bragesjo wrote on 07/21/16 at 14:09:16:


This is my problem too. All black openings against e4 have been refuted
I play the french until I find something better.

AJWZ wrote on 07/20/16 at 21:41:05:


I agree that there are no good openings

In Caro Kann my eperience is the mostly played lines are mainline with Nc3 or Nd2, Advanced or Panov . Sometimes they also plays KIA, exchange or f3. Other lines are less common but appear on regular basis.

Vs Mainline Nc3 or Nd2 I go for Smyslov variation where the position is unclear in some lines and equal in others.
Vs Panov I play Nimzo Indian style. Its dangerues vs strong players but my experience is that 1 e4 players handles IQP positions less good than 1 d4 players.
Vs Advance I play c5 at once. Is objectievly slightly better for white but I hardly met any critical lines yet in over 100 games.

bragesjo wrote on 07/20/16 at 07:44:31:


Caro-Kann is not that great recently, because of 3. e5 madness where there are many dangerous/not standard Caro lines for Black.
French is good theoretically but not to everyone's taste.
1...e5 is so simetrical for the Sicilian player and easy to play for White.
1...d6 & 1...g6 are complicated and White has many ways to combat them.
1...Nf6, 1...b6, 1...Nc6 are quite unpredictable too.
All the options have theirs drawbacks.
Maybe something in Sicilian family? Recently I have made  preparation against all the Anti-Sicilians and they're theoretically really toothless - I've chosen 2...d6 against 2. Nc3, 3...Bd7 against 3.Bb5+ lines and 2...d5 with 4...g6 idea against 2.c3 - mostly ...g6-Bg7 lines which fit to the Dragon against Open Sicilian.
My second weapon against 1.e4 and a way to play mainly against weaker opponents is Pirc/Modern complex which also corresponds with my 1.d4 d6 Leningrad Dutch moveorder.
If you have a problem with any Dragon or Anti-Sicilian line, I would be happy to help - better pm me, because we are still in Taimanov book thread  .

The line is in the book and is indeed in the h5 line.
White gets a comfortable += position where black lacks counterplay after a strong TN in 0-0 h4 Re1 line.

I have not decided what my mainweapon should be instead.
But I will not play Dragon or Najrdorf since these line requered too much work in both open as vs anti sicilians.
At Internet i bashes out Caro Kann in Karpov style as a temporary solution intill i decide.

I bought the book and after reading it I changed my white(!) repertour agianst Taimanov and stoped playing it with black!

I dont think the opening is refuted but the line I liked for black in vs g3 system does not look good to play becoouse of a TN.
There are other black systems that are playable vs g3 but I rather play white there since he has the easier game.

Pity really. As paddy notes below, it looked like they had put some effort into the analysis. But, well, difficult to know really, not being able to follow it.
Here's hoping they learn a lesson.

Or just hand stuff over to Chess Stars / QC to present it.

Agree that the Rauzer one was an utter mess. Worst layout since the Kalashnikov book by those French guys.
Impossible to follow.

Taimanov book out yet? Any sightings?

This one looks interesting!

http://thinkerspublishing.com/images/content/3.jpg

The book on the Rauzer-Kozul looked very comprehensive, so I am very curious about this one.