Sharp Repertoire

Will everyone please notice I said SHARPER, not attacking. I am looking for theoretically solid lines that have many tactical possibilities. I am not, however, looking for all-or-nothing attacks on the king.

I think there is a disconnect. What is theoretically solid for GMs is not so solid for amateur players. The standard level of technical knowledge required to hold an endgame or a level middlegame position at the GM level is something we as amateurs do not have. Once you realize that basically any mainline opening is "OK" you can play a lot of things that are fun. My only caveat is that there should not be an easy and well known refutation. Sorry to offend those that love the elephant or other simplistic gambits sure., you can obtain a few points from players that dont know what to do but what happens when you run out of victims? Your smart opponents will do some quick study and  learn from their "loss" while those players that insist on playing bad openings will continue to lose both games and the chance to learn something that they can build upon. 

Any opening has sharp lines even the caro kann has lines that create an imbalance (the Nf6 lines and after Nxf6 capturing with the g pawn for example) If your looking for perfect systems that will always give you something sharp dont exist since  you have an opponent that might not want to participate in your attempts to sharpen the position. 

My advice if you want "sharp" pick openings like the Benoni/Benko/King's Indian and a sicilian against e4. As White play e4 and you should get a sharp line sooner or later if you play something like a scotch gambit (although a fast ..d5 by black kinda takes the fun out of most gambit lines)

Because you are asking the wrong questions, and players who are a lot better than you are taking the time to explain to you why it's the wrong question. 

If you're goal is to have fun, and to you fun is studying openings, then study away. If you want to be a better chess player, then stop being argumentative and listen to what the people better than you are telling you!

Personally, I love to study openings, and I spend a few hours a day on chess, but there's no way I'd have time for the repertoire you are suggesting for yourself. Moreover, I can't figure out what those openings have to do with each other. It seems to me that a good opening repertoire is first and foremost simple. I don't mean simple in the sense that the openings themselves aren't complicated, but rather simple in the sense that they are compatible and  easily studied together. 

Your openings seem to me to be very different, and your repertoire seems anything but simple. All that complexity will certainly make you hard to prepare for, but how well could you possibly know the lines? 

Seriously? 

oK first you seem to be confused on what you want. It sounds like you want to play something safe that leaves you with all the chances for tactical opportunities while giving your opponent no chances ... I know it sounds a bit odd once I put it in writing but thats what it sounds like you want. 

To make it easier for you,.. pick a type of pawn you prefer and play openings around that. Do you want to play for an imbalanced pawn structure you get from sicilians or a more stable balanced one such as e4 e5 openings (d4 d5 as well) My advice is to learn to play both.

the second thing you should do is to be honest about the amount of time you have to study. Do you have the energy, time and ability to memorize long lines of theory that will be required of some openings as you improve. ALL openings will require a degree of study as you improve, you can not escape it but you can play openings that are more forgiving of small errors (the sicilian dragon is not one of them) My advice is to take a book of games such as the old but still relevent winning withxxx series or the more recent starting out with xxxxx  and play the opening for 6-12 months and rotate them out .. learn, explore and have fun. as your base knowledge improves you will find something that fits you. 

i cannot take this guy for serious...his opening repertoire doesnt fit together as well. He wants to play sharp, but with no risk and please no attacking lines...he can memorize every side line till move 30....good joke!

Cant tell if your serious.

Chessisgood, congratulations on picking an ambitious repertoire : it will certainly help you improve.

There is one part of the repertoire I don't understand : you mention Queen's Gambit and Catalan as white, yet nothing against the Slav proper ?! Does it mean you want to play the Catalan against slav-structures ?

Also, the Ben-Oni MML can't be forced through an early Nf3 move-order - Black has the option to play an early a6/Bg4 system

Thanks for the help! Against the Slav I tend to play main lines with a4. Forgot to mention that, as I really have only faced the Chebanenko. With the Benoni, I am now playing the Nd2 line, and it is working pretty well.

i have heard that the dragon variation of the sicilian is a sharper variation than the najdorf (my opinion and some books that i have read). this is probably becuase i play the accelerated and hyper-accelerated dragon on a daily basis. 

I tried the Dragon for some time, but ran into serious problems against the Yugoslav Attack.

could you show that benoni line.

could you show that benoni line.

Here is the Benoni line I was talking about:

"Your only task in the opening is to reach a playable middlegame."   Lajos Portisch

The best opening is the opening your opponent doesn't know. 

"To avoid what everyone knows it is necessary to know what no one knows"   Mikhail Botvinnik

I would follow their advise and play unusual openings because opening theory is a double edged sword. Of course that does not mean that you can't play theory, but you probably should not play every main out there unless you are Garry Kasparov...

very nice it loosk promising I'll try it not that there nothing wrong with what I play (mainline) but often time my games become dry or blacks has good enough resources and holds when behind most my benoni games end in a draw so im hopin this Nd2 line you showd could fix all that.

I realy like the Nd2 Benoni... Reminds me of the main line of the King's Indian Defence...

Well, I am playing some sidelines. e.g. Snake Benoni!!!