Opening Repertorie (Help)

First at all, my English is bad. Sorry for the mistakes.

I would like to start playing positional openings where maneuvers and knowledge about pawn structure can be more important than initiative and tactics. I'm looking form a quiet game whit the possibility  of a long-term attack or a favorable ending. 

So I would like to know if my repertorie is good with this approach and my game level (1300 ELO, 1 year played)

*Note: I would like to start playing tournaments the next year.

WHITE:

I play  e4.

Vs e5 I play the Giuoco Pianissimo or Ruy Lopez exchange. 

Vs Sicilian I like the Alapin and Grand prix attack. (What about closed variation, can it be good for me?)

Vs French and Caro-Kann the exchange variation.

Vs Petrov I try to enter in a 4 knights game. (Ruy lopez variation)

Vs Scandinavian I play the main line, but i don't have a plan in the Portuguese variation. (pls help)

Vs Philidor the main line.

And I don't like any popular line against Alekhine, pirc or modern defense. I Need help against this 3.

BLACK:

I would like to start playing solid defenses, so I chose the Caro-Kann against e4 and the Slav against d4. I also like the Hippopotamus defense, but i'm not sure it's suitable for my level. 

I don't find many defenses that adapt to the style I mention. 

Thanks everyone in advance

1. Why enter the Four Knights Game only against the Petroff? It doesn't make any sense - if you like the Four Knights play it instead of the Ruy Lopez or Giuoco Pianissimo. Against the Petroff I recommend this:

2. Pirc:

3. The Anti-Sicilians are not really effective enough against the Sicilian. I recommend learning quiet lines in the Open Sicilian.

4. Alekhine:

5. Modern Defense:

6. The Caro-Kann is not really that solid. For example, look at this line:

Instead, I recommend the French Defense against 1.e4, and the Queen's Gambit Declined against 1.d4.

If you want a positional game with maneuvering and any chance at an attack or an advantage, the Exchange French is the wrong way to go.  Play the Advance Variation.

After 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5, if you want a positional game, play 3.e5.  If you want a game loaded with tactics, play 3.Nc3.  The exchange gives Black what he wants, and I speak this as a French player for over 20 years!

Hard to give you advice against the Pirc that avoids a wild game.  That's the nature of the beast.

Alekhine, 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3.  There is a book out there, I think it is called "Beating Unusual Chess Defenses:  1.e4" by Andrew Greet.  You can get the Kindle version for under $10!  It covers lines for White against the Pirc, Modern, Scandinavian, Alekhine, Nimzovich Defense, etc.  Everything except 1...e5, 1...e6, 1...c5, 1...c6.

As for defenses, I would recommend the Berlin against 1.e4, specifically the endgame variation:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 (2.f4 Bc5; 2.Nc3 Nf6) Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 and Black now has 9...Ne7, 9...Bd7, and 9...Ke8 as the main options and then there are other sidelines.

I recommend the 3 Knights Defense against 3.Nc3, which covers 2 lines in one for you.  It can be used against the Scotch Game as well:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 g6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 or 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7

Against 1.d4, I would recommend the orthodox QGD, and pay very close attention when you face the Catalan because I'd recommend learning it heavily and switching to 1.d4 or 1.Nf3.  The 3 book series, Wojo's Weapons, is all about positional lines.  It's all Catalan, Slav, QGA, Fianchetto KID, Fianchetto Grunfeld, English, etc.

if u like positional chess then u can play the closed sicilian,guico piano, closed variation,in pirc don't go for austrian attack and as black u can play scandinavian maybe, and the chigorin defense.....see games of anatoly karpov

Hi. Thank you for answering so quickly!

I wanted to play the French Exchange because it seems easier to understand, but i'll listen to you and look for a theory book.

Take note of the book your recommend, I hope it's in my lenguage (it's complicated for me to red books in English :/ )

Until now, I had always responded e5 against e4, but there are too many oppenings whit white and I prefer to study my own defense to force my opponents to enter my game without study so much.

I chose the Slav against d4 for its resemblance tho the karo-kan structure. But the orthodox QDG looks very interesting. The only bad thing is that it seems that I will have to study more white lines.

Thank you very much for you advice. Can I understand that my other lines are chosen correctly?

I see games of Karpov, Petrosian and Botvinik all the time haha 

The scandinavian is a seriuos defense? Almost nobody plays it at a high level.

I don't know the Chigorin defense. I will take a look  

Thank you so much.

I play the four knights against the petrov because is the most similar way to Ruy Lopez to play that opening. I have no intention to playing as a main line against e5.

