i like the ruy lopez or the italian (giuoco piano) .both provide pretty sharp attacking lines as white.
like a closed Sicilian
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perhaps a mean advice but if you prefer the closed sicilian maybe 1.d4 is what you really want.
First of all, it is only a Closed Sicilian after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3. Of course, 2. Nc3 can be played against other Black first moves but these will be different openings.
The Closed Sicilian is not a bad choice, and if you want another opening with similar ideas you can look up the King's Indian Attack, which also works against most other semi-open defences.
Atos wrote:
First of all, it is only a Closed Sicilian after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3. Of course, 2. Nc3 can be played against other Black first moves but these will be different openings.
The Closed Sicilian is not a bad choice, and if you want another opening with similar ideas you can look up the King's Indian Attack, which also works against most other semi-open defences.
I kinda disagree with you there since I don't think the characteristic move of the closed Sicilian is 2.Nc3 because it can revert into an open Sicilian after 3.Nf3 and 4.d4, but the characteristic move in my opinion is d3, refraining from the thematic black exchange ...cxd4 and keeping the game closed in the center.
Well, just a note. Back to the main question, I also love the games arising in the closed Sicilian, even though I used to played them with Black. Similar double-sharped, and amazingly beautiful games also arise with the King's Indian, even though the amount of theory on it is really overwhelming.
I also remember very nice games against the Pirc, long ago before I decided to drop 1.e4.
Take care.
Thanks for the comments. I've been playing the modern lately as black against e4 and I've really been enjoying it. d4 as white is probably a good idea .... what do you guys think of the Colle / Zuckertort? The KIA is also interests me but I had a lot of trouble with the KID for the short while I tried to play it as black.
Thanks again.
-Ted
Hi Ted,
If you want a solid system to play against many openings there are several good choices; the Colle slowly builds up in the center, while the KIA (which is like a closed sicilian but with knights on d2/f3 instead of c3/e2) aims at keeping the center closed and building a kingside pawn storm. Seeing the games we played on live I'd say the latter is more suited to your style :P what kind of trouble did you have as black? The more immediate problems occur when white counterattacks on the kingside (e.g. Sämisch variation) but that's hardly possible for black to do in a KIA. You could try the book "Attacking with 1.e4" by Emms which recommends the closed Sicilian, KIA against the French, and Bc4/Nc3/f4 against 1...e5.
Estragon wrote:
You can play the KIA, which is closely related to the Closed Sicilian (which I agree is defined by d2-d3, refusing to open the center with d2-d4), against the French, Caro-Kann, Pirc, and Modern Defenses with similar plans and results. It's tougher to set up against the Scandinavian and Alekhine Defenses.
I don't endorse playing such "system" openings, though. They are just an attempt to avoid learning the important strategies for both sides in more usual structures. Every player needs to have a working knowledge of these structures, they are basic to positional understanding. Playing the same seldom-seen structure in every game doesn't help you.
And you give up something for the comfort of a "system" opening for White. While you will always reach a basically even position with decent chances out of the opening, so will Black - you don't put the same pressure on Black the main lines do, giving him for free the equality he should have to fight hard to earn.
Thanks so much for the response. . . My problem with the "usual structures" is that I find many players just have more of them "memorized" than I do. Playing those guys just doesn't feel like i'm "playing chess", it feels like I'm watching someone repeat the positions and moves that they know by heart.
I like to get the game into a middle game with more questions . . .
Thanks!
Ted
I generally play e4 as white and really enjoy playing the closed Sicilian against just about anything other than e5. Are there any other openings that you guys can recommend with the same kind of "semi open" styles and themes? I don't know much chess theory and play to around 1450 or so in blitz games on here and 1650 or so on bullet games.
Any advice would be much appreciated.