Hi,

I am a guy in 30s - picking up chess late in life. I have had some tactical training with "Convekta - Tactics for Beginners" and read "Logical Chess Move by Move" for an understanding of the game. My improvement plans: my tactics (more training with Convekta) and then probably go to read the Vukovic book on attacking.

I do not play rated games - so i have no a rating, If i am adventurous i can say i might be around 1400-1500. I have a rating of around 2100 in Chessmaster 10 after playing aound 30 games (i play 10 min games only) - i heard from someone that CM ratings are usually off by ~600 points - so i am guessing i should be around 1400-1500 vs human opponents.

Anyway coming back to point. I have have no clue what to play as black. I do not have much time to spend on openings - as i mainly want to focus on my tactical training. As white i found Colle (from Logical Chess) and i am pretty happy with it.

Here are my requirements from openings as black:

needs:
1. should transform me into a playable middle game, tactics rich
2. reasonably solid systems, with lots of transposition options (as much common themes between e4,d4,Nf3 & C4)
3. will spend only 3-4 hours learning the basic themes of the opening so i have some plan in the middle game. i am mainly looking up building it by playing rather than booking it up.

good to have:
1. chance of counter play, and if possible a king side attack
2. easy and intuitive (with some flexibility in move order like Colle)

here's two options i considered (these are at best educated guesses, i have no real clue on these openings):

option 1:
e4: sicilian, d4 and others : KID
pluses: gives dynamic play, can get into tactics
minuses: too much theory around them, and everyone is booking up on these

option 2:
1...d6 universal
pluses: hmmm... one move for everything?
minuses: no clue. i know there's a chessbase DVD on it, and should i go for it, i will buy that.

Now, i know this is too much to expect, but i am attaching some of my games so you know my style and limitations

two won games (OTB):

as white:
1. d4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 d5 5. Bd3 e6 6. Nbd2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8.
Re1 c4 9. Bc2 Bd6 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Qc7 13. Bxh7+ Kxh7 14.
Ng5+ Kg6 15. Qc2+ Kf6 16. Nh7+ Ke7 17. Nxf8 Kxf8 18. Qh7 f6 19. Qh8+ Kf7
20. d5 Ne5 21. dxe6+ Kxe6 22. f4 Qf7 23. fxe5 Bxe5 24. Bf4 Qc7 25. Bxe5
fxe5 26. Qe8+ Kd5 27. Rad1+ Kc5 28. Rxe5+ Kb6 29. Qb5# 1-0

as black:
1.e3 e5 2.c3 d5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 Bd7 7.d4 e4 8.Nfd2 Qg5 9.c4 Bxh3 10.g3 Bxg3 11.cxd5 Bh2+ 12.Kxh2 Qg2#0-1


one lost game (against CM 10)
Walker - Jade (2300) [A46]
Chessmaster 10th Edition Rated Game

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 Be7 4.Bd3 0-0 5.0-0 b6 6.Nbd2 d6 7.e4 Bb7 8.e5 Ne8 9.Ne4 d5 10.Neg5 g6 11.Nh3 Nc6 12.Bh6 Ng7 13.Nhg5 Na5 14.h4 Re8 15.h5 Nxh5 16.g3 a6 17.Kg2 Qd7 18.Rh1 Nc4 19.Rxh5 Nxb2 20.Qe2 c5 21.Rh2 c4 22.Nxh7 Kxh7 23.Bf8+ Kg8 24.Rah1 Bh4 25.Rxh4 Kxf8 26.Bxg6 Ke7 27.Bxf7 Rf8 28.Rh7 Rxf7 29.Rxf7+ Kxf7 30.Rh7+ Ke8 31.Rxd7 Kxd7 32.c3 Na4 33.Ng5 Re8 34.Qf3 Bc6 35.Nh7 Kc8 36.Qf7 Nxc3 37.Nf6 Rd8 38.Qa7 Na4 39.Qxa6+ Kb8 40.g4 Rc8 41.g5 Rc7 42.Kf1 c3 43.Ke2 c2 44.Kd2 c1Q+ 0-1


This has been a long post - if you have read so far, thanks. Looking forward to tips and guidance. If you have seen the games and have any general comments to improve my games, i would be grateful too.

Walker

In the last game look at 20.Qh1

Thanks Ketchuplover - I appreciate you looking at the games. Those games are to indicate the kind of games i like to play. I usually run all my games through them through Deep Shredder 11 and i get many mistakes i have done. But then again, at my level those are expected - and i will try to work on them.

Here, my request a bit more high level

1) what opening repertoire should i choose as black which suits my style
2) (optional) is my plan of improvement good? Any suggestions there?

