Whenever I find myself struggling against certain opening(s) I try to find either a way to avoid them (which is possible most of the times) or I learn some less known and played lines which often my opponent won't know and I already have adventage there. Against any opening there is probably a line which is played to fight against your problem with that opening. That way you can always be prepared and know what to do, how to play against things you don't like. Biggest problem is to find that response which perfectly suits your style of playing.
Unpleasant openings to play against featuring IM Eric Rosen game
Sort:
My inspiration for this thread comes from watching videos of IM Eric Rosen playing games, and many times, he will comment on how he thinks the opening is going. For example in a recent one I watched, 6 moves in, at about 0:55 in the video, he mentions "yeah, this is already pleasant".
For reference the video I was watching was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnPEl64vpdE
The position he reached was:
Already he comments on the position after moving his knight, apparently thinking the position is pleasant. Eventually plays a4 to protect the knight and towards the end of the game, the a-file opens up and he gets a passed pawn and a strong attack on the king side while he pushes for a queen, and his opponent with a few seconds left resigns.
So it seems his instinct regarding being a pleasant position as soon as he moved his knight, seeing the a4 idea wound up being a strong move that eventually turned into a passed pawn.
I was wondering, rather than thinking in terms of best moves per se, what openings have been the most unpleasant for you to go up against? Personally I notice I struggle more against d4. I'm more tactical and prefer open games. I notice I'm more comfortable when I can crack open the center right away against closed positions, to make way for tactical play, and away from positional play. I tend to try to take my opponent away from known positions, and try to knock them out with tactics rather than rely on positional play where the material is tied, etc.
What about you guys? Have you encountered similar findings?