Quality Chess has a new book on the Tarrasch in the pipeline - publication imminent I believe. Some of Schiller's better openeing book efforts also deal with the Tarrasch.
For the Dutch, you could do a lot worse than start with Williams' DVD's
Paul
Need help deciding on some openings (black defences)
-
Paul Dargan
- Posts: 526
- Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 11:23 pm
-
Ola Winfridsson
- Posts: 324
- Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:26 pm
Re: Need help deciding on some openings (black defences)
James, since you say that time isn't really a problem for you and that you do have a more or less photographic memory, there's no reason as such to avoid the openings you're considering. However, I totally agree with Jonathan Rogers, the Grünfeld is a difficult opening to learn and master - memorizing heaps of (critical) variations will be of limited usefulness. What really matters is acquiring a feeling for that opening (although thousands of blitz games probably will help you there). Also, Geoff Chandler's statistical advice is worth bearing in mind. I remember meeting a South African guy some 10-12 years ago who told me he'd given up the Sicilian since no one ever played the open variation in this country (already then the Alapin was the most common reply to 1...c5). Those openings you're looking at learning are much more likely to be useful abroad, where main lines are more popular (I guess week night league games with fairly short time limits is one of the main reasons why people prefer offbeat openings and variations here in the UK).
So, in short, what you really need to figure out first is what, considering your proposed Black repertoire, to play against the Colle and the London systems, the Richter-Veresov as well as the Alapin, the Closed, the Grand Prix and all the other off-beat Sicilians.
However, if you instead decide to follow the (in my view good) advice from several quarters here to play the Tarrasch or the Dutch Defence (or both) against 1.d4, I would also recommend that you drop the Sicilian in favour of the French against 1.e4 (although just like the Slav, there is the nagging drawback of the Exchange variation), because those three openings are more closely related to each other in terms of the pawn structures that will arise. Furthermore, you're more likely to quickly reach positions that you actually have prepared for properly. (Compare the French and the Sicilian, for instance - you need 6 moves in the Sicilian before you reach the Najdorf, and there's a tremendous lot of ground to cover between Black's 1...c5 and 6...a6. Against the French, there is really only one offbeat variation of note, and that's the Hanham variation, 2.d3.) All three openings are solid without being dull, and a good foundation from which to build attacks (you claim a decent amount of space in all three of them, and you contest the centre in a very classical manner which is very good for your chess development).
You have to remember that as White, it's fairly easy to avoid ultra-sharp openings and variations without actually incurring any disadvantage (look at all those off beat Sicilians!). It's just a question of not pushing as hard for an opening advantage as a GM might (which is exactly what most amateurs do - it saves us studying time!). However, as Black, it's one thing to want to attack as quickly as possible, and a slightly different one to actually establish the foundations for such an attack. As Black you have to be a little bit more patient and circumspect; initially focusing more on equalising, or minimising White's advantage, before going on the attack yourself.
My advice to you would be to wait with the KI, the Slav and the Grünfeld until you reach a stage in your development where a majority of your opponents are likely to go in for the main lines in those openings, and instead opt for other, queally well-established openings that are far easier to 'force' on your opponent. Whatever you do, avoid openings that have the merest whiff of an "easy solution" or "quick fix" about them - they're just lazy options and will only hinder your development. (As a junior I spent 2-3 years playing the dubious Englund gambit in the hope of catching out my opponents in that well-known Qxb2-followed-by-Bb4 trap. It worked once.)
So, in short, what you really need to figure out first is what, considering your proposed Black repertoire, to play against the Colle and the London systems, the Richter-Veresov as well as the Alapin, the Closed, the Grand Prix and all the other off-beat Sicilians.
However, if you instead decide to follow the (in my view good) advice from several quarters here to play the Tarrasch or the Dutch Defence (or both) against 1.d4, I would also recommend that you drop the Sicilian in favour of the French against 1.e4 (although just like the Slav, there is the nagging drawback of the Exchange variation), because those three openings are more closely related to each other in terms of the pawn structures that will arise. Furthermore, you're more likely to quickly reach positions that you actually have prepared for properly. (Compare the French and the Sicilian, for instance - you need 6 moves in the Sicilian before you reach the Najdorf, and there's a tremendous lot of ground to cover between Black's 1...c5 and 6...a6. Against the French, there is really only one offbeat variation of note, and that's the Hanham variation, 2.d3.) All three openings are solid without being dull, and a good foundation from which to build attacks (you claim a decent amount of space in all three of them, and you contest the centre in a very classical manner which is very good for your chess development).
You have to remember that as White, it's fairly easy to avoid ultra-sharp openings and variations without actually incurring any disadvantage (look at all those off beat Sicilians!). It's just a question of not pushing as hard for an opening advantage as a GM might (which is exactly what most amateurs do - it saves us studying time!). However, as Black, it's one thing to want to attack as quickly as possible, and a slightly different one to actually establish the foundations for such an attack. As Black you have to be a little bit more patient and circumspect; initially focusing more on equalising, or minimising White's advantage, before going on the attack yourself.
My advice to you would be to wait with the KI, the Slav and the Grünfeld until you reach a stage in your development where a majority of your opponents are likely to go in for the main lines in those openings, and instead opt for other, queally well-established openings that are far easier to 'force' on your opponent. Whatever you do, avoid openings that have the merest whiff of an "easy solution" or "quick fix" about them - they're just lazy options and will only hinder your development. (As a junior I spent 2-3 years playing the dubious Englund gambit in the hope of catching out my opponents in that well-known Qxb2-followed-by-Bb4 trap. It worked once.)