https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?board=symm Symmetrical English - ChessPub Forum en-us ChessPub Forum Mon, 13 Jul 2026 16:24:09 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 30 https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1693561830 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1693561830 Mon, 4 Sep 2023 11:11:59 GMT The recommended line starts 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.d4. This tends towards an ending with a very slight edge, and avoids the more complicated positions arising from 6.Nc3 Nc7 or ...g6. The main line follows game 8 of the 1983 Smyslov - Huebner candidates' match, with some more recent examples in the notes. https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1677027773 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1677027773 Fri, 24 Mar 2023 02:53:07 GMT There is always 1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 when 2...Nf6 can be answered by 3 b3 as given by Demuth via the move order 1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 etc..in his Modernized Reti book. He devotes around 22 pages to it. Only downside as he points out is that 2...g6 does prevent the b3 option so you do need additional material to cover this.<br /><br />Not sure how he is going to cover it but Sam Shankland will be releasing Part 2 of his Life Time English Repertoire on Chessable in the near future which will cover the Symmetrical English. <br /><br />I suspect he will be using the 1 c4 2 g3 move order he did in part 1 but don't know for sure. <br /><br />All the best.       https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1609278173 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1609278173 Wed, 30 Dec 2020 05:56:44 GMT Delchev's Grunfeld Reloaded has a chapter on the Rubinstein Symmetrical English. It does look like a good complement to the Grunfeld as many lines Black plays ...Nxc3 and g6. <br /><br />As someone who plays both sides of the Rubinstein, I think 5. e3 and 5. g3 are practically more effective than 5. d4 and 5. e4 mainly because grunfeld-like positions can be avoided (presumably the purpose of the 1. Nf3/c4 move order). 5. d4 is the recommendation of the old Opening for White According to Kramnik but ...Nxc3 6. bxc3 g6 7. e3 doesn't look potent to me. After 5. e4 Nb4 and then later g6, i think Black has easy play based on the d4 square - Svidler tried 5. e4 as White without much success some years back. <br /><br />As for recent works White players can go for Marin DVD/book for 5. g3 or Cummings on 5. e3. I didn't like the recent Hansen "English Breakfast" book as it felt abit like a database dump. https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1583751705 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1583751705 Tue, 10 Mar 2020 19:50:42 GMT <a href="https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1583751705/5#5">an ordinary chessplayer wrote</a> on 03/10/20 at 03:59:46:<br /><div id="3E3B3D3A31313A2B696E5F00"><a href="https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1583751705/4#4">gwnn wrote</a> on 03/09/20 at 15:43:20:<br /><div id="2B3B22224C01">I find these symmetrical fianchetto positions a bit too subtle for me. </div><!--3E3B3D3A31313A2B696E5F00--><br />Aren't the Petroff and the QGA subtle? In my experience white players are unhappy against this symmetrical line. Black can copy for a long time, but doesn't have to. You can play for a draw against strong players and for a win against weak players. But it only works against 2.Nc3 or 2.g3, as black hasn't committed to ...Nf6. </div><!--2B3B22224C01--><br />Well there are many subtleties in both the Petroff and the QGA, but they have a fast storm of pawn exchanges right at the start, making for a different kind of struggle than slowly building up our forces and timing the central/wing break correctly. I'm not saying that it is not a skill I should develop, just that I'm more interested in simpler positions with black at the moment. https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1472602961 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1472602961 Fri, 31 Jan 2020 20:31:57 GMT There's also this game, which I recall due to playing 10.Bg5!? myself, and also for the nice idea of 17.Qa4!? later: <a href="https://lichess.org/sHKdjElW" target="_blank">https://lichess.org/sHKdjElW</a><br /><br />Larsen always had something of a tough time wrapping his head around the idea of trading a non-center pawn for a center one, e.g. his distaste of the Open Sicilian as well. <br /><br />My understanding of these positions started with Kosten, who recommended the a3+Rb1 plan, but for a long time now I've thought Black is equal. In practice I haven't found these positions to be all that fun for White either. But then again, I think Black is equal in a lot of places in the Symmetrical English against a lot of different White tries, so it's really just a question of taste. <img rel="&#58;D" src="https://www.chesspub.com/yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/cheesy.gif" alt="Cheesy" title="Cheesy" /> https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1556983065 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1556983065 Mon, 6 May 2019 08:02:41 GMT Looks sound to me. Indeed, it’s equal, but black needs to find a couple of good moves OTB. Thanks for sharing! https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1505234835 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1505234835 Tue, 30 Apr 2019 20:41:16 GMT <a href="https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1505234835/9#9">GMTonyKosten wrote</a> on 04/30/19 at 12:42:45:<br /><div id="464C556E6F784A6E7275646F0102">there is no immediate draw! </div><!--464C556E6F784A6E7275646F0102--><br />Black has two king moves, firstly 22...Kc8 when both captures are feasible, for instance 23 Nxh8 Ra7 24 Nf7 Nc5 25 Nd6+ (instead 25 Ng5 allows 25...Rd7 when the rook gets active: 26 Bxc5 bc5 27 Nxe6 Rd2 28 Nxc5 Rxa2 29 Bd5 Bd4 30 Ne4 and I would feel more comfortable playing Black - White will have to ditch the c-pawn to defend b3.) 25...Kd7 26 Ne4 Bd4 and at least the black rook is fairly passive here.<br />22...Kc7 forces 23 Bd6+ Kc8 24 Bxa8 (24 Nxh8 Ra7 25 Nf7 Nc5 26 Ng5 Rd7 27 Bxc5 bxc5 transposes to the 22...Kc8 line) 24...Rg8 25 Bf4 Nc5 26 Ng5 Bd4 with ideas of ...Nd3 and ...b5.<br />It looks to me like there is no forced draw, it's just an endgame which might be equal but could prove a bit tricky if White is not careful and allows the black rook to get too active. https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1551820592 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1551820592 Tue, 5 Mar 2019 22:11:50 GMT To clarify, this book also contains various non-1...e5/1...c5 responses. https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1473021311 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1473021311 Mon, 27 Mar 2017 06:20:29 GMT My bad. I missed Chapter 9!<br /><br />The lines with f3 usually arise from a Kan move order. As far as I know they are not that worrying. https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1427395096 ChessPub Forum/Symmetrical English https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1427395096 Wed, 13 Jul 2016 09:23:54 GMT <a href="https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1427395096/0#0">SupaKoopaTroopa wrote</a> on 03/26/15 at 18:38:16:<br /><div id="153336270D292936271234292936274603">Kostens book i dont think mentions it </div><!--153336270D292936271234292936274603--><br /><br />Surely not, I don't like to play Nf3 so early.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/chess/YaBB.pl?num=1427395096/2#2">iggystiv wrote</a> on 07/13/16 at 06:32:57:<br /><div id="2F21213F35322F304604">6. Nc3 Qd7 7.e3, do you play the Bxc3 idea?  I never know what to do after 8. bxc3 f5 9.e4. </div><!--2F21213F35322F304604--><br /><br />Rowson annotated one of his games for the site a while ago where he gives 6...Qd7 a ?! and writes:  <b>Quote:</b><br /><div>I recommend this move (and the associated idea of taking on c3) in Chess for Zebras, but now that I have actually played it I am much less confident that it is a safe way to unbalance the game. </div><br />