Benoniac wrote on 07/06/13 at 23:11:09:


Hmm... Yeah I will take a look at that opening (I have the Starting Out book from when I played 1.e4 with White). It is indeed dynamic, and although when analyzing it from the White side, I always really liked white's prospects, I never seemed to get much against it in my games! The same could be said of the French and Caro -- I never much liked playing against them with White, and ended up gravitating towards them with Black (and 1.d4 with White, thankfully)! 

ErictheRed wrote on 07/06/13 at 19:49:06:


Kind of funny -- I used to play the Leningrad so I am somewhat curious about this new Dutch book, but really enough is enough!

I guess I was concerned that the Caro and French were too similar in some ways -- "light square" strategies, pawn on d5, often playing against white center pawns/space, etc. -- so I thought about trading one of them in for a "dark square" defence (these terms are somewhat ambiguous, I know) such as the Pirc or the Najdorf or the Svesh or even 1...e5 (all of which I have played before, for varying lengths of time). But come to think of it, I am still getting positions I like, and have enough to work on already without switching things around in the recent future (and as far as I am concerned, all of the alternatives I just listed constitute quite a bit of memory work, especially in the main lines) , so I figure I might as well just keep going with these two openings -- at least for a while! 

There is still a part of me that wants to ditch one or both and of them go back to 1...e5 with Black, to really work on playing sound, principled, "classic" chess as a way of improving, but perhaps that idea is somewhat overrated. Maybe in a few years I will throw 1...e5 back in, but of course I don't want to think that far ahead! 

Well, don't worry about how the Benoni works out -- another book on the Dutch is coming   

The French and Caro-Kann definitely make a nice combo - if I'm not mistaken, against 1.e4 Bareev played nothing but those two his entire career. Certainly, learning how to handle French-type positions will help you understand certain CK positions better, e.g. what to do when White plays insipidly after 3.e5.

@Markovich: Even at A-class level most games are still decided by tactics. Virtually nobody has the positional understanding to take full advantage of a toothless sideline or remembers enough theory to punish an imprecise move order. Unless one is constantly falling for traps I don't imagine how switching openings on a regular basis could seriously hurt one's results. That being said, I must admit I more-or-less stuck to one set of lines with either colour when I was under 2000... like I said, I think I know where you're coming from.

Markovich wrote on 07/05/13 at 23:14:02:


Well, it's not that any particular system I play is "boring" by nature (even in the exchange Slav somebody breaks the symmetry somewhere), but rather, I sometimes get bored of playing, say, the Black side of a certain position type/pawn structure game after game after game, even though each game is at least a little bit different from the next. 

And I think varying openings over time has helped; not because one system is necessarily better than another, but because I find a better "fit" for me (the Svesh doesn't really suit me for instance, even though it is a good opening) and/or because sometimes switching reignites my passion for the game, and makes me study/play with more focus and enthusiasm (probably something that wears off over time, but still). But of course this is all highly debatable, and I will never know how good I would have been by now if I had stuck with one opening per colour since I started playing, because I don't have a clone of myself who did just that.... 

Surely an experienced player such as yourself plays more than one defence at a time? 

barnaby wrote on 07/05/13 at 15:42:09:


My post was at least about "general chess," which is the subject of this part of the forum.  It is a disease, metaphorically speaking, for so many players to fret over what opening they should play; blame their defeats on their choice of opening; and expect a new opening to solve their problems.  It happens to affect lower-rated players much more than higher-rated ones, because the latter have usually learned that there is no magic in any particular opening system, and that one's defeats are entirely due to one's deficiencies as a player.  It is, I believe, a symptom of this "disease" that an unrated player returns to the Najdorf for the third time.  Certainly is is fair to express that opinion, which again is about chess; it is not hostile.

Your post, on the other hand, is entirely personal.  I don't care a fig for your opinion of me, but I suggest you refrain from making pejorative personal remarks in this forum.

MNb wrote on 07/05/13 at 16:05:20:


Yeah, playing against an IQP is always nice in the French (easier than in the Caro I think with the light squared bishop open) but White rarely goes for that. I took a quick look at "The Flexible French" last night and Moskalenko recommends a set-up like the one you mentioned. I think I will try an early ...Nc6 with Black from now on, as the set-up I was playing before (c6/Ne7/Nbd7/f6) in an attempt to imbalance the game was rather congested...

I still couldn't see myself playing solely the French or the Caro without something else! A question for those of you who play the same opening for extended periods of time (with Black). Don't you get bored of having similar positions game after game? I realize that in the French, say, Black can switch from Winawer to Classical or whatever to keep things fresh, but a lot of the themes, pawn structures, etc remain the same. I also realize that being a specialist is probably better than being a generalist below master level, but doesn't it get stale after a while?

Markovich wrote on 07/05/13 at 03:05:09:



Your position remains snobbish, myopic, and hostile.

Not everyone needs to play chess trying to reach the upper echelons.  Its a GAME.  In addition, this is an opening theory site and the irony is that when people don't talk about openings you get apoplectic about that!

You should focus on your own obsessions and how to overcome them rather than always pointing a finger at other people.


Judge not, least you too be judged.