Bro, I always play c6 as black.
My alternative is f5 that's the Calabrese countergambit.I'm not really convinced by it, even though I'm a Latvian Gambit player.
That's why I go with c6 the Philidor.
It's the only way to escape deep theory, to avoid weird transpositions with the Italian
The spirit of the opening is being able to play the d5 break. The spirit of the opening is to fight against the bishop on c4, either with a direct d5 after c6 or with the move b5.
Bro, I always play c6 as black.
My alternative is f5 that's the Calabrese countergambit.I'm not really convinced by it, even though I'm a Latvian Gambit player.
That's why I go with c6 the Philidor.
It's the only way to escape deep theory, to avoid weird transpositions with the Italian
The spirit of the opening is being able to play the d5 break. The spirit of the opening is to fight against the bishop on c4, either with a direct d5 after c6 or with the move b5.
Hey thanks man! Appreciate it alot...
so I do try to play against the Bishop, and go for d5, but it's not always so simple... and often my d5 pawn is even lost later in the game... can you give examples of where you use b5, how does white pressure the center and how you deal with it?...
and regarding b5, what's the follow up a5 a4 or keep it solid? somehow I don't like the structure after b5 unless I see a concrete way to get an advantage...
Bro, I always play c6 as black.
My alternative is f5 that's the Calabrese countergambit.I'm not really convinced by it, even though I'm a Latvian Gambit player.
That's why I go with c6 the Philidor.
It's the only way to escape deep theory, to avoid weird transpositions with the Italian
The spirit of the opening is being able to play the d5 break. The spirit of the opening is to fight against the bishop on c4, either with a direct d5 after c6 or with the move b5.
Hey thanks man! Appreciate it alot...
so I do try to play against the Bishop, and go for d5, but it's not always so simple... and often my d5 pawn is even lost later in the game... can you give examples of where you use b5, how does white pressure the center and how you deal with it?...
and regarding b5, what's the follow up a5 a4 or keep it solid? somehow I don't like the structure after b5 unless I see a concrete way to get an advantage...
Most of the time I play 3...d5 against almost all of White’s lines, but if White plays 3.Nc3, then going into the lines with ...b5 and ...b4 usually seems best.
I have never played the Bishop's Opening with any degree of seriousness, but for a little while I used it for in-club skittles games as a diversion from "main repertoire". It was the sort of chess club which focused on beer and giggles, not the serious sort.
In that context, I did quite well against 2..., c6 by treating things like a cross between the Lopez Gambit and an attempt to hit a position geography reminiscent of the closed Ruy Lopez by playing 3. Qe2. White doesn't have anything I'd actually call an advantage (3..., Be7 or 3..., d6 seem to yield theoretical equality), but the game goes on and the better player will likely prevail. The point is, of course, that Black won't get to play an early ..., d5. The issue is, of course, that committing the Queen to e2 so early might well not be ideal.
I have never played the Bishop's Opening with any degree of seriousness, but for a little while I used it for in-club skittles games as a diversion from "main repertoire". It was the sort of chess club which focused on beer and giggles, not the serious sort.
In that context, I did quite well against 2..., c6 by treating things like a cross between the Lopez Gambit and an attempt to hit a position geography reminiscent of the closed Ruy Lopez by playing 3. Qe2. White doesn't have anything I'd actually call an advantage (3..., Be7 or 3..., d6 seem to yield theoretical equality), but the game goes on and the better player will likely prevail. The point is, of course, that Black won't get to play an early ..., d5. The issue is, of course, that committing the Queen to e2 so early might well not be ideal.
I had never seen that 3. Qe2!? before, but I would still play d5
sacrificing the pawn is interesting, and Black has enough compensation.
Yes, 3...Be7 seems like the most theoretical and solid move, but I don’t think it fits the philosophy that the Black player should have if they're going for 2...c6.
The whole point of c6 is to always play d5 if White allows it.
The only line that truly prevents this is 3. Nc3, as we’ve already seen.
So 3. Qe2 can also transpose into the line with 3. Qh5.
