System/Ideas against the English

I want to remind you that part of development is connecting and developing your rooks. Imagine if your queen was on f6 and your bishop was on d6 (instead of the other way around) and you developed your rooks to d8/e8/f8, and you played the restraining a6 should white play b4. You would then be threatening all sorts of lethal pawn breaks and white would be sweating. There was a great world class game like this with colors reversed recently. White's loss of time with h3, also weakening his kings position, gave you a great game.

In that line where white plays Nh5 in the f5 English, why not go to e5, or even counter with d5?

Now I really wish I capitalized on my opponents bad play by castling queenside..it was the second game I lost although the other one I lost when I was +5.6 in analysis cuz I forgot about my time

The Kramnik attack is similar to the nimzo indian at all? Probably not huh...more like a trompovsky

No, it has nothing to do with either of those two openings, aside from the fact that a bishop is coming out early.

More like a rossolimo.

The line thrillerfan gave is probably white's best, although I do not completely believe that Bg2 playing standard grand prix positions a tempo up gives white nothing.

It's harder to play against Nf3 than g3.. Less options as black. Nf6 is standard but against e3 instead of g3 I have nothing good. I like my f5 stuff but the Ne5 line after d4 and e4 is tough to fight..

A diagram may be helpful in letting people follow exactly which positions you are referring to.

Sorry it's tough on mobile, but 1. C4 e5 2. Nc3 nc6 3. Nf3 f5. Nf3 is tougher than g3..

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nf3 f5.  Which move are you concerned about?

• 4.d4 e4.  Whereever White puts the N you can play ..Nf6, ..g6 and ..d6.  See pfren's game for an example of how to develop the Black pieces.  If White plays f3, trade on f3.
• 4.d3 Bb4 followed by ..d6 and ..Nf6 is a nice scenario for a Grand Prix reversed.  Get your 'bad' bishop outside the pawn chain and exchange it.  ..f5-f4 is the goal.
• 4.g3 Nf6 has been discussed.
• 4.e3 Nf6 doesn't really change Black's strategy; you're still going to meet d2-d4 with ..e5-e4 and develop your pieces in the same way.

1.c4 e5 2.nc3 nc6 3.g3 g6 4.bg2 bg7 5.e3 d6 6. Nge2 h5.. This line actually looks really interesting, despite looking crazy at first. Plus Topalov played it in a nice win

14...g5 What the fuck? No offense.

Jeremy Silman's approach to finding a plan (which you should have done long ago) is first to assess the dynamics of the position. What are your strengths and weaknesses in the position? After assessing this, choose a side of the board to play on -- Kingside, Queenside, or Centre (Hint: not Kingside). In his words, you can only choose one are to play on, and the only candidates are the areas of the board in which you have some sort of strategic advantage or prospects of an advantage; do not play in the sector where you have no influence. In this position, either the centre or Queenside would have been fine for you to play on. g5 just opens a diagonal to your own King. At your rating I am very surprised to see this kind of move.

24...Re7 and it looks like you are still okay. Once he got two pigs on the 7th it was pretty much over.

Funny thing is, Stockfish recommended g5 a move earlier or two. And you often see g4 while castles kingside in various Sicilians so I decided to try it here.. 0-0-0 was the best but as a human I would probably get mated if I took on b4 after bb4

"Funny thing is, Stockfish recommended g5 a move earlier or two"

Okay. But you are not an engine. It's one thing for an engine to tell you the best theoretical move, and another to find a move which is actually playable for you, a human being.

Engines often like exchange variations, for example, but strong human players rarely play them because it strips the game of winning chances and leads to drawish positions. White does not usually play for a draw, but engines do not consider how drawish the position is, only how much absolute advantage there is.

In this position, you could say that theoretically, ...g5 was good at one point because you have just enough defensive resources available, but practically, you are walking on thin ice and exposing your King.

Well after castling kingside it was a bad idea. Before that I mean. With black I like equalizing but not fully. By that I mean I would rather be slightly worse but have chances to attack than be dead equal, even if it's risky.

Against the english I would treat it just as if playing the semi slav. c4 c6 Nc3 d5 then normal play.

Also need to take into account 1.c4 c6 2.e4 (where ..d5 gives you a Caro-Kann) and approaches without d2-d4 (not especially critical but it's worth knowing something about them)

The people whining about ...g5 have obviously never played the White side of the Open Sicilian

play 1... g6. Way more flexible as a recent game by GM Ferenc Berkes illustrates. Message me for detailed stuff.

g5 wasn't a bad idea, even engine analysis told me that, its just I played it a move too late. I should have done it without castling.