Is Kramnik's "Berlin Wall" the end of 1.e4?

Ruy Lopez is not the only e4 opening

I play scotch too @ivandh

I also have 6 lands in play.

A very interesting system is 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 which avoids the Petroff as well as the Ruy.

Yes.

Kasparov played the Berlin Wall himself and got beat by Judit Polgar. She also beat Sergei Karjakin from the White side of the Berlin more recently (two years ago).

The Berlin Wall is quite playable for both sides. The draw ratio is high not because the position is dead or stale, but because both sides must work very hard when one of them decides to play it out. In a tournament or match, sometimes players want to quit early and get ready for the next game.

It is well-suited to Carlsen who likes to torture players in seemingly even unbalanced positions, but even he will take a draw at move 35 from time to time.

In regards to 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Spassky has scored quite well as white with that system.I believe Ziryab is correct in his assessment of the Berlin Wall however.

The Berlin is almost enough to convince me to give up the French, but then I have to prepare for a whole bunch of other White openings. When I play 1...e6, I have a lot of say. Still, I'll pop it out from time to time.

I've had fun with the Marshall, too. GMs have learned to neutralize the Marshall after Leko played it a bunch in the '00s, but class players still stumble against such naked aggression by Black.

One of the reasons the Russians score well with white when playing the Giuoco Pianissimo is because they know the plans and objectives of the middle game and end game better than most of their opponents.Opening advantages are no longer the primary goal in the Ruy, Giuoco Pianissimo, or Vienna Game.I believe however that the French Defence gives white nothing in the lines with 3.Nc3 Nf6 or 3.Nd2 c5.This is why Sveshnikovs 2 books on the Advance system 3.e5 are so valuable since he focuses on plans and objectives through all phases of the game.

Spassky as champion annihilated the best chess computer on Earth in 17 moves. So Spassky should be regarded as greater authority in opening analysis than computers.

Back in Tarrasch's era masters knew 4. 0-0 is inferior to 4. d3 due to black pair of bishops in endgame. Kasparov didn't know that.

I believe the Exchange var. of the Ruy Lopez has suffered faulty analysis for many years.With Deep Fritz 13 having Houdini 3 pre installed into it, the exchange var. may soon see a ressurection with excellent results for white.I believe however that Watsons excellent books on the French Defence may well cast a cloud over 1.e4 in serious tournaments.

When e6 is defended by a pawn a knight and a bishop you have to push e5-e6! And win!

Both players Can play for a win in the Berlin endgame. If White wants to avoid the endgame he Can play 4. Qe2 or 4.d3 or 5. Re1

I agree that the Vienna is an interesting opening and I'd like to see it played more often (actually Nakamura played it against Carlsen, its on YouTube). The Petroff doesnt necessarily have to be avoided- white can make it interesting with e4 e5 Nf3 Nf6 Bc4!, especially if black dares to take the e4 pawn.   The Vienna line can also be made sharper with f4 instead of g3, this is a very interesting game (was analyzed in the Sept 82 issue of 'Chess Life):

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1056093

i dont know why there is a debate on this berlin wall thingy, on the contrary, berlin is easy to refute, first, the main feature of berlin is exchanging early because of solid pawn structure towards endgame, what the white player should do is avoid early exchanges and focus on development and increasing threats against black's passive play... 

Thanks for refuting the berlin for us 1.e4 players, random 1500 on the internet.

C'mon man, it's not the end, it is a new beginning. Now on people start to play the scotch and the King's gambit ;)

The "Berlin Wall" will probably never be refuted.There are currently several volumes of theory after each of whites or blacks moves.