Here is my take on a 1.e4 repertiore

Against 1...e5
I would recommend the main line Ruy Lopez, however this would requirte a lot of work.

Against 1...c5
I would recommend the Open Sicilain and lines with early Be2. Boleslavsky, Opecensky Najdorf, Classical Dragon, Classical Scheveningen,. Main line Paulsen

Against 1...e6
Tarrasch

Against 1...c6
Panov-Botvinnik Attack

Against 1...Nf6
Exchange Variation

Against 1...d5
Lines with 3.Nf3 not 3.Nc3

Against 1...d6 and 1...g6
150 attack

Bogojump wrote on 11/23/10 at 01:22:15:


French - good recommendation but what do you suggest against the Winawer, or even 3...Nc6?

Caro-Kann - Agreed. Black seems to equalise in the Capablanca Variation main line, but 4...Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.Bc4 e6 7.N1e2 seems due for a resurgence.

Alekhine - thumbs up, the Exchange Variation is everyone else's recommendation.

Scandinavian - I've thought that 3.Nf3 is as good as 3.Nc3, especially since the ...Nc6/...Bg4/...0-0-0 variation is under a cloud these days.

Pirc/Modern - I would have recommended the Austrian Attack, but the 150 Attack is also good.

Ruy Lopez - 5.d3 is a good secondary option, but not really appropriate for a GM Repertoire book. 5.0-0 should be analysed.

Petroff - 5.Nc3 has been causing more headaches for Black than 5.d4 in recent GM praxis. White still needs something good against the ...0-0-0 variations but my instinct says that a good antidote exists for White.

Sicilian Najdorf/Scheveningen/Classical - 6.Bc4 is a good secondary option, but there's a good reason why most of the top players are playing 6.Be3 in the N/S and 6.Bg5 in the Classical. And the English Attack setups are easier for White to play than most of the other Open Sicilian setups for White, which contributes to its popularity.

Dragon - A good choice, but since 9.0-0-0 was recommended in Experts vs. the Sicilian I suspect 9.Bc4 will be covered. If they do go for 9.0-0-0, then they should meet 9...d5 with 10.Qe1 or 10.Kb1.

Acc. Dragon - I'm not fond of the Maroczy because I don't think White has full compensation for the pawn after 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Nc2 Bg7 8.Be2 Nd7 9.Bd2 0-0 10.0-0 Nc5 11.b4 Bc3 12.Bc3 Ne4. Nielsen disagrees with me, though.

Nimzowitsch - Good idea.

Kan/Taimanov - 5.c4 works well against the Kan, but against the Taimanov White will be hard pressed to find an advantage if he avoids the English Attack or the Be2/Be3/0-0 variation.

Sveshnikov - 7.Nd5 is completely toothless. There are a few interesting options after 9.Nd5 but I would recommend the 13.Nb5 sacrifice since that scared a lot of Sveshnikov devotees away from the opening. An interesting surprise weapon is 7.Na3, which could be more testing than 7.Nd5, but such a move is not in the spirit of the series.

Kalashnikov - Black's chances are not worse in the 6.c4 variation. 6.N1c3 a6 7.Na3 b5 8.Nd5 should be played if White wants an edge.

TN wrote on 01/01/09 at 21:19:01:


That's interesting.  I'd be curious as to whether Kasparov seems to have an opinion as to the most critical line (there seem to be three paths for White which have been given a mark of approval by ECO or one of its brethren) ...

MNb wrote on 01/01/09 at 17:13:50:


It seems my idea of "significant" was narrower than yours ...    

Regarding the 9...e5 Modern Scheveningen, my first observation is that we've been on the subject before ( http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1202122807 ).  Another observation is that, of the books I have seen which don't think White can get an edge after 9...e5, in most cases they consider the best-play lines to be unclear -- which is perhaps in conflict with the idea of easy/straightforward equality or that the variation is on a par with the 5. Qe2 Petroff, for example.

kylemeister wrote on 12/31/08 at 22:36:50:

The Gréco-Moeller Attack in the Italian and the Damiano Defence.

And I would welcome it if you (or Willempie) could show how White creates problems in the 6.Be2/9...e5 Scheveningen. Pachmann gave straigh equality 25 years ago and I haven't found significant improvements in games played since then. They still might be there of course.

If the last word hasn't been said yet that means that White has possibilities, doesn't it? That's nice, because 7.g5 is not popular these days. As White I don't worry too much about equality in the Sicilian. One might argue: "1.e4 c5 =, see Kasparov's games" so White's task is to set problems, not to prove an edge.
What I really like is that your recommedations quite deviate from mine. That shows why White should avoid the Anti-Sicilians, were there almost always is only one path to go.

Excellent repertoire vs. the Sicilian except one: 6.Be2 vs. the Scheveningen allows a fairly easy equality if Black omits ...a6 and plays for ...e5 instead. Consistent is the Keres Attack 6.g4. The old-fashioned 6...h6 7.g5 might be a bit underrated.

Against 1...e5 I prefer Scotch. Against 1...c5 I play open sicilian and against 1...e6 i play 3.Nd2 or 3.Nc3 depending on my opponent. But most probably would play 3.Nc3 entering Winawer and playing main lines in the classical and McCuetchon.