Against 3 . Qh5, I actually like 3...Qe7!? more, threatening both d5 and Nf6.
But even if I didn’t remember the line during the game, I’d still go for the thematic pawn sacrifice with d5.
@jcidus do you feel White really has to play 8. 0-0 in those lines with 3. Qe2? Looks a little inactively passive to my mind. My own instinct would be to hit the Be6 with something like 8. Nd4 in such lines. But I do agree that in all such lines Black has the sort of nebulous compensation which is Good Fun.
@jcidus do you feel White really has to play 8. 0-0 in those lines with 3. Qe2? Looks a little inactively passive to my mind. My own instinct would be to hit the Be6 with something like 8. Nd4 in such lines. But I do agree that in all such lines Black has the sort of nebulous compensation which is Good Fun.
Yeah, I’ve seen that line before it looks like Black has to play the only move that keeps equality, which is 8... Qd7! protecting the bishop and the knight , followed probably by Bd6. Then a few pieces get exchanged, and the position is more or less balanced.
PS: idly poking around databases shows me that 3. Qe2 is astonishingly rare against 2..., c6. If I was a callow beginner I might even try to lay claim to naming it for posterity 
. Maybe not a move to lose any sleep over as a practical player.
Cards on the table: I found and liked it only because many a long year ago I once spent a month (which could have been more usefully spent on almost anything else) trying to make the Lopez Gambit
work. Hint: it doesn't.
So when someone played 2..., c6 against me I thought to myself, "All those active nasties I found don't happen here - Black is no closer to castling and threatening the e-file - let's give it a whirl".
PS: idly poking around databases shows me that 3. Qe2 is astonishingly rare against 2..., c6. If I was a callow beginner I might even try to lay claim to naming it for posterity . Maybe not a move to lose any sleep over as a practical player.
Cards on the table: I found and liked it only because many a long year ago I once spent a month (which could have been more usefully spent on almost anything else) trying to make the Lopez Gambit
work. Hint: it doesn't.
So when someone played 2..., c6 against me I thought to myself, "All those active nasties I found don't happen here - Black is no closer to castling and threatening the e-file - let's give it a whirl".
Yes, your 3. Qe2 is interesting
it forces me to play 3...d5, which I don't particularly like either.
I already mentioned that I prefer 3...Qe7!? in the 3 . Qh5 line to prepare d5 followed by Nf6.
That critical line with 3. Qe2!? 3...Be7 is not natural at all for Black in fact, almost no one plays it because almost no one would think of it; it goes against the spirit of the c6 line.
Once you understand the plan, then you can play it: d6–Be7–Nf6 and castling.
Most people with Black tend to play 3...Nf6 against your line, and White has very good winning percentages there.
Wow just reading you guys' stuff make me feel I understand more... ! 
This lines with sac'ing e5 is definitely cool, could you share some games with this @jcidus?
As for the 3.Qe2 line - the IM I asked about this also mentioned this line as some kind of refutation... but I did NOT understand why, nor did I ever see this move and I probably have around 200 rapid games in this opening...
But guys, guys... there are many annoying 3rd moves... Basically all the moves are a bit challenging except 3.Qh5 (the only move I have high win rate against, 5/6), which is supposed to be good for White but isn't...
3.d4 is the most challenging imo ...
Cool topic. I used to play the Bishops Opening all the time, and when someone played it against me my choice was 2 ... c6!? or 2 ... f5!?, although against 2400+ players I would chicken out and play 2 ... Nf6 3 d3 c6.
After 2 ... c6 white has a good choice between 3 Nc3, 3 d4, and 3 Nf3. In fact I just had this last week and my opponent chose 3 Nf3. I forgot my analysis and got into trouble, but at least it was entertaining.
I started liking this since I saw Fabi play it against Magnus.
If anyone knows a good way to understand better the spirit of the opening please share your knowledge! ... an IM told me ...2.c6 it's too ambitious and learning from Fabi is not ideal because he probably had some deep prep, and it's not necessarily a good choice.
But I wonder what others think
Thanks