a banlist in chess?

to you @DaemonProcess. I don't really understand your argument? To everyone. I think such a format would be cool though because you will almost never see the scandi at top gm level. And in this new format it could be much more viable. It is not for people that don't want to learn a defence against the Italian it is for people who don't want to see the same few openings a million times at top levels.

blacklist = people playing unbalanced openings at the highest level, people desperately prepping around the blacklist at a slightly lower level, and people playing in uncomfortable positions they don't know how to play at the lowest level

@DaemonProcess. I still have no idea what your argument is.

A variant on this idea is “pie rule chess”:

• When the game starts, we do not have a “White” player nor a “Black”. We have “Player 1” and “Player 2”

• “Player 1” decides what White’s move will be.

• “Player 2” decides whether “Player 1” plays White or Black.

• If “Player 1” is White, then “Player 2” is Black, and vice versa.

So, what’s a reasonably balanced first move here?

I’m doing some research on that, and while preliminary:

• 1. b3 is really good for White; take White if given this move.

• 1. e4 looks a little better than 1. d4. In both cases, I would take White.

• 1. h3 and 1. Nh3 are really bad for White; take the Black pieces if this is White’s first move

no this is a really bad idea as people who have worked on their openings like for hours and hours and then you just take them away it for example Ruy Lopez is a very popular opening and then you have worked on the Spanish variation of it for many hours and hours and then your main strength is in the Spanish and then it is taken away then at least in my opinion you rating will or will not drop mostly will but the main point is you chess knowledge and time you had spent is all lost now in my opinion I think you want it as you are not ready to study all the theory of the mainlines and you are tired of facing the openings such as Ruy Lopez and other mainline openings anyway even if that was not your idea still I think it is a bad idea

@shadow1414 this already exists...
There are specific tournaments on chess.com, where you start with a set opening.

There are: Alekhine's Tournament, where every player starts on 1. e4 Nf6

Also, I saw Pirc's Tournament, Ruy Lopez...

I personally prefer to let my opponent choose any opening that he wants, it makes chess game much + interesting.

;)

@Alpha_Zero_Supergm. All I'm suggesting is a format where openings like the scandi and alekhine will get their chance to shine in competitive play. Is that so hard to understand? And if you don't want to play in it and lose your chess knowledge then just play the standard format.

A banlist in lichess

but why only the scandi and the alekhine why not the mainlines and it would just be of no use as no other strong players would play it and it would only be a burden on lichess

@Alpha_Zero_Supergm. Strong players WOULD play it. It's not for "weak players that don't want to play against the Italian" it's for players that hate facing the same exact openings 10 million times. With a banlist the game would be different and feel very fresh to some.