@Fischerfan10 said in #8:
> The Jobava London might be a good fit for you. 1.d4 2.Nc3 3.Bf4
>
> Depending on how Black plays, there's various aggressive ideas like playing an early Nb5, or h4-h5, or f3 and g4 type attacks
Thanks, I checked out a video by GingerGM (the learn ... in 5 simple steps series) and I found this opening quite interesting, but are the early h4 lines against fianchetto setups and early g4 lines against QGD setups actually sound? Because it kind of weakens the kingside in a semi-open center
Everything London is boring.
Tea and crumpets, bad teeth, the accents you can hardly understand, the lake with the monster, the honorable this and honorable that, and of course the PC jail cells.
I suggest the good ole Texas system.
This system is bloody beef steaks on a grill until you collapse from cholesterol. Honorable this and honorable that is generally referred to as "what the hell you wearing a suit for around here muther******" and bad teeth is replaced with no teeth because real men dont have time for brushing.
That's what you got to do. Texas opening. Never forget it.
You may want to get familiar eventually with many openings.
The advantage of trotting out the "London" is that you trot out the same few openings moves without your opponent being able to catch you out with unexpected responses. Of course one can respond f5 to d4 (Dutch defence).
What you want, as a relative beginner, is to be at least able to get safely through the opening without getting caught in a poor position because "you didn't know the opening".
As white, if you start e4 you have to deal with e5, e6, d5, d6, c5 and c6 responses as well as Nf6. And then in response to e5, Petroffs and Latvian Gambit and Philidors etc.
1. e4 and getting lots of open games would be my suggestion.
I don't think that London system or Botvinnik English are good choices for an ambitious "intermediate player".
@DanielZ42 said in #11:
> Thanks, I checked out a video by GingerGM (the learn ... in 5 simple steps series) and I found this opening quite interesting, but are the early h4 lines against fianchetto setups and early g4 lines against QGD setups actually sound? Because it kind of weakens the kingside in a semi-open center
They're sound. In this case "Weakens the K-side" or "Gains space and tries to grab the initiative" are two sides of the same coin. The K-side could become weak, but you might also just blow Black off the board before it matters.
This line is not getting White any objective opening advantage, but it's still sound.
I personally play Smith-Morra Gambit and it leads to some very exciting games. Most english openings can lead to exciting games if you are fine with a slow opening.
I went through lightly your games here ... on Lichess but you have only 24 with some unplayed or lost or won quickly . @DanielZ42 You need to Play more Chess than 24 games total & Look at Chess Games that were played already as in by You & Other Chess players . So Study Play Play Study Chess ... You seem to be in the stages of having learned Chess either not long ago' or never really having done much looking at GM games or your own games or Reading Chess Books or Watching Chess videos . I see you have watched some Ginger GM Simone Williams Videos which is fine , Good luck in your Chess & play a bunch of Openings for Now leading to a bunch of middlegames & Endings but Play & gain some experiance as holding on to you pieces/wood we used to say is very important . Remember it does not matter what u Play but Play Study Study Play because loose Pieces & pawns come off the board quickly , There is nothing in being an 'attacking' player as THE POSITION DEMANDS WHAT YOU DO ... So play both openings mentioned & Study Botvinnik's games or what games have been played in recent tournaments in London but try NOT to LOSE Pieces ? Pawns & say that is "attacking sacrificial Chess ' First Learn to Develop ALL THE KING's MEN' & Then we can talk about attacks defences weak squares & taking advantage of MISTAKES of the person you are playing OK ? @DanielZ42 Play Everything Study Everything Study Play repeat Enjoy & have fun Learning , Jobava is Fine Play Over also some of his games also & yes u can use that opening y not ? Study Endgames & Middlegames & Play alot of Chess
@ThunderClap im guilty of not study play play... even guiltier of not actually having a study plan.. so it involves watching videos, looking through old matches and trying to guess the move as i play through... but ive noticed a sharp decline in my level of play so maybe having a vary lax and i hate to call it study is not the best way for me to move forward..
Yeah, neither of those openings seem too well-suited to an attacking player.
@MrPushwood said in #19:
> Yeah, neither of those openings seem too well-suited to an attacking player.
But Simon Williams played both right?
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