In preparation for my first tournament, I would like to start developing an opening repertoire to slowly incorporate in my weekly over the board play. I've been playing QG as white and the french as black, but I figured they probably don't fit my level of play or, in the case of the french, my style of play (which is more aggressive -- I think). So, I'm thinking of sticking with e4 openings, but beyond that have no idea...suggestions?

White:
1. e4
If 1. ... e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 for French Defense Exchange Variation
If 1. ... c5 2.d4 for Smith-Morra Gambit
If 1. ... e5 ??? (Ruy Lopez?)

Black:
???

White:
- 1. e4 is the best place to start. Open positions bring with them more immediate tactics, which is the most important for any beginner.
- Against the French, I'm not quite sure what to recommend. The Exchange is simple, but if black plays it well you won't be a happy camper. I've struggled considerably to find a way to meet the French myself and haven't really settled on anything for a while until relatively recently (last year). I now play the main line of the Classical as you can see in my signature, but playing 3. Nc3 means having to face all the other French defenses too, most notably the Winawer. I rather like the Boguljubow line with 4. e5 ... 5. Nb5. As alternative to the Classical, I'm going to pick up the Alekhine-Chatard attack with Qd3 (I've experimented with the older Nh3 line which didn't go well). For beginners though hmm, I don't know. If you're not happy with it, go for something else.
Dr. Max Euwe recommended the Tarrasch (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2) as the way to go for beginners and improving players, you'll likely get a playable game (if not that advantageous). No worries about the Winawer here naturally, and the setup and lines would help you in the future. Might be worth a look.
- I play a very mixed bag now in the Sicilian. If you want simple and solid, the Alapin Sicilian (2. c3) will see you through, I played it for a long time. The theory is quite light, the general idea is e4-c3 get in d4 and hold your center and do something with it for an advantage. In some lines it has similarities with the Smith-Morra, which, is okay. I'd recommend 2. c3 over the SM because that's not a gambit and I don't like recommending gambits to beginners.
- 1. e4 e5, you might want to steer for the Scotch Game (2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4). It gets you the sort of positions you'll need without losing much potential. If you go into the Ruy Lopez, go into the early-d4 lines, black can equalize, but one wrong step and he's toast.

Black:
- 1. e4 e5, the Petrov (2. Nf3 Nf6) might be for you. Usually what's trendy with grandmasters isn't for the beginner, not so with the Petrov. Solid, yet active. I'm not sure you should try to defend the Ruy Lopez at this point, but stay away from the passive (Philidor) and unsound (Latvian, Elephant).
- 1. d4 Nf6, stick to Indian Defenses. I would recommend the Nimzo-Indian (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4) with either the Bogo-Indian (3. Nf3 Bb4+) or the Queen's Indian (3. ... b6) in tandem.
I was going to recommend 1. d4 d5 and head into a Slav, Semi-Slav or some sort of QGD (Tarrasch or Orthodox).

You can play all of these at any level really, though you might need to switch once you reach 2750 or so.

On White I recommend a queen-pawn attacking opening repertoire. Here is a quick outline of how to build up this repertoire:

1. Learn the Colle-Zukertort. You will find that this works "comfortably" in about 2/3 of your games and quite well in about 1/4. By "comfortably" I mean that you might have to settle for equality, but you are not going to be in any danger of getting ripped to shreds in the opening.

2. Add the Barry Attack. With the C-Z+Barry you will now have a repertoire that is "comfortable" 85% of the time and "works well" more than 1/3 of the time.

3. Learn the 150 Attack. With the C-Z+Barry+150, you will now have a repertoire that is "comfortable" 90% of the time and "works well" 40% of the time. [Note, the 150 attack is quick to learn...Richard Palliser's "D-pawn attacks"
book covers it in about 20 pages.]

4. Learn how to deal with the deviations to the C-Z. This will bring up your "works well" percentage significantly. After that, you will have a repertoire that "works well" 85% of the time and is "comfortable" 10% of the time.

5. Figure out what you want to do against the dutch.

You can find out more about the C-Z on my website [see sig], and I have published a guide to learning the Colle on Amazon. Click here. Note that it really only takes 2 books to have adequate instruction for the first 4 of these 5.

The percentages I cite are not just random guesses or rough approximations...they are the actual stats for players under 2000 playing a C-Z repertoire. give or take a 2 or 3 percentage points to allow for nice numbers.

We agree to disagree

The CZS for beginners? Really? I think that's a very bad idea, it will hold you back. That's okay if you don't want to improve much; I can think of a number of uses for the CZS, but not as the main choice with white for a beginner.

As for the 150 attack, that's okay, not very adventurous, but it gets the job done. Against the Pirc, the best choice for beginners I think is the Classical variation, which makes so much sense it's ridiculous.

So you feel that the way of the CZS is similar to the SWA Perseus?

No disrespect of course.

