After 1. e4.... what do you play?

Against players with more than 100 rating points below me I will reply 1...c5 and play either a najdorf or a schevinengen, if I am feeling really crazy I play a hyper accelerated dragon. Against people around or above my rating I play a french. Against those who really suck (rating

I usually play c5 but when I'm crazy I play f5. Sometimes I play Nc6

Originally posted by zebano
Against players with more than 100 rating points below me I will reply 1...c5 and play either a najdorf or a schevinengen, if I am feeling really crazy I play a hyper accelerated dragon. Against people around or above my rating I play a french. Against those who really suck (rating

I remember typing more than that... was I just censored for being an a-hole? More diplomatically against those whose rating is 500+ points below mine, I may play 1...e5. This is quite a feat as I am very good at losing symetric kings pawn openings. I just don't seem to understand them.

Originally posted by Sicilian Smaug
No you werent censored. You fell victim to the less than bug. If you type this symbol in your post than the rest of it will disappear. Strange and annoying but true. About time it was sorted out actually!

is it a bug? I thought that was in place to make HTML tags in your posting. like if i wanna make this bold . there is an escape code that let's you enter less than symbols but i cant