very interesting that sometimes our natural openigns really are real openings?
as for uncommon openings like the trompowsky attack, or bird's opening - these are very strong in U2000 tourneys because of the surprise value that they carry, since almost no one studies replies to these exclusively.
thanks for your posts and keep them coming!
my two cents....
as white, 1.e4 (love explosive tactical games as white.)
as black, i meet:
1.e4 with the sicilian
1.d4 with the grunfeld, Benko ,or KID
1.c4 with the neo grunfeld, symetrical english
all these seek to drag the game to tactical realms.
I'm giddy now with meeting my new mirror friend. ( we play the same openings )
i haven't found it yet, but i like the Kings indian defence as black a bundle.
i like the Spanish as white, even though the types of "Spaniards" are so immense that it's really hard to say it's overall my opening.
in every opening i find a certain line which i find hard to play, so i can say i like the kings gambit, but i don't like the Falkabeer gambit that folows one move later... :~(, or the spanish as white but not if black opens the centre completly, i like the French (as black), but i know that one day i'll face a line which i will hate and will force me to give it up... tough life :P
natural is an odd way of putting it. because we all have to draw chess knowledge from somewhere. But i guess when I first started to play chess I first just played 1.e4 and devolped my pieces with nf3 nc3 bc4 bf4 and d4 thats how i would always play as a youngster with no knowledge.
It's a tough question! I end up playing a whole mix of things and I wan to find out what a good opening is for me. So I'm exploring book openings [sicilian and philidor defence, and for white ponziani] to see whether elements of them appeal to my style. I hope that I'll find some sort of hybrid form of one of them that I like! [and then probably find it's a very well known variation... back to the drawing board!!]
Ruy Lopez FTW
for black scandinavian defense with queen to d5 then to d6, and c6 this is a wierd opening but is very solid
and for white, queens gambit because you can take advantage of gambit declined with two annoying pawns near to halt whites advance
natural? maybe some sort of Queen's Pawn game or Queen's Gambit? im really not sure
When I first started the game, I played the Four Knight's Game a lot.
At my more intermediate I started playing versions of the Catalan.
Now, more advanced intermediate, the Queen's Gambit
Sicilian Dragon Variation(as Black)...I played it for at least a year before anyone told me it had a name.
Queen's Gambit I still have yet to read anything about this opening and I think I'm playing it pretty soundly.
A messed up variation of Modern Benoni 4 Pawns Attack that I've developed...It's probably a dubious opening but at the level I play it still works.
When I first started I played exclusively c4 and c5 and would put a knight behind that look to but a bishop on g7 or g2 and look for a d4/d5 break. I still play this way sometimes.
guico piano
Vienna Gambit and Sicilian Dragon. Both open opening with changes to attack for both sides
e4, Nf3 is natural