What openings should I play?

Hi. I'm trying to figure out what openings are best for me, I'm very indecisive when it comes to openings.

With white, I've played 1. e4, 1. d4, and 1. Nf3 before. I like 1. e4 best because in my experience it's most aggressive, but against the Sicilian I'm still trying to figure out what to do. My two options I'm considering are to play the main line Open sicilians (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 (2... e6, 2... Nc6, 2... g6) 3. d4) but I dont like playing against the Najdorf because the English attack is too sharp and theory heavy for my taste and in the 6. Be2 lines where I play "quietly" and castle kingside I dont like to play against 6... e5, when in those lines I eventually have to play Nd5 to make progress and after Black takes on d5 and i play exd5, I dont like playing against Black's kingside majority (also it's not a very challenging line, Black seems to be able to equalize quite comfortably.) The other option I was looking at was the Alapin sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. c3) and I like some of the attacking chances white has in the 2... Nf6 lines, as well as the IQP positions in some variations after 2... d5, but what should I do against 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 e6 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 b6?

Also with the Black pieces I'm struggling with what I should play. Against 1. e4 I usually play 1... c5, but what variation should I play? I've tried a bunch of variations in tournaments and casual games. I've played the Taimanov, the Kan variation, the Najdorf, the Dragon, the Sveshnikov, the Scheveningen, you name it. I'm even considering playing the Lowenthal variation of the Kalashnikov sicilian (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 a6 6. Nd6+ Bxd6 7. Qxd6) but at the moment I'm mostly leaning towards the Taimanov. The lines I'm most afraid of against the Taimanov are the English attack lines, though. They seem to be very common in GM games these days and there's a lot of theory being developed on them (and I'm not such a fan of heavy memorization!) Plz help!

- Sophie

Before I start, if your online rating is any indicative of your strenght you shouldn't really worry that much about the opening, leraning the first few moves and some ideas should be enought. Unless you enjoy studying chess openings.

Okay, first things first, you'll never have a repertoire that will always lead you to positions you like, you have to learn how to play positions you don't like too. If you really want to avoid the Najdorf but is okay with other variations then you can play 3.Bb5+ against 2...d6, this is known as the Canal-Sokolsky Attack or the Moscow Variation and it is a respectable alternative to the main lines that is frequently employed by GMs. Against 2...Nc6 and 2...e6 you can still play 3.d4 if you want so.

Before commiting to play the Sicilian as black you should try some other openings, the Ruy Lopez in particular can maybe impress you. The only reason I don't like playing 1...e5 is because I'm tired of boring Giuco Piano positions after 3.Bc4

That is a strange comment to make after seeing that the OP is a far stronger player than yourself. Also, you know Bc5 isn't forced, right?

To the OP: play the open Sicilian. You clearly have some knowledge of most Black responses having played them yourself. Sometimes they'll play the Najdorf, but so what? I would say you're doing well if you're comfortable against most of what you'll come up against. You're never going to love everything.

As Black, I don't really feel where your urge to choose a Sicilian is coming from. Is there a reason why you can't just play the one you feel like in the spur of the moment? At our level you're probably not going to be running into a lot of theory from your opponent anyway. Hell, I play the open Sicilian and I couldn't even tell you what all of those variations you just named are.

geez, gimme a break! 1. I'm only in 8th grade, and 2. This isn't English class! What does it matter?

Omg not true lol! At "my level" I have to be very prepared theoretically! I swear, people know variations far past move 10! Once I played a 1700 USCF in an OTB tournament (I was 1870 USCF) and got out-prepared in the opening on move 12 in a Sicilian Dragon. If u wanna c what I'm talking about I can directly show u:

Well, my rating reflects my chess strength, not my chess knowledge, and yes, those are different things. Also, I don't play online very frequently and usually don't play in chess.com, so my rating does not necessarly reflect my strenght accurately.

If you're talking about the Giuco Piano, I know Bc5 isn't forced, but usually when I play the Two Knights Defense my oponent plays something like d3 and goes to a boring passive position.

Knowing Main Lines up to the second digit doesn't mean they are better prepared, it doesn't mean they have a better understanding of the position, it just means that they memorized a few moves. Also the variation you showed is the first thing you should have considered in the position, you must have foreseen it when you played cxd5, you don't need opening knowlegde to calculate that.

Yes, you'll find some players that are booked up god knows how many moves, but refining your chess strenght should take priority over refining your opening if you want to improve. You have beaten that guy in the Sicilian Dragon not because of opening preparation, but because you are the better player.

Is this a joke? You start off on the wrong foot by rudely and incorrectly implying that I'm worse than you and then you go on to prove my point better than I ever could...

The best example you could find was an inaccuracy on move 12 that left White "slightly better" and according to the database I'm looking at, is played more than 20% of the time? A game which you won?

Get your act together, you're pathetic.

