What to play against 1. d4 ?

[Look]

Hi,
You may try this opening called "Nimzo-Indian Defence":

[pgn]
[Event "PGN Import"]
[ECO "E20"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian Defence"]
[Variation "Neo-Indian"]
[PlyCount "6"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 *
[/pgn]

You may find this link interesting:
http://www.thechesswebsite.com/nimzo-indian-defense/

I did not watch the video on the link though.

[Henk]

Hi,
You may try this opening called "Nimzo-Indian Defence":

[pgn]
[Event "PGN Import"]
[ECO "E20"]
[Opening "Nimzo-Indian Defence"]
[Variation "Neo-Indian"]
[PlyCount "6"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 *
[/pgn]

You may find this link interesting:
http://www.thechesswebsite.com/nimzo-indian-defense/

I did not watch the video on the link though.

Early Nc3 is not a problem. Problem is when Nc3 is postponed then you have to play Queens Indian or Bogo Indian unless you play the complicated Kings Indian.

[jdart]

I think that is pretty good advice, actually.

The Nimzo is complicated (lots of lines, lots of transpositions). But I think it's reasonably sound.

--Jon

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

[pgn]
[Event "Sarajevo"]
[Site "Sarajevo"]
[Date "1969.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "14"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Viktor Korchnoi"]
[Black "Darko Gliksman"]
[ECO "D10"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "89"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O
7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 Nd5 9. Bd2 Nb6 10. Bb3 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3
12. Qxf3 N8d7 13. Rad1 a5 14. a3 e5 15. Bc1 exd4 16. exd4 a4
17. Ba2 Nf6 18. Bg5 Qd6 19. Bf4 Qd7 20. Be5 Nbd5 21. g4 Nxc3
22. bxc3 Ne8 23. Rfe1 Nc7 24. c4 Bxe5 25. Rxe5 Rfe8 26. c5
Rad8 27. Kg2 Re7 28. Qf6 Rxe5 29. dxe5 Nd5 30. Bxd5 cxd5
31. Rd4 h6 32. e6 fxe6 33. Qxg6+ Qg7 34. Qxe6+ Kh7 35. Rxd5
Rxd5 36. Qxd5 Kh8 37. c6 bxc6 38. Qxc6 Qb2 39. Qxh6+ Kg8
40. Qe3 Qb7+ 41. Kg3 Qb3 42. h4 Kh8 43. h5 Qb1 44. Qh6+ Kg8
45. Qg6+ 1-0
[/pgn]

Too passive for black.

[d]rnbqk2r/pp2ppbp/2p2np1/3p4/2PP4/2N1PN2/PP2BPPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 3 6

after 6.Be2, black should play Bg4 h3 Bf3 Bf3 e6 and black is much better.

Any line that does not include kingside fianchettoe, either for white or black, is dubious.

But the Gruenfeld is a bit premature.

After Bg4 white can play Qb3 instead of h3

Qb3 Qb6 cd5 cd5 Qb6 ab6 with full simplifications and full equality early on, which is a success for black.

Qb3 is best, otherwise white gets worse, but engines prefer h3, getting into a very inferior position.

[Henk]

Van Scheltinga-Eising (1969)
[pgn]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. e3 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O Bg4 8. Qb3 Qb6 9. cxd5 Qxb3 10. axb3 Nxd5 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. Bd2 Nc6 13. Rfc1 Rfc8 14. h3 Bxf3 15. Bxf3 e6 16. b4 a6 17. Be2 Na7 18. b5 Nxb5 19. Bxb5 axb5 20. Rxa8 Rxa8 21. Rc5 Rd8 22. Ba5 Re8 23. Rxb5 Re7 24. Rc5 f6 25. Rc8+ Kf7 26. Bb4 Rd7 27. Kf1 e5 28. Bc5 e4 29. f4 f5 30. g4 Bf6 31. g5 Bd8 32. Ke2 Kg7 33. Kd1 h6 34. h4 hxg5 35. hxg5 Kf7 36. Rb8 Ke6 37. Kc2 Kf7 38. Kb3 Ba5 39. Bb4 Bxb4 40. Kxb4 Rc7 41. Kb5 Ke7 42. Kb6 1-0
[/pgn]

[Henk]

2. c4 better than 2. Nf3.

Marienbad system:

[pgn]

[Event "Marienbad"]
[Site "Marienbad CZE"]
[Date "1925.??.??"]
[EventDate "1925.??.??"]
[Round "10"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Akiba Rubinstein"]
[Black "Aron Nimzowitsch"]
[ECO "A47"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "76"]

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.dxc5 bxc5 6.c4 g6 7.b3
Bg7 8.Bb2 O-O 9.O-O Nc6 10.Nc3 a5 11.Qd2 d6 12.Ne1 Qd7 13.Nc2
Nb4 14.Ne3 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 Qb7+ 16.f3 Bh6 17.Ncd1 a4 18.bxa4 Rfe8
19.Bxf6 exf6 20.Kf2 f5 21.Qxd6 Bg7 22.Rb1 Bd4 23.Kg2 Bxe3
24.Nxe3 Rxe3 25.Qxc5 Rxe2+ 26.Rf2 Rxf2+ 27.Qxf2 Rxa4 28.a3
Rxa3 29.Qe2 Ra8 30.c5 Qa6 31.Qxa6 Nxa6 32.Ra1 Nc7 33.Rxa8+
Nxa8 34.Kf2 Kf8 35.Ke3 Ke7 36.Kd4 Ke6 37.f4 f6 38.Kc4 Nc7 0-1
[/pgn]

[Henk]

Maybe only value of studying chess openings is that you play first ten or twenty moves quickly.

What's the value of a slight advantage when bad moves are played later on.

So doesn't matter which opening you play. Anyone is good if it gives a reasonably playable position.

[Lyudmil Tsvetkov]

No value in studying chess openings at all, as you do not know what to study. Current state-of-the-art theory is mostly wrong. For example, 1.e4 migth be a draw after 1...c5, while 1.c4 migth be winning.

It is much better to study sound opening/middlegame/endgame principles and evaluation features that are difficult to backfire, and besides, you save yourself a lot of time on cramming.

[Henk]

Made blunders in time trouble yesterday. And this is a recurrent pattern. So speed is only what counts for me. Finding reasonable moves in short time.

[whereagles]

1.e4 migth be a draw after 1...c5, while 1.c4 migth be winning.

I can hardly believe that. Pretty confident white cannot win with its 1st move. Even losing is hard (though f3, g4 or Nh3 try hard lol).