I don't think that the easiest openings to start playing are necessarily the best openings to play, especially at low levels. You'll learn more playing tactical, open games, but there's also more details that you need to know in order to play them well. I think you should dive into open games and learn the sharpest lines the hard way, with a reference book like "Play 1. e4 e5!" by Nigel Davies as a guide. That's a pretty good repertoire book for black for meeting 1. e4.

That said, if you really want to avoid having to learn too much theory, I've heard that the Scandinavian (1. e4 d5) is relatively easy to pick up and start playing. From my own experience, I think it's also pretty easy for white to play against without much study. So I guess those games will come down to who's best in the middle game and endgame, rather than opening theory, which sounds like what you're looking for.

Against everything but 1. e4, I play the Tarrasch Defense. It's based on trading off some center pawns early against the Queen's Gambit to get open lines for active piece play. I'm not very good at playing it yet, but I seem to get active games, even against stronger players, and I have had success forcing 1.c4 and 1. Nf3 into this line, even though it's designed for use against the Queen's Gambit. A good book on that opening is "Complete Defense to Queen Pawn Openings" by Eric Schiller. Schiller is known as a lousy writer who goes for quantity over quality in chess book writing, but this is apparently one of his best efforts. I thought his introduction into the main themes of the opening at the start of the book was very useful, before moving on to the details of the theoretical variations.

--Fromper

Hi Walker,
I dont' mean to discourage, but depending on what you mean by "3 or 4 hours to learn the basic themes," I think you are asking too much.

Black opening repertoires inherently take longer than White repertoires, and even with White it is hard to find something sound and attacking that takes that little time [Your choice of Colle will serve you against players <1600 I would think.]

There are Black systems where the "basic themes" can be learned quickly simply because the theme is 'rip their head off!" For example, you could play the Latvian Gambit and Albin Counter gambit and probably know more than your opponent without a lot of work...but you'll find yourself needing to know more and more theory as your opponents get better: NOT BECAUSE THEY KNOW THE THEORY but because their natural instincts and sound play will slowly make it harder and harder to get full compensation for the material you give up.

So, what I am saying is that these openings are somewhat "high maintenance" even if they take relatively little up-front investment. [I know it's odd for me to suggest to a Colle Player that he play the Latvian and ACG, but I play the Colle-Zukertort all the time and play Najdorf+Semislav on Black...]

On the other hand, there are repertoires that take more work at first but require less upkeep because you are not starting from a theoretically poor position. It is not realistic to learn these in just a few hours, but if you spent 10 hours over the course of 2 weeks you'd have a good feel.

A book you might want to consider is "An explosive opening repertoire for Black." by Jouni Yrjola and Jussi Tella.

I don't really like either of the options you set for yourself.

sicilian/KID is just too much theory. You'll lose too many games without ever being able to understand why.

1. ... d6, on the other hand, is often just going to be too passive. You'll run into a lot of players who just patiently build up and positionally crush you. No fun.

I'm a big tarrasch defense advocate against 1.d4, because I think it gives you exactly what you're looking for - good tactical chances to attack, active piece play, etc, and against 1.e4 I recommend 1.e5 - mostly because I think the "I don't want to play into my opponents preparation" thing is bull.

(What, you don't think your opponent has something prepared against 1. ... c5? I play 1.e4 and see 2x as many sicilians as I do 1. ... e5s, at least.) It gives you what you're looking for - not too much theory (provided you pick the right lines) and a chance to play tactically from the get-go. (For all the talk about the sicilian being a counterattacking weapon - and it is - the truth is that it puts a bigger premium on defense than any other opening out there).

But, again, that's what I play. I can't really tell you what you should play - ultimately, the only way to decide what openings are for you are to play through master games until you see something that inspires you, and then to try to duplicate it over-the-board.

Anything else is just us telling you what we enjoy, with one exception:

meeting 1.e4 with e5 and 1.d4 with d5 will speed your development as a chessplayer.

Ronaldinho, good points -thanks.
I agree Sicilian & KID may be too much theory. I guess i chose it to be based on the first ever starting out books i received. Thanks for your feedback.

I looked at Tarrasch. Seems appealing. I will give it a shot. Not sure of e5 though. Too much theory there, mebbe i will short with Nf6 into petroff. I am not to sure about that though.

I ordered the book from Amazon, waiting for it to arrive. Not sure about Scandinavian. I guess i will probably play over a few games and see if its appealing to me.


Thanks for this suggestion. I played a few games and this looks good to me. I will probably go and play this opening. Also ordered the book you suggested.

point taken. I guess i was a little too ambitious

Why do you say that? I thought Colle was a decent opening playable even at 2000 level.

Again a good insight. No i don't want gambits which are unsound in practice.

Learn the French! Solid and sharp. Plus, you can transpose into it from a variety of openings....


Best Of Luck...