Many of you guys seem to favour sharp openings that blow your opponent off the board, and are looking for ways to do that.
My question however is what openings are best suited for players that want to take it to the endgame with a slight pull?
The first openings that came to my mind was:
---As white:
English (1.c4)
Queens gambit declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6)
---As black:
Caro Kann (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5)
Sicilian (1.e5 c5) (*hole on d5 problem in some lines?)
Gruenfeld (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5)
Please correct me or comment your thoughts!
In the italian you can get a nice endgame if your opponent plays not like in the theory.
Ruy hopeless Exchange is the classic, a won king and pawn endgame.
There are some books like „From the Opening to the Endgame.“ To be honest, I don‘t believe that chess can be mastered that way. Weaker player search for short-cuts and find dead-ends.
So, if you want to play a long game with a slight edge I can recommend Wojo‘s Weapons, a system build around the Catalan and g3. But you have to be quite good to condense the tiny benefits.
Yes, with white Ruy Lopez Exchange variation and also Maroczy Sicilian. With black Grünfeld and Sicilian Defence.
Another classic example is this variation of the Queen's Indian Defefence:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.O-O O-O 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Nxe4 Bxe4 9.Ne1 Bxg2 10.Nxg2
See, for example, Petrosian-Botvinnik 3rd match game from 1963.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032637But, IMHO, one needs to be quite good be successful playing like that.
'From the Opening into the Endgame' by Mednis (1991 reprint) is a book which discusses this subject. Here are the starting positions of the endgames:
It is not a complete repertoire but it covers quite a few main lines.
I know you're gonna think I'm trolling but the Steinitz Gambit is an obviously won endgame position if you can ever get black to exchange queens..
Wow, thanks everyone for responses, I will take a look at all of your's suggestions!
@ngmprdvrd #1
You already mentioned Gruenfeld Indian which in some lines gives black a queen side pawn majority, which is an endgame advantage.
Also, years ago a friend told me that Sicilian Dragon gives black some endgame advantage.
Ruy Lopez, exchange variation! See my study on it for some detail. It's a work in progress, since I'm learning the opening myself.
