Richter-Veresov - any good for a beginner?

Is the Veresov Opening recommended for novices to play?

Not according to GM Reti in "Masters of the Chessboard" he was a comtemporary of Nimzovitch and one of the greatest hypermodern GMs of his era (the 1920s) Yet he reccomends that novices play open games (specifically 1.e4 e5) exclusively (whenever possible of course) as white and black and then move on to semi-open games (ie French Defense, Caro-Kann Defense) etc and finally begin playing closed games.

Theoretically all double QP openings are semi-open.

Thanks for your response.  Definitely something for me to think about, even though I usually seem to do better with queen pawn games for some reason.

Thanks.  I know that's good advice because everyone says it.  But even a beginner has to have some opening plan to cover his first several moves ...

The Veresov is a fine, unpretentious opening.

Whether you should play it depends more on your goals in chess than its intrisic value.

If your goal is to break 2200 in tournament chess, the Veresov may help you, but learning 1.e4 will help more. I have known a few masters who learned chess by playing the Veresov, but I've known many more who learned by playing 1.e4.

If your goal is to have a simple, reliable repertoire for the rest of your life and you don't really intend to work really hard at your game, the Veresov is just fine.

This isn't a slam againt the Veresov. The individual needs to be honest about his or her goals and choose his or her repertoire accordingly.

The Veresov is just fine for e4 players, which want to avoid 1...c5 and 1...e5. The mainlines do not give more than equality, but the game is far from dead, or boring. In any case, this is a much better choice than (say) the London, or the Colle.

Thanks everyone for all the comments.  I shall not live long enough to  break 2200 , and if I am to be honest, my goal probably is to have a simple, reliable repertoire that works for me, whether or not it includes the Veresov.  No-one seems to want to comment on the Veresov opening, so I'm coming to the conclusion it is probably not a good idea.

Thank you.  That is the kind of comment I was hoping for.  Perhaps I shall try it after all.