I play 1...g6 because if White plays e4 and d4 I'll play a Modern and if not I'll most likely get a KID. Both the Modern and the KID are in my main repertoire.
Precisely, that's why I play 1...Nc6 -- both 1.e4 e5 and the QGD Chigorin are in my repertoire
So I'm guessing you meet 2.c4 with 2....e5?
Yes and then it's an English
I like 1....b6 against 1Nf3.
If white plays 2e4 then after 2...Bb7 white can play 3d4 but might find he allows the Bb4 pin idea....since he can't get his WSB out in time to defend his e pawn
On the other hand it seems to me that if white plays 1Nf3 b6 2d4 Bb7 3c4 black can go for a Dutch setup with 3...f5
Did anyone ever look at the Khalifman five-volume series on Kramnik's 1.Nf3 opening repertoire?
It's formidable. It relies on vast knowledge of d4/c4 openings with an eye to gaining advantage with subtle transpositions and probably much more.
Way over my head.
Kramnik has write a book with A.Khalifman about 1.Nf3, he must really bored with his life.😉
Not quite true. Khalifman has written a brilliant 5-volume series, Opening for White According to Kramnik. Khalifman analyses a repertoire that is loosely based on Kramnik's own repertoire. Kramnik once famously said that he should try some of Khalifman's ideas!
Khalifman was writing updates to parts of this series but has announced he's going to stop that project. His updates focused more on the Catalan without 1.Nf3.
Kramnik is probably the single greatest opening authority in chess today. His opening ideas have become main lines for all levels of players. Kramnik plays 1.Nf3, but with the clear idea of playing main lines against the KID and against 1.d4 d5 lines. His opening move order makes the Budapest impossible and the Grunfeld unlikely.
Personally, I usually play 1.Nf3 Nf6 and wait for White to declare his intentions. If you really love the Symmetrical English and the Sicilian as Black, you could play 1.Nf3 c5.
Khalifman's series is really first rate. It's mostly useful to people who are aspiring to become chess professionals and to old-style correspondence players. His books fill the same niche that the Grandmaster Repertoire series fits.
Rather than play 1.d4 Wojo also played 1.Nf3 with the idea of guiding the game into his pet lines of the Catalan, KID and Gruenfeld. while avoiding the Nimzo and much of the other QP defenses.
That's a smart opening system, but it looks quaint next to Kramnik's aircraft carrier approach.
To answer the OP question, I would play 1...f5 and head off into some kind of Dutch, rather than deal with all the fluid vagaries my opponent may or may not know on the d4/c4/Reti side of things.
It doesn't come up much at the class player level except for a few who reflexively play closed kingside fianchetto setups because they don't know much about the openings.
Perhaps it would be helpful to look at Beating Unusual Chess Openings by Richard Palliser.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627072813/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen107.pdf
1...Nf6 and 1...d5.
I like 1....b6 against 1Nf3.
If white plays 2e4 then after 2...Bb7 white can play 3d4 but might find he allows the Bb4 pin idea....since he can't get his WSB out in time to defend his e pawn
I used to play 1....b6 against 1.Nf3 thinking that 2.e4 Bb7 "forced" white to play a defensive move like 3.Nc3, or 3.d3 blocking the Bf1, but then realized that 1.Nf3 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Bc4 doesn't lose a white pawn: 3...Bxe4 4.Bxf7 Kxf7 5.Ng5 ch. Now 1.Nf3 d5.
I play 1...g6. It lets them know I play the KID vs 1.d4, so if they like playing against it they can go into that. If they go for a kingside finachetto or 2.c4 then I set up like a normal KID with ...e5. If they set up a Botvinnik pawn triangle then their f3-Knight is misplaced whereas mine can go to e7 (the advantage of 1...g6 over 1...Nf6 and why I also play 1...g6 against 1.c4).
I play 1...g6. It lets them know I play the KID vs 1.d4, so if they like playing against it they can go into that. If they go for a kingside finachetto or 2.c4 then I set up like a normal KID with ...e5. If they set up a Botvinnik pawn triangle then their f3-Knight is misplaced whereas mine can go to e7 (the advantage of 1...g6 over 1...Nf6 and why I also play 1...g6 against 1.c4).
I guess if white chooses to play 2 e4 then you are in for a Pirc or an accelerated dragon Sicilian..
I guess if white chooses to play 2 e4 then you are in for a Pirc or an accelerated dragon Sicilian..
Or a Modern
I play 1...g6. It lets them know I play the KID vs 1.d4, so if they like playing against it they can go into that. If they go for a kingside finachetto or 2.c4 then I set up like a normal KID with ...e5. If they set up a Botvinnik pawn triangle then their f3-Knight is misplaced whereas mine can go to e7 (the advantage of 1...g6 over 1...Nf6 and why I also play 1...g6 against 1.c4).
I do the same things for the same reasons, just I play Panno versus the KID Fianchetto. KID and the Modern are in my main repertoire. Sometimes I play 1...f5 against 1 c4 for a Stonewall, though. I like the Stonewall but hate 1 d4 f5 2 Bg5/Nc3 etc that kind of anti-Dutch systems.
I like 1....b6 against 1Nf3.
If white plays 2e4 then after 2...Bb7 white can play 3d4 but might find he allows the Bb4 pin idea....since he can't get his WSB out in time to defend his e pawn
I used to play 1....b6 against 1.Nf3 thinking that 2.e4 Bb7 "forced" white to play a defensive move like 3.Nc3, or 3.d3 blocking the Bf1, but then realized that 1.Nf3 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.Bc4 doesn't lose a white pawn: 3...Bxe4 4.Bxf7 Kxf7 5.Ng5 ch. Now 1.Nf3 d5.
Interesting. Thanks for the reply to that. Just looked at opening explorer. With an admittedly small sample, black seems to be ok with c5 and e6 to follow..
The Modern is my 2nd defense to 1.e4, so that isn't a problem. An opponent who plays 1.Nf3 probably doesn't know much Pirc/Modern/Accerlerated Dragon theory, so going into one of those (fairly sharp) lines is probably not likely anyway.
I play 1...g6 because if White plays e4 and d4 I'll play a Modern and if not I'll most likely get a KID. Both the Modern and the KID are in my main repertoire.