The anti sicilians require less study and force your opponent to enter your game. That's why I prefer to play that than the open sicilian. (I know it's worse but right now it's more practical for me)

The line you mention against the Caro-Kann does not scare me, I have a very good book that explains how to play against all the variants and I like the game for black in all. I don't like the french defense so much, I prefer the Caro-Kann.

Thank you for the other tips. They seem interesting  

If you insist on playing e4 you should check out the games of GM Michael Adams. Regarding the repertoire I would go for the following.

Petrov: Lasker Variation: 1.- e4 e5 2.- Nf3 Nf6 3.- Nxe5 d6 4.- Nf3 Nxe4 5.- Qe2 Qe7 6.- d3. Black manages to equalise in this variation but you reach an endgame bypassing all theory and if you want to play positional chess you will have to learn how to play equal endgames.

Philidor: 1.- e4 e5 2.- Nf3 d6 3.- d4 and now black can choose the solid Antoshin variation (exd4) or try to reach the more popular Hanham variation but it is not possible to do so from that move order. (nowadays the philidor is reached as a transposition from the pirc).

Ruy Lopez Exchange: Bishop pair vs pawn structure, another very didactic and solid opening.

Pirc/Modern: play with a kingside fianchetto and Ne2. Any other lines will become very tactical.

French: Advance variation, the exchange is only "good" because it doesn't lead to a close game but black is more than happy to play the exchange since white has absolutely no advantage there.

Caro-Kann: Exchange with Bd3. Nc3/Nd2 is good for black after both Bf5 and Nd7, The advance has some positional lines but they aren't the most challenging. Panov-Botvinnik ends in an IQP position and those can be hard to play for white.

Scandinavian: not good enough for black, just take a look at a book if you absolutely must.

Sicilian: The Alapin is positional enough and it goes along nicely with the french advance.

Just play the Caro-slav against everything.

No opening will have zero theory.  Even the exchange French has theory.

The QGD actually has less to learn than the Slav.

QGD - You need a line against the Catalan, Exchange, Bf4 lines (like 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bf4) and the main line, 4.Bg5.  Here, you have the Lasker, Tartakower, Orthodox, Cambridge Springs, Vienna Variation, etc.  You literally only need to know one of those, not all of them.  So 4 lines all told.

Slav:

Main line Dutch Variation (3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3)

Central Variation (Same as Dutch but 6.Ne5)

The Gambit line (5.e4 instead of 5.a4)

Slow Slav (3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3)

Lines w/o Nf3 (3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 - Black has nothing better than the Semi-Slav Meran  [4...e6] or Chebanenko [4...a6])

Exchange (3.cxd5 cxd5)

And in the main line, Black does not have near as many options as the orthodox.  In your case, I recommend the Lasker Variation (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 h6 7.Bh4 Ne4).

Play daily games where chess.com gives u an opening book. It will familiarize u with opening theory

who said scandinavian is not played ?tiviakov is specialist.see his game against

shirov

With black french defence is a good and annoying choice for white if black wants to remain solid

It seems a good repertoire to me. You don't need anything too sophisticated at your current level, so in my opinion the Exchange French is fine. It gets you into the middle game and gives you chances of an advantage against sub-optimal play, as shown by Christof Sielecki's Keep it Simple: e4 repertoire book (and until you reach 1800+ you can expect a lot of sub-optimal play from your opponents). The Alapin is more positional than the Grand Prix attack, so I'd stick with that. C-K and Slav are good positional choices with Black, though I don't get on with them myself. As long as they're working for you, I should stick to them.

In my opinion, having a good tactical foundation is what you should be establishing first. It doesn't matter if you like tactical play or not, or if you are aiming to get maneuvering games or grinding endgames, you need tactics to execute all of these. I hated tactical play myself, as it doesn't feel so good to win by tactical accidents, and the game feels random most of the time, but I realized that tactics is necessary no matter what style you play, and in fact if you hate playing in a tactical way you should study it more, not the least because people are going to aim for tactical positions against you.  As for the openings, I would suggest sticking to more open type positions, or semi-open with a possibility of piece play, and mainly to avoid symmetrical pawn structures as much as possible. You want to gain as much experience in tactical fights, more so if you hate it. Not easy to do, but necessary, at least as I have discovered for myself. Maybe it doesn't apply to everyone, but I bet it applies to the majority of people. My take.

I've been playing the polish a lot, I get tired of e4 very quickly. I'm definitely not qualified to give advice, but maybe try different things. Openings that give yourself new positions to work yourself out of.

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