It's true, but your early middlegame positions will be way more complicated than in other openings...which doesn't mean your choice is bad, but there's no free lunch... 
The Robatsch, Pterodactyl and Common Sense
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Feb 3, 2010
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#2
Feb 3, 2010
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#3
Just finished some more analysis.
There are actually 12 variations, not 18. I had some transpositions.
Total stats (and this is before I've delved in to the sub-variations to optimize) are:
White wins 28%, Black wins 42% and 30% drawn.
I have to disagree about the middle games. I find that the middlegame positions are very concrete strategically. Black knows exactly what he should be doing in the position. Will agree that everyone's taste is different and the lunch is never free or easy....
For a starting point, if anyone wants to delve further, see my earlier "Ptero Analyses" post.
Gamebrain.... I'm getting the sense you like the Pterodactyl.
I've been using it against d4 openings right now, and it's been going pretty well. I don't know much theory on the Pterodactyl, though.
Feb 3, 2010
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#5
That's the nice thing about the Ptero complex DrizztD,
No one seems to......
Sep 9, 2013
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#6
A nice lecture on the Gurgenidze system by FM Grant Szuveges:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r07qvSgTOQ8
I'm in the process of building a Black repetoire based on the Robatsch and Pterodactyl openings.
When I get a chance to go in to a Pterodactyl line starting from the Robatsch, I do so. When White doesn't co-operate, I play the optimum Robatsch line for the variation that appears on the board.
As I put this repetoire together I have noticed a very attractive feature that is something to think about:
If you respond to the four basic moves e4,d4,c4,f4 there are on average, 5 possible variations you can face, and within these 5 variaions, 5 sub-variations you must know as well. So, to face these 4 possibilities, you have to know 100 variations.
In my study of the Robatsch/Ptero against the major 4, I have found 18 main possible variations. These variations are very concrete, and this leads to just 1 or 2 subvariations that are the best. So in my completed repetoire, I will only have to consider less than 40 variations. BTW, a small group of these variations are played the majority of the time, so the actual variance of variations I will face over the board is about 5 total.
So .... 1. I'm practically guaranteed a variation over the board that I know, and 2. I'm almost assured of having greater theoretical knowledge than my opponent of the positions on the board.
This makes a lot of sense to me, so I think I am heading in the right direction....