative, and are harder to deal with. The Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, and Scandinavian are all that way. When the complexity reaches a certain limit, chaos breaks out and there is no predicting things. You avoid that kind of complexity in favor of algorithmic short-term wins.

Overall I would characterize your repertoire as trappy and requiring precision early, moderately surprising, very attacking, but short-lived in that if your opponent knows the response (which doesn't seem that unlikely), it's neutralized.

Fair points, but I have a rating of 2100.

I am not bragging (it is nothing amazing), but I am just saying that on this website, at least in the "Rapid setting", most opponents do struggle. Blitz, yeah maybe the level is a bit higher. Daily... these lines do not work so I don't advise them. That is because people can just use the Opening explorer

Avatar of crazedrat1000

I actually like your repertoire compared to most others that I see posted, so I don't want to come off as too critical, but just giving my opinion... presumably that's the purpose of this thread.
It takes alot of time / effort to develop and memorize a repertoire. Like a year of study at least, probably more. So ultimately, to justify that investment, if there is a way of neutralizing a line... the probability of someone being familiar with it needs to be very remote. I wouldn't want it to cap me out at 2100 or wherever I find people start knowing the Byrne trap. I might use the Byrne trap as a placeholder while I study other lines.. but it wouldn't be my final destination.
So I don't mind sharp and attacking if it's also surprising... some of your lines I think do achieve that - Von henning, Von Popiel, Norwegian Rat. And the Benko will always be playable, although there is a somewhat formulaic response in the Kings walk line. Others I think are too predictable - Urusov, Deutz gambit -- relatively well known lines after e4/e5, not to mention the lines where you don't get these gambits. Same for Milner Berry, Byrne trap, Wing Gambit... 1. e4 in general I feel is too predictable, which makes it much harder to play an early attacking style in a serious long-term fashion. Of course, whether someone shares these concerns depends on their aspirations as a player. That's my opinion on it, but to each their own. With 1. e4, I think you must either find something truly uncommon (which is hard to do, though possible), or accept the theory. 
For e4/e5 I'd probably play Nc3 > g3, which is less trappy but less common and makes the e4/e5 player play a positional game... and there are no italians to deal with. For the french - as much as I have tried to be innovative against the french, I really think 1. Nc3 and standard theory reliably leads to strong kingside attacks and an advantage whereas other lines, even when they do succeed, basically match what the main theory already provides in terms of the attack and advantage. But if I wanted to be tricky and trappy, I'd play the two knights french, which achieves similar levels of easy-wins without giving up material. For the sicilian.... well, the sicilian is the reason I don't play 1. e4... the Wing gambit is a move 2 deviation which gives up material. As someone who plays the sicilian, I definitely prepare my move 2 deviations. It's the first thing I prepare because I see them all the time. You know what's really rare? Someone who knows the open lines deeper than like 8 moves - it almost never happens. Which is understandable given how much theory would be needed to achieve that. A good strategy I think is a mix of open lines (like against 2... d6) and move-3 or move-5 anti-sicilians. If you really like wing gambits, the move-3 wing gambits are better since they wait until the opponent has committed a move (according to the engine too). I would play all of those over the regular wing gambit.

Avatar of Zycirline
EasyChessOfficial1980 wrote:
ThrillerFan wrote:

You have a glaring hole, and it's what I do as White.

1.d4 c5 2.d5! And you sat Benko? There is no Benko against me. After 2...Nf6, I do not play the Naive 3.c4?! And allow Black to go back into the Modern Benoni (3...e6), Czech Benoni (3...e5), or Benko Gambit (3...b5). NO SIR-EE!

1.d4 c5?! 2.d5 Nf6 3.Nc3!, basically leading to the Closed Benoni (3...e5), Schmidt Benoni (3...e6 or 3...d6 followed by 3...e6), 3...g6, which isn't very good, or the d5-pawn is still protected with c4 coming after 3...b5? 4.Nxb5 and if instead 4...a6, then 5.Nc3 and Black lost a pawn for nothing.

Those that play an immediate c4 after Black stupidly plays 1...c5 are failing to take advantage of why the old Benoni is bad.

but your rating is 2100- a bit higher than what this is intended for. Obviously as you get towards 2200 rating, you need to be more cautious.

I still think it works most of the time at the level I play at . is this position so bad for black? Maybe in a slow time control it is

 
 

The above game was played at a 2200 level in 3 minute blitz. If it's possible to play like that in a 3 minute game, even if the level of play is only marginally higher than your own rating, it's not a good look for the opening.

Of course, if you want to play a more normal benoni, you also risk running into the Taimonov Attack:

Here's a rapid game where the computer refuted my opening (my opponent was banned immediately):