nyoke wrote on 12/22/11 at 12:00:09:


Sorry, irony is not well communicated at Forums. I did highlight AUTOMATICALLY since that is what I meant. Let me repeat what I meant, if you play the Slav, you might not be playing the Caro-Kann. I.e. if you answer 1.c4 with 1...c6, you might not be well aware of what to play. I didn't say anything about my approach or if this is a real problem. Apparently, the OP was ok with this.

Anyway, the pawn structure you get in the Panov-Botvinnik is not something you see everyday as a Slav player. This may or may not be a problem, didn't say anything about that. 

My real approach is to learn how to play many different structures and openings, because I think it more fun than to just play the same thing over and over again. I always try to figure out the plans and manoeuvres in each opening based on pawn structure and tactics etc. That is why I really liked idea presented in e.g. the books Mastering the Spanish and Mastering the French.

nyoke wrote on 12/21/11 at 22:00:39:


No, not really  . I learn everything by heart, which makes my task very hard as soon as I've tried to play 1...c6. Or whenever I feel like answering 1.c4 c6 with 2.e4. 

Interesting stuff that because it is a genuine threat, or at least annoyance, to pure Slav folk and used quite a bit but keeps falling through the gaps in books.

Think you may as well include 3.. Nf6 4 Nf3 and then you've got quite a frequently played position. Looks like 4.. Bg4 is the closest to a 'pure' Slav option - 4 .. Bf5 not entirely ideal it seems, a6, g6, e6 all sensible enough but of course different openings.

Sadly from there white has a bunch of options - a 4 e3 Bg4 slav via h3 or d4, 4 cd or 4 Qb3. Some fun ideas after 4 cd like recapturing on f3 with the g pawn. Guess you'll have to do some research

nyoke wrote on 12/21/11 at 10:23:30:

Because its not possible to play slav when white does not push d4.

Look, raja - it's not that simple as they say!..
White can play the Reti opening through many move orders - some of them very tricky. The classic Reti setup with b2-b3 is not obligatory for white. If you play blindly your usual moves d5, Nf6, Bf5, e6, c6 and so on...you can enter into some positional traps where white doesn't play b2-b3 at all. For example: 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 Bf5 4.c4 c6 (no matter what the move order is) And now 5.cxd5! cxd5 6.Qb3 may make your game too hard to handle. It is well known since Barcza, Smislov, Vaganyan and alike (Vyacheslav Osnos in his "Reti Opening" book, 1990 points at it too), but I still win many games with white in this exact variation. 
Not to mention that you have to be careful not ending into a Catalan instead of Reti opening.. 
Edit: The English opening players may say you a thing or two, too.. 

raja wrote on 12/19/11 at 15:18:28:


I think this was mentioned somewhere here at Chesspub (probably by Prie under d-pawn specials) as not very good for White in the London. Dunno about the status for Black, though.

Quote:


Then why not play a Slav against the Reti ? (And the English).

"Starting out The Reti"
and / or
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