Need Help with Colle System

Hi Sprite,

I'm the author of a book on the Colle [see www.zukertort.com], and there are 2 basic ways of dealing with this setup [note, this setup is rather different from the apparently similar 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Bf5, which is more complex and testing.]

As I explain in the philosophy section of my book, the Colle-Zukertort (the version of the Colle I specialize in) is completely based on Black's inability to easily develop his Bishop in Queen's Pawn games. For that reason, you should in no way feel obliged to trudge on with the Colle system after Black plays his Bishop out so early.

Instead, you should indeed play out 3. c4. The question is how you deal with 3...e6.

One plan is to play 4.Qb3 Nc6 5.c5, cutting off Black's K-Bishop from b4. The idea (in that plan) is to play Bf4 later, putting pressure against Black's Queen-side [which neither Bishop can really protect now.]

The problem with that plan in general is that Black can just play ...Nh5 at an appropriate time, and White doesn't really have a good place to put his Bishop. [Taking the time to play h3 first doesn't work out very well either]

The line I give in Zuke 'Em is instead 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Qb3 Nc6 6.Nc3...when he most interesting question (unanswered, as far as I know, by any (other) colle book) is how to deal with 6...Nf6 here.

I suggest and give support for the exciting gambit 7.e4!?!, which is both theoretically sound (full compensation for the pawn) and I can guarantee your opponent will not be prepared for it!

Wefedog,

When someone fianchettos against me, the first thing I do is see if I can kick him in the kneecaps without getting DQ'd.

After that, I have normally switched to the Barry Attack.

However, I recently found an odd French Attack [Reversed French Defense] line that I believe I will include when I expand Zuke 'Em to be a an entire repertoire.

Actually, you can see the sketch of this idea on my Zuke 'Em update page [I see chess books like software...you should not have to buy a whole new book just to get an update/upgrade.]

I suggest you stop playing the colle.

in response to the pirc/kings indian i ll try to play the torre against my opponent.  if black plays 1. ...Nf6 or ...d6, i ll play 2. c3 or 2. Nf3, so that when black follows with ...Nf6 or ...g6, I can play Bg5 before I lock my dark squared bishop in with e3.  This leads to a fine game for white, GM Walter Browne lost to the torre in one of his US championship games.  Andy Soltis wrote a goodbook called "A Complete Opening System for White: the Stonewall Attack, Colle System, and the Torre Attack" I reccomend.

My first improvement would be not to play 3.c3. My guess is that siankhal had intentionally kept the option of Bg5 or Bf4 explicitly in case Black deviated, but in the end Black had waiting moves at his disposal than White, so White eventually had to shut in his Bishop.

One option [for colle players of both kinds] is to play 3.Nbd2 as a type of waiting move. This is no panacea since Black can find ways of causing trouble with that, but it's an option depending on how you want to sew together your repertoire.

My suggestion is to just play 3.e3 as normal because I beleive there are now reasonable solutions to all common Black deviations, even with the Bishop shut-in. For example, both Pallier's book and mine give coverage of 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 c5. Palliser would immediately turn the game into a reversed Noteboom. In my line if Black tried fianchettoing in this line he would actually be led through the nose into an interesting c3-Sicilian game that White has had decent results in [but in this case White might hope for an added advantage in that Black might not be a Sicilian player.]

 I play the Colle 2. e3... and that usually will get my king bishop out on the diagonal first.   On the occasion that black played 2 ... Bf5, I replied 3. g4, evolving into a king side pawn assault.  That did not work out for me but I had the satisfaction of not being forced into black's slav!