Opening Phobia strikes again! The symptoms are the same but the remedy will be different:
A repertoire under investigations for Public Health concerns for being overly sleep inducing and by chess authorities for being an insult to the spirit of Chess.
In the mean spirit of genuinely grumpy old geezers, my three legged Milk Stool Repertoire will from now on be based upon: The London System, Stonewall Dutch and French Fort Knox.
Why spreading the word? Well, the surprise value for all three openings is a fine approximation of zero. Furthermore, I do not mind playing well prepared opponents as it will help me to learn and understand the openings to some degree.
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Good for you ! We may not want to admit it, but playing against higher-rated ( & better prepared ) opponents must be good for us patzers...
ReplyDeleteMy openings ( at least as Black ) are fairly self-evident if you look at my games.
White, I still have reservations about, but 1.e4 seems best, then see what the opponent does :)
Looking forward to read how you do with these.
By the way, London System and Dutch Stonewall...inspired by Scandinavian author Sverre Johnsen possibly ?
"Fort Knox" I had to look up, as the French isn't something I know about, but a main line variation seems good.
Sverre get a lot of praise for his books. I have only glanced at the first few pages of his book on the London System.
ReplyDeleteYes, in theory e4 would be my choice. I am very comfortable playing the Vienna gambit and/or the Bishop's gambit. I am not at all happy playing against the Sicilian and almost anything but "1... e5"
I know what you mean about the Sicilian. I've been recommended to play 2.c3 as an antidote, but I'm not yet sure...I have his Dutch Stonewall, and it seems really good, but I admit, I think its too advanced for me so I am still looking for a good reply to d4. At the moment its d5, but we will see...
ReplyDeleteIM Martin claims that the Stonewall can be learned in an evening. His Foxy Openings DVD vol. 93 looks very patzer friendly.
ReplyDeleteHey Farbror,
ReplyDeleteI am still getting it together but I have found that just playing the good old open sicilian as White tends to work best.
Hi Tommyg, I will patiently try d4 for a while but I will keep your advice in mind.
ReplyDelete