P.S. Maybe telling somebody that you're currently in school being taught English with it all fresh in your mind all of the time isn't the best defence to being accused of using the language inaccurately.

yeah it's basically a joke, but it's also me showing you one of my games for instructional purposes (so I can get more specific advice.) The thing about the English class was also a joke. :D Ok, I'll start taking this thing more seriously because apparently other chess.com members don't approve of my joking around. :) (umm... that was also a joke... ok, stop it Sophie, get it together and actually take this thing seriously.)

Also, how did I imply that "you're worse than me" because 1. That's not what I meant at all and 2. I really appreciate your advice and would never say or think such a thing. 3. Again, I was sorta kidding around, but a lot of my opponents can be pretty booked up.

If you get to move 10 or 15, look around, and like what you see (and the engine doesn't say you're lost lol), then your opening was a success.

Choose anything you like.

In your example game where you made an inaccurate move on move 12 is a good reason to stick with whatever opening you choose for a while (like a year) to get enough practice to learn the common mistakes and common themes.

Ignore betteroffsingle.  The guy is delusional.

@Sophie

In your begin post you said the following phrase

"I'm not such a fan of heavy memorization! Plz help!"

If you find yourself not a huge memorization fan than I think you need to play more positional openings and/or off beat lines.

Openings which are sharp, very open, and tactical often require heavy memorization.

The main reason is because one wrong move can lead to a checkmate or loss of material.

If you have problems trying to memorize than the simply solution is to play openings which are not as sharp, semi-closed positions, closed positions, and positional openings.

The good news is you know what your weakness is!

If you can't memorize very well than play openings which play to your strength!

BLACK OPENING ADVICE:

Instead of the Sicilian Najdorf or Sicilian Dragon which can be very sharp.

Perhaps you should give other lines a try.

A few lines worth naming include:

The Sicilian Kan which avoids the English Attacking lines.

White would get crushed if they tryed to do an English Set up vs the Kan.

The Classical Sicilian which has a very nice balance.

I believe it is an in between type of line not very sharp, but not very dull.

The Sicilian Hedge Hog very solid opening which takes on a unique formation.

It is sometimes considered very passive.

However, do not be fooled by the cute little hedge hog!

If you it can be very deadly in the right hands.

The Sicilian O'Kelly Variation a very slow pace type of variation. Which doesn't try to go in for huge sharp tactical complications.

WHITE OPENING ADVICE:

As white if you like the move 1.e4 you have tons of options.

I myself love playing 1.e4 and I often like playing positional lines myself.

I will share with you what I like to play and maybe you can try them yourself.

Against the Sicilian Defense 1...c5.

I have played:

The Open Sicilian

Against the Najdorf

I like to play 6.g3  which is called the Fianchetto Zagreb Variation.

Against the Sicilian Dragon

I like to play 2 different lines.

One line is very aggressive and is the mainline

The Second line is positional and that is the line I will recommend to you.

I play both lines using the same 6th move!

The move is 6.Be3 which is a very clever way of confusing your opponent.

The move 6.Be3 is called the Yugoslav Attack which is very aggressive.

However, since you do not want to memorize heavy theory lines which are extremely sharp.

I recommend tranposing from the Yugoslav Attack into the Classical Variation.

The Classical Variation's normal move order is 6.Be2  instead of 6.Be3.

To help understand why I chose this more order I shall give you a metaphor below:

Lets pretend you have 2 doors in front of you

Door A

or

Door D

Behind Door A  =   2 more doors  B & C

Behind Door  D = 2 more doors E & F

Now when you make a decision for example if you chose Door A.

Well than what has happened is you have now open up the chance to chose Door B or Door C

However, you leave behind the Options of Door E & F  simply because you did not chose Door D.

Chess is the same way there is a give and a take.

You give yourself the chance to see what Door B & C is.

But you take away the chance of seeing what Door E & F are.

Before you make your chose you have to decide what is best for you.

I feel playing this way is best for me.

I feel the benefits out weight the disadvantages in my case.

However, you are obviously a different person than me.

So you will have to make your decision wisely.

To help you make your decision I shall show you some of the "advantages" and "disadvantages" of this move order.

The Advantages:

By playing 6.Be3 you keep your opponent guessing as to which way you will proceed.

Will you continue with 7.f3?

Going into a Sharp Yugoslav Attacking mess!

or

Will you continue with 7.Be2?

Going into the Classical variation!

By playing it this way with the move 6.Be3 you keep both options open!

You keep your opponent guessing!

You can be very flexible.

Later on when you become stronger  player you might start playing aggressive you never know!

The benefit is you always keep that option open for you the rest of your chess career.

It gives you area of improvement!

Furthermore, if all your opponent does is memorize moves he might been thrown off by this deviation.

He might use up a lot of time!

He might get confused and make an error!

He might not even know how to play against this line very well increasing your chance of winning!

Some people lose chess games because they get thrown off balance.

This is an idle way of throwing them off balance.

An even if they are not thrown off balance the move is still a very solid move.

This highlights the Benefits of playing the Classical Variation by Tranposition!

Now lets take a look at some of the "Disadvantages"!