As far as the French is concerned Moe, You happen to be in the right place to learn it. I highly recommend at least an understanding of it for every serious player.
I beat Masters day in and day out with it.

One point that bears mentioning, I think, is that learning the C-Z is going to take a lot less time than learning the Ruy or QG.

The C-Z allows players of all walks of life to focus less on opening theory and more on learning how to play chess.

You can do this fine with theoretically unsound gambit openings so long as you do not get too immersed in them. But eventually those openings become a cruel mistress as you have to learn more and more theory to make up for the fact that the opening is theoretically unsafe.

If a beginner wants to play the King's Gambit and the Smith Morra at first...concentrating on tactics and fighting chess, more power to him. But at some point he'll probably want to switch to a more respectable opening...and learning the C-Z will take a great deal less time away from his chess training time than learning many others.

Just my view, of course.

Yep, because, frankly it is! It's another one of those 1-2-3 openings, use this setup against basically everything under the sun and you're fine (sorry that's not true). Someone might say it's a great opening, I disagree, it's mediocre and will mostly keep mediocre players mediocre because of its limitations. (Didn't we already have this discussion on the Scandinavian?)

As for the French, solid defense, passive by nature though and doesn't invite the black player to 'come out and play'. Play it once you've got the kingpawn games under control, I didn't stick with it, but it's good enough.

I could zip back to the threads on the Scandinavian here, but I won't. CS, CZS, SWA, LS, all mediocre, all very limited. On the bright side, it won't get you in trouble, it doesn't require much thought from white for a while and keeps you in the same territory most of the time. On the not-so-bright side, it won't get you in trouble, it doesn't require much thought from white for a while and keeps you in the same territory most of the time!
I hope that clears it up. If you want to learn/improve your chess, play a sound e4-reportoire for a while. Switch after you've found your way around in it, if you still want to...

And um.. The CZS more respected than the KG? No offense you're either switched the names or you're seriously pushing the term.



Which is all a bit off-topic I fear.

In short, I'd recommend 1. e4, head for a Scotch (the Vienna could be alright too), play a solid but good non-main-line against the Sicilian (Alapin, Rossolimo/Moscow, Closed), something similar against the French (I'd recommend the Tarrasch), against the Pirc play the Classical.

With black play a reputable defense against 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 (I'd recommend the Petrov), something suitable against the King's Gambit (Falkbeer Countergambit, Declined with 2. ... Bc5), either defend 1. d4 with a pair of Indian defenses (Nimzo-Indian/Queen's Indian or Nimzo-Indian/Bogo-Indian, the QID on its own saves some time) or with 1. d4 d5 and stick to a QGD (the Tarrasch is a good bet) for a d4 defense (but you'll have to look at things like the Blackmar-Diemer and the like); the QID is reasonably effective against 1. c4 (with its own quirks) in my experience, I suppose you could play a reversed Sicilian if you really like to.

[quote=Perseus;19185]
- Against the French, I'm not quite sure what to recommend.
QUOTE]

I play both the French and the Caro-Kann. In both cases when my opponents play the Advance Variation it causes me to have a screaming fit. When I finally settle down and think about it and realize I've not had much success no matter what I've tried, I have another screaming fit and then try a new variation. So far...not much success.

What exactly is the Boguljubow line? I'm rather confused as to how you play 5 Nb5, for example: 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 Nb5 Bxe1, and your poor king has died before the 10th move.

Perseus, I believe you are rather maligning a system based on the sins of some of its exponents. That is like judging Christ's teachings by the actions of those who call themselves Christians but go about doing all manner of un-Christ-like things.

If I took any opening and tried to use it against every set-up, I'd be setting myself up for likely disappointment. If lots of people decided to play the Semi-slav versus everything, responding to 1.d4 e5 with 2.c3, would that make the semi-slav a mediocre opening? No. It would just mean a bunch of players were using it as a panacea when it isn't.

The C-Z happens to be playable against a wide variety of openings, but you have managed to turn that into a liability by suggesting C-Z players are all somehow daft zombies who have no ability to flesh out their repertoire.

That is, in fact, one reason the C-Z makes a good choice for a beginner. With a little study, you can find yourself in a comfortable position most of the time, and with more study you find out how to response appropriately to the different defenses Black can use.

That's why I said, in my original reply, that the C-Z works well against about 1/4 of the setups you see and comfortably against 2/3 of them. I then spoke of how you should build up your repertoire to learn about how to respond to different defensive options Black has.

The C-Z based system described in Zuke-Em is hardly a "1-2-3" opening. In 26 pages the student can play the C-Z and have a good grasp on what is going on [excellent for the beginner]. The book spends 50 more pages covering the main lines in detail and then over 100 pages describing how White should modify his responses depending on different Black setups. No "noodle" here.

So it appears to me that your opinion of the C-Z is based more on how its used rather than its merits within an intelligent repertoire.