As I've never played this opening, I wouldn't know off hand. The way I see it, you can do a number of moves.
1) Bg5, with the intention to trade off and make the position less symetrical and mroe interesting.
2) Be2, with the intention to castle and develop more pieces.
3) b3 or g3, with the intetion of Fianchettoing the bishops.
4) Nd5, to begin gaining the initiative and gaining space.
Hope this helps, though it probably doesn't.
Look up a few games using something like chessgames.com and pay attention to the plans players use. Make note of kingside play with an f pawn break and queenside play with the b pawn break. Pay attention to pawn structures arising after a knight goes to d4/d5 and when captures which way it's recaptured.
For example, if the knights on the d file are captured the same way, keeping the pawns symmetrical then the position isn't as dynamic and may be drawish depending. If black captures cxd4 and white captures exd5 then black may have great play coming from his pawn mass on the kingside while white may have the same but on the queenside again depending on everything else.
Closed positions can open up explosively later in the game, to handle a closed position correctly you have to get a grip on the long term strategies and ramification of things like pawn structure changes. An immediate and free remedy is to look up some games to see how strong players continued, if you want to learn more you can a book on strategy (e.g. pachman) or even pawns (e.g. soltis)
If you don't like this still, then look into mover orders that allow an early d4 for center play and a freer game.
Iamcleverbot: I am not in love with trading off my bishop for a knight, but due to the closed nature of the game I guess I will have to agree with that. However, I usually look for the early castle king side and then the 'f' pawn break, but I still need to work on staying equal up to that point.
wafflemaster: Thank you for the tips! I am definitely going to look into that... Any games you can suggest that you know of?
I agree with that, because bishops, in my opinion, hold better strategic value than knights, which only work well, in my opinion, tactically. If I ever came across this scenario, I would probably do Nd5 or Be2, I don't like pointless Fianchettoing.
I also look to do Nd5 currently, but now if I was playing Black and the ensuing trade was to occur, how would you respond in this situation?
I agree with madhatter. However, in a recent game of mine, i pinned and traded the knight on f3 first, then did Nd5, and it worked out pretty well for me.
iamcleverbot, can you show me exactly what you did from your game? that would be great, thanks =D
and that actually sounds like a good plan, madhatter5! thanks!
It was a live game, as in in person, but I'll try to recreate it as best as I can.
This is as far as I can accurately recreate, but the ending position seems to be favorable to white, and I did win that game.
iamcleverbot: yeah, I think I'll try that move in my next game with this position. Clearly, being able to clear 'd5' space for the Knight is favorable, because it allows you to gain tempo or position your Knight in an incredibly powerful square. Also, the closed nature of the game is more favorable to having a Knight as opposed to Bishop.
Currently, I enjoy playing the English Opening: Queen's Knight Variation (1. c4 e5 2. Nc3). However, this will sometimes fall into a symmetrical position (shown below) that I DESPISE playing in. Any suggestions? Thanks!