On major defect is the Dark Bishop "defect"

In the below diagram lets take a look at the Dark bishop defect more closely!

Notice how we have played the normal move order with 6.Be2 which leaves our dark bishop on c1.

In the other move order we played 6.Be3 which means our dark bishop was commited to 1 spot and 1 spot only!

We moved him to e3 and now we are not really going to want to move him again.

However, in the above position we have no moved our dark bishop.

Our Dark bishop has so many options now he can go to d2, e3, or g5.

Do you see how we have more options for him here?

Now in the below diagram lets pretend black makes common standard moves and castles!

Notice the above diagram!

Do you see how by playing the main line move order of the Classical Variation we give ourself the chance to move the dark bishop to more square options!

Which goes back to the "decision".

You have to weigh your options.

Yes now lets move along to other lines.

Perhaps the Open Sicilian might not be for you.

I do like mixing things up.

I can't lie sometimes I don't feel like playing the Open Sicilian lines.

Even though I do have my favorite lines in the Open Sicilian.

I also have favorite lines in the Closed Sicilian.

We are moving right along!

The Closed Sicilian &  The Chameleon

Chess players show no respect to these lines!

However, It is perfectly fine.

If other people wish to be haters there loss is our gain!

Look how wonderful this line is!

The move 2.Nc3 defending the very important e4 pawn and d5 square.

After the move 2.Nc3 black has tons of different options.

One very common response is the move 2...Nc6.

HA HA

Which I think its a funny little move that you will see by black players of all levels.

I love playing against 2...Nc6.

What a wonderful little move to play against.

Obvioiusly after the move 2...Nc6

I continue with the powerful move 3.Nge2! which is The Chameleon

I played a chess game and my opponent started cussing me out in this line.

It was pretty funny.

Yeah I started the line off as a Closed Sicilian than I tranposed into the Chameleon.

My opponent than started talking to me after my 3rd move because he had never seen that move before.

I obviously was laughing totally amused lol.

After which he played 3...d6.

At the time I didn't realize why he was playing 3...d6.

However, after the below moves lol I quickly found out why he played that.

He started cussing me out in the below position

LOL He started cussing me out in the above position because he was a Najdorf Player.

He told me I was an A hole for forcing him to play the Classical Variation.

LOL I didn't even force him. He did it himself.

Apparently he has never played the Classical Variation before in his life.

I was laughing obviously.

The move Nc6 lol which he played in the begin is not what he normally plays lol.

Yeah he ended up getting crushed lol.

You will be surpised on how many players have fallen victim to this exploitation!

I wasn't even trying.

I was simply playing normal.

Well any way that was a funny story which happen to me.

Moving on you!

You do have the option to play an Anti-Sicilian line.

Which is called:

The Rossolimo Attack

Yeah you can play this way as well.

It is very solid line.

Again these are simply different line options which you can try out and see if you like them.

Some are off beat, some are pet lines, and others are Anti-Sicilian lines.

They all are playable and I think they have some positional favor to them.

You can always spicy up the game to be tactical if you want to later on.

They all have room for improvement and growth.

Those are some of the lines I like to play.

Hopefully these lines can help you figure out what to play.

Asking someone what opening you should play is like asking someone what your favorite flavor of ice cream is.  That is a personal preference.  The opening is the easiest part of the game, play around with different openings til you find ones you like.

"Each player should choose an opening that attracts him. Some players are looking for a gambit as White, others for Black gambits. Many players that are starting out (or have bad memories) want to avoid mainstream systems, others want dynamic openings, and others want calm positional pathways. It’s all about personal taste and personal need.

For example, if you feel you’re poor at tactics you can choose a quiet positional opening (trying to hide from your weakness and just play chess), or seek more dynamic openings that engender lots of tactics and sacrifices (this might lead to more losses but, over time, will improve your tactical skills and make you stronger)." - IM Jeremy Silman (January 28, 2016)

Isn't that from How To Reassess Your Chess? One of my favorite chess books!

Buy yourself a computer generated chess game and experiment with it. Take notes of your positions while playing with yourself, then you will learn how to play with a live partner.

PROBLEM SOLVED!

Against the Sicilian, continue to play the Open Sicilian, but against 2...d6 lines, instead of 5.Nc3, play 5.f3 intending 6.c4.  You end up in Maroczy Bind positions, and Black could literally transpose to the Accelerated Dragon (a 2...Nc6 Sicilian) if he wanted to:  1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3!  (Suck that Najdorf Fans!)

As a Sicilian Taimanov Player myself, with occasional use of the Najdorf myself as Black, I have the simple solution to the English Attack.  Avoid it!  Don't allow White his fun!

Pick up John Emms's book "Sicilian Taimanov:  Move By Move" and go thru games 21 and 22!

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.O-O-O Be7 9.f3 h5!  (White could play 8.f3, in which case you play 8...h5!, and Black's other option is 9...O-O, which is fine, but you better not ever lose control of the f4 square in that line!)

I saw the Silman comment here in an article at chess.com.

That's an interesting suggestion! I'll look into that.