Hello.

Since I started playing chess (3 years ago), I played 1. e4 as white, and as black I played the sicilian against 1. e4 and the Benko Gambit against 1. d4.
Three months ago, I changed my opening repertoire radically : I now play 1. d4 as white, and as black I play the Caro-Kann against 1. e4. But I still play the Benko Gambit against 1. d4.

I am now thinking about playing something else against 1. d4 (the Benko Gambit is awesome in blitz, but in correspondence I usually just end up one pawn down with not much compensation).
I want something extremely quiet, slow, closed, positional. It's not because I suck at tactics (it's not the case, I played the sicilian for 3 years, and did more than 5000 tactical puzzles), it's just because I love slow manoeuvring, I want to be able to be perfectly relaxed while playing, and not get into insane positions and stress out knowing that one single inaccuracy can be fatal.

For now I'm hesitating between these 4 openings :
- The Slav
- The Semi-Slav
- A Benoni with ... d6, ... g6, ... Bg7
- The Czech Benoni

The good thing about the Slav and the Semi-Slav is that they seem to share many similarities with the Caro-Kann. Is that true? And if yes, which of these two openings is the most similar to the Caro-Kann?
Also, I heard that as black playing 1... d5 against 1. d4 is a good idea if you play 1. d4 as white yourself (the same thing goes for 1... e5 against 1. e4, if you play 1. e4 as white yourself). Not sure if this is true but it seems logicial.

While the good thing about a Benoni with ... d6 and ... g6 is that it is similar to the Benko Gambit (and I love that kind of pawn structure), except that black is not down a pawn.

And concerning the Czech Benoni, I don't know much about it but I heard that it's very very closed, solid, slow and quiet.

Can you give me your advice on these 4 openings? Which one do you think I should play?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

One of chess's best kept secrets is that the Old Indian is a forced win for Black. I love it, though you have to be happy to transpose into the King's Indian. And it was used in one of the best entertaining games ever played:

Originally posted by Fat Lady
One of chess's best kept secrets is that the Old Indian is a forced win for Black. I love it, though you have to be happy to transpose into the King's Indian. And it was used in one of the best entertaining games ever played:
[pgn]
[Event "Sochi 28th RSFSR ch"]
[Site "Sochi 28th RSFSR ch"]
[Date "1958.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1" ...[text shortened]... xd3+ 30. Kc4 d5+ 31. exd5
cxd5+ 32. Kb5 Rb8+ 33. Ka5 Nc6+ 0-1
[/pgn]

Originally posted by Grampy Bobby
Incredibly arduous journey for the beleaguered White King. Well done!

Thread 100659 for a whole thread on Nezhmetdinov.

Just sent off of batch 10 moves in the RHP Ch after writing down
the moves and looking at them after I posted last night's (early this morning's) blog.
Some took two to three minutes others about 30. I like to play through the
whole game to get back into it.

I have a chance to do a Nezhmetdinov Queen sac in one.
(A Queen sac for two minor bits. see thread link.)
I thought about and looked at it then decided I don't get enough.....
....but I'm taking this thread as a sign so I'll do it. All depends on what
he does next. (Thank You....what a way to play Chess) 😕

Hi Mark,

"... it's just because I love slow manoeuvring."

You have not played any games, how slow is this manoeuvring going to go?

All openings can turn into tactical melee at the flick of a pawn.
Indeed if a good player spots he has a positional weakness and can
see you manoeuvring against it then his job is to complicate matters
and head for unclear waters. Even if this means he kicks off with an unsound
trick or combo, it's often his best and only chance.

Gambits!
A lot of the old fashioned Gambits have had their teeth pulled and often
after all the theorectical fireworks you are left with dry tepid positions.

The last note usually ends: "The position is level", "White/Black has a very slight plus."

It is in these positions where the better player shines and they can
very slowly outplay their opponent who often as not will make a slight
positional blunder.

Then the slow manoeuvring can be begin and there is very little other
than taking a huge tactical and postional risk the other lad can do about it.

Take for example this position in the Two Knights. (how to get there is below.)


Usually drawn but the better (higher graded) player has won, according to my DB
5 times as White and 5 times as Black.
It is these positions that players like us find so hard to play and complicate.

It is also these type of positions writers of gambit books drop you in.
Maybe they could not lose either side of this position but we sure can...very easily.

So fish in these old lines, there is a good chance you will stumble upon
some of them, infact in some cases you can kick it off and force the lad
into a dull tepid position (this path is often the only line he knows to avoid
getting whacked before move 20). Then you switch into slow manoeuvring phase.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
One of chess's best kept secrets is that the Old Indian is a forced win for Black. I love it, though you have to be happy to transpose into the King's Indian. And it was used in one of the best entertaining games ever played:
[pgn]
[Event "Sochi 28th RSFSR ch"]
[Site "Sochi 28th RSFSR ch"]
[Date "1958.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1" ...[text shortened]... xd3+ 30. Kc4 d5+ 31. exd5
cxd5+ 32. Kb5 Rb8+ 33. Ka5 Nc6+ 0-1
[/pgn]

Originally posted by Fat Lady
If you mean "well done" for playing the game, I only wish I could beat one of the best players in the world at the time in such a manner! No, the person playing black was Rashid Nezhmetdinov, who never even made it to Grandmaster:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashid_Nezhmetdinov

If you've never seen his games before, go straight to chessgames.com withou ...[text shortened]... lay through them all immediately:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1013627