parisestmagique wrote on 06/13/07 at 07:33:02:
I think it depends of the time you have to study and of your ambition. With a lot of time and good memory i think the best are the main lines : for exemple 9.000 against the Dragon, Be3 against the Najdorf etc. But you can also choose a KID system with e4,d3,g3. Less ambitious but interesting too
Emms (in Starting Out: KIA) thinks the KIA setup (2 Nf3, 3 d3, 4 Nbd2, 5 g3, 6 Bg2, 7 O-O) is more effective against 2...e6, as in most of those lines Black would have preferred his pawn on e5 - or even e7. He believes it's much less effective against 2...Nc6 and 2...d6.
Since I don't make money playing chess and don't have gobs of time...I tried to pick and choose which Open lines I should study. Here's what I came up with:
- 2...e6 and now KIA
- 2...Nc6 and now Rossolimo (one of the strongest anti-Sicilians and reasonably thematic to play as White)
- 2...d6 and I didn't like any of the anti-Sicilian options so now I play the main lines. English Attack vs Najdorf and Scheveningen (I play it as Black, so it's not too much more to study), Yugoslav with 9 O-O-O vs Dragon (less theory than 9 Bc4, avoids the Chinese and Soltis, maybe even objectively best), Richter-Rauzer vs the Classical.
This is basically three main lines (Najdorf/Schev, Dragon, Classical) and two less theoretical, but still dangerous, anti-Sicilians. For my needs, it's the best bang-for-buck I could find. When I have time, I'll learn the Keres proper vs. the Scheveningen...but for now, Black almost always includes an early ...a6 which are all lines I need to know vs. Najdorf...and most Schevy players use the Najdorf move order anyways.
P.S. The good thing about the English Attack and Yugoslav is that, while both are theoretical, both are also "common sense" attacking ideas (opposite wing attacks) and so if I forget the theory, I still have a good idea of what my plan is and can make reasonable moves towards that goal. If I ever get to the level where opening theory is the deciding factor (not for a while, at least), then I'll have an advantage because of all my practical experience with the lines and a jump-start on the learning curve.