Is this a good opening?

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ShawnDaGamer

Sep 4, 2011

Whenever I play against my dad, he has a very defensive way of playing, and generally plays the same opening whenever he's white or black. He doesn't know anything about strategy or whatnot, he just plays by anticipating moves and goes from there, which he's quite good at. I'm wondering whether his opening is actually sound, because it goes against fundamental principles that I've come to learn from chess openings. Hypothetical game, he's black, i'm white.

The game progresses with me typically trying to develop my pieces, connect my rooks, and him moving his pawns and trying to build a strong pawn structure and in turn defense. In the end, for most of our games, it comes down to relatively the same pieces with the addition or subtraction of a few pawns, which ultimately decide the game when it becomes a queen. How do you suggest combatting this opening and is it even viable or am I not taking my chances well later on?

Mezmer

Sep 4, 2011

If he would play b6, Bb7, e6 (or the white alternative) we would have Owen's (or The English Defence), or Larsen's Opening. Those openings don't include the double fianchetto (the other bishop is usually out harassing) and are quite strong and flexible.

Regarding the Hippo setup though, if you check out RoseQueen's post (linked below) you'll see an example of how to break through.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/how-not-to-play-as-black