I don't understand why you would put something like this up to a vote.
/ Your rating here is close to 1700 rapid. What happened last year when you shot up close to 1900?
Should I play exclusively a universal system?
Sort:
As with any sport, preparation is key.
Simply put, if you are going to use a 'universal system' then you are going to be open book when it comes to being prepared for.
Aug 12, 2018
0
#4
I studied the Sicilian defense and played it as hard as it was to learn and avoid getting beat down by a kingside attack. But it has proven to be a weapon I can use to play my best chess. I am taking a break from studying that and moving on to other openings. I’ve also realized my weakness and need to study endgames and tactics. Good luck
Aug 12, 2018
0
#5
DeirdreSkye wrote:
Since you are not a novice or a beginner I think you are past the level of "being exposed to as many positions as possible".
First let's see what is playable and what is not. Some of your suggestions are simply unplayable.
For example the "Caro French triangle against 1.e4" , what on earth is this?This is unplayable , it's either Caro kan or French , decide.
Hippo is terrible , you better forget it. You will always get awful positions and you will always need to defend and when you improve you will realise that it is practically unplayable against 2200 player and you just wasted your time.Just exclude hippo from this.
The old Indian /Philidor complex is very nice but playing only this with white and Black is not the best idea.The positions are too limited , your opponent's are easy to prepare against.You will be like a sitting duck in higher levels.
KIA KID complex is fine but you do that to avoid theory and KID is a theoretical nightmare and KIa a positional nightmare. So what's the point?
The idea to play London as white and CaroKan and Slav with Black is not bad at all( why not add the Bf4 Queen's gambit with a later c4?). It actually seems perfectly fine.
I think you can have the best of both worlds. By mastering 2 types of universal systems you can have both the familiarity you
seek plus the necessary versatility that will allow you not to be too predictable.
It can be something like London and Reti/KIA with white and Caro Kan or Pirc with Black while you keep only Slav against 1.d4(Slav is several different systems that you can use so you don't need something else).
Start with the London-Caro Kan-Slav and once you feel familiar enough you can mix it with something else.
whats wrong with the hippo to claim it unplayable?
Aug 12, 2018
0
#6
my advice on systems is : by all means play it, but not make your entire repertoire revolve around it.You become too easy to prepare against it, and limit your pattern recognition.
The King's Indian Attack as white and as black The Modern Philidor (Hanham variation) and Old Indian appear to make for a principled pairing. The King's bishop is placed on a more aggressive square when having white at the cost of a slight weakening of the kingside pawn formation, the bishop is played in a passive but more solid way when black.
Simpler is The London, 4...a6 Slav, 3...Qd8 Scandinavian, and head for a London reversed against flank openings.
Aug 12, 2018
0
#8
BobbyTalparov wrote:
There are some IMs and GMs who play in such a way. The benefit is you tend to know the positions better than your opponents. The disadvantages include being predictable and easy to prepare for. Another approach is to identify a middle game position you like and play openings that lead to that middle game. For example, Sam Collins wrote an entire repertoire for white designed around the IQP structure. This can be more effective than a system opening as it makes you more difficult to prepare for (as your opening choices will be more varied) while still maintaining your familiarity with the position. In the end, the decision really comes down to taste. Would you get bored playing basically the same game over and over?
If you win. No
Aug 12, 2018
0
#9
If that's what's fun for you, then sure, go ahead.
A few warnings
- Universal systems are not necessarily shortcuts. Since your opponents can do almost anything, to be properly prepared you have to know a lot.
- Universal systems tend to let your opponent set the tone of the game (they get to choose the structure and development scheme they're most comfortable with)
- And if you're interested in improving, universal systems tend to limit your exposure to different patterns and ideas, and so overall this will slow your rate of improvement.
Aug 12, 2018
0
#10
AFAIK the hippo is perfectly fine.
As a matter of fact it was played in a world championship match... twice!
I even thought about playing the hippo in tournaments... but I was too scared, because there are so many different things your opponent can do. Many different structures with many different ideas and your burden of accuracy is higher.
Curious. Have you chosen your universal repertoire? If so. Which one did you choose?
Apr 4, 2020
0
#12
darkunorthodox88 wrote:
my advice on systems is : by all means play it, but not make your entire repertoire revolve around it.You become too easy to prepare against it, and limit your pattern recognition.
I agree. Also, while you think you may not get bored, you can fall into very stereotyped thinking.
He hasn't played a game here since before this thread was started two years ago.
Here’s an universal system I thought of that seems interesting. Not sure if this is a thing.
West European System
As white: London System/Jobava London System and English Opening
Against e4: French Defense
Against d4: Dutch Defense
West European System
As white: London System/Jobava London System and English Opening
Against e4: French Defense
Against d4: Dutch Defense
Apr 4, 2020
0
#15
notmtwain wrote:
He hasn't played a game here since before this thread was started two years ago.
