Sharp opennings for ofensive player

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Avatar of MaciejTrokowicz

Ok, so I have come to the point where my limited opening practice needs to be extended. The thing is that all books on openings I know either concentrate too much on basic theory (calling openings open/closed/semi-closed basing on move order instead the type of position they lead to) or too much on practice (deliberating every variation and ignoring the question - what are the main ideas and why should I choose it). Meanwhile I am struggling to answer a question - which openings suite my style best?

So here is a question to you - which openings are for my type of player?

To give you hints :

- I prefer open, sharp play with reduced material and I tend to avoid overcomplicated, crampy positions.

- often I prefer to exchange pieces and clarify instead of building tension and complicating - I don't like too much thinking in middlegame really. 

- that was for pieces - for pawns I am usually bit otherwise, I'd rather provoke my opponent to choke with them instead of taking them at first possibility (yeah, gambits suit me, altough I often miss the positional chances pawn sacrifices give). 

- I run like hell from lines which are overtheoretized, and counted 15 moves ahead. That's boring. Sicilian and Spanish are not an option. I want to know the basic lines (5-6 moves), main themes and the idea behind an opening. Nothing more.

- last but not least - I prefer openings where I get to choose where we go now - yet one more reason to avoid Sicilian and Spanish. THE REASON why I hate playing against 1.d4. And the main reason I like Alekhine's.

Opening's I use:

WHITE - Scotch - like the straightforwardness of 3.d4 even though sometimes it leads to positions I do not fully control. In general this is my fauvorite choice for white.

BLACK - Alekhine's - I like the counterplay it gives even though I sometimes miss the chances

BLACK - Sicilian Alapin - the most straightforward answer to Sicilian I know of

BLACK - Benko - I always try to head this way after 1.d4, even though it doesn't happen too often, and when it doesn't I get to improvise with some kind of KID/Benoni (they're all same thing to me really)

Opening's I've tried:

BLACK - Four Knights - if Alekhine's declined by 2.Nc3 - best thing is that having so many pieces out forces some kind of a riot. Still didn't practice it too much.

BLACK - Caro-Kann - turned out to be way too passive

BLACK - Slav - tried to use it as a way of forcing an opening choice on white after 1. d4 c6, altough I am not really sure if I want to play this way. And it leads to Caro-Kann sometimes.

WHITE - English - there's something in it, but still too much choice and initiative for black.

Now, can you advise something else that would suit me?

Avatar of MaciejTrokowicz

Thanks. I've looked up Colle in Wiki and it looks just like a position I would like to avoid. Also Indians simho give too much freedom to the opponent, as they can go anywhere. Chigorin looks interesting though as an alternative for trying to get the Benko after d4. Guess I'll need to try it.

Avatar of Frootloop2

sharp but without complications, lots of pieces, or theory?

that's like a whole box of contradictions.

Avatar of MaciejTrokowicz

sharp, simplified positions, little pieces actually

Avatar of eddysallin

Wow...u are a smart cookie.Try slowing down and play higher rated  players. As u reach higher i think your grasp of chess will include an insight---very few really understand the game. Not i,maybe fisher,lasker,etc.

Avatar of Fear_ItseIf
Frootloop2 wrote:

sharp but without complications, lots of pieces, or theory?

that's like a whole box of contradictions.

exactly what he said. Other than that, trying to trade off pieces isnt exactly sharp play, very rarely anyway. The majority of your opening choices arn't what you described.

The only one that really half fits your description of your playstyle is the Alekhine defence. You could maybe replace benko with modern benoni and scotch with italian. 

Avatar of Expertise87

It sounds to me like you would benefit more from studying tactics rather than openings. If you don't like to think in the middlegame, it's probably because you aren't comfortable enough with tactics. I would recommend sticking with open games. You don't have to know much theory to play either color of the Spanish as there are early deviations for both sides, lines that don't require a lot of theory to play, etc. but I do like the Scotch, or maybe Scotch Gambit (3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4) with quick attacking ideas in many lines.

If you think the Caro-Kann is passive, you're playing it wrong.