Good point. He must still be trying to figure out his "system". 😉
GM Norwood recommends 1.g3 or 1....g6 against everything.
Apr 4, 2020
0
#17
Ok, but... as usual, far from cutting down on theory, a repertoire like that would require massive preparation to play well.
I know if you're new to chess your opponents aren't Kasparov so it doesn't really matter, but IMO viewing this as some kind of shortcut is fundamentally wrong.
What it does do, generally, is let you avoid any disasters during the first 10 moves, and for new players that can be both practical and appealing.
I'm a 1700 Elo player. In the far future, I aim to get up to 2100-2300 Elo (2300 Elo is the most optimistic scenario, I am certain that I will never try to go beyond 2300 Elo).
During all my past chess life, I've always played the mainlines of various popular openings (1.e4, Sicilian, KID, Benko Gambit, Caro-Kann, Slav, 1.d4 2.c4, etc), never playing unpopular openings or sidelines.
But recently I got an idea: play exclusively one universal system, with both colors, all the time, almost regardless of what my opponents play (of course the move order can be adapted to fit with the moves of my opponents).
If I elect to pursue this idea, I would play this universal system 100% of the time (it would not be my "main weapon", it would be my "only weapon"), and I would play this for the restant of my life (I'm 24 years old), because I'm getting tired of changing my repertoire each year... this time I hope my repertoire will last forever.
For those not familiar with "universal systems", here are the main examples that I know of:
The London-Caro-Slav
As White: the London
As Black against 1.e4: the Caro-Kann
As Black against 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3: the Slav without ...a6
The King's Indian
As White: the King's Indian Attack (KIA)
As Black against 1.e4: the Pirc/Modern
As Black against 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3: the King's Indian Defense (KID)
The Old Indian
It's like the King's Indian except that we put the King's Bishop on e2/e7 instead of fianchettoing it on g2/g7.
The Colle-Triangle-Semi-Slav
As White: the Colle
As Black against 1.e4: ...e6, ...d5, ...c6, the "Caro-French Triangle"
As Black against 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3: the Semi-Slav
The Hippopotamus, also called the Double Fianchetto
g3, b3, e3, d3, h3, a3, Bg2, Bb2, Ne2, Nd2
This one is significantly weaker than all the others, especially if the opponent plays e4/e5, d4/d5 and either c4/c5 or f4/f5 or both. And the extra tempo you get with White becomes completely irrelevant.
If you know any other universal systems, do share them.
I've also thought about this half-universal system:
The English-Pirc/Modern-KID
As White: 1.c4 followed by the moves g3, Bg2, Nc3, Nf3, O-O, an English system which looks objectively stronger than the KIA
As Black against 1.e4: the Pirc/Modern
As Black against 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3: the KID
The purpose of having this repertoire would be to get relatively similar positions and be more familiar with the resulting positions than my opponents, since the system's setup will be featured in 100% of my games but only 2% of the games of my opponents.
I'm aware that the late-opening (right after we've reached the tabiya of the system) and the middlegame will be played quite differently depending on whether I have White or Black and depending on what setup the opponent adopts, but there will still be a small amount of similarity, which is better than having no similarity at all.
The purpose of choosing this system would not be to not study opening, in fact I would be ready to invest a lot of time to study opening.
Many people find playing systems boring, but I am certain that I would never get bored.
Assuming that playing the popular openings is +0.30 (the objective evaluation), I think that if I played a universal system, if the opponent plays the objectively best lines, it would be approximately -0.10 with White and +0.60 with Black. I think that the higher familiarity with the resulting positions that I would have compared to my opponents will be worth more than the 0.35 that I would lose in the objective evaluation of the positions.
I've seen a few people say things like "if someone always plays the same system, he will never progress" and "anyone who aspires to get past 2000 Elo has to play the mainlines of the popular openings" and "everyone needs to play many different openings to get to know many different structures", but I don't know if these rumors are really true, and anyway I have already played many different openings during my past chess life so I've already experienced many different structures...
I would like to get the opinions of more experienced players.
Would adopting a universal system be a good idea for me?
Would the higher familiarity with the resulting positions that I would have compared to my opponents give me an advantage big enough to offset the fact that the openings that I would play would be objectively weaker than the popular openings?
Would I be able to get up to 2100-2300 Elo if I played exclusively a universal system?
What do you think of each of the universal systems?
Which universal system should I choose?
If I elect not to pursue this idea of "universal system", then my repertoire would most likely be:
As White: 1.d4 2.c4 followed by Nf3+g3+Bg2+O-O against everything except the Slav and the QGA
As Black against 1.e4: the Caro-Kann
As Black against 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3: the Slav without ...a6
Also please vote at the link below:
http://www.easypolls.net/poll.html?p=5b706d93e4b00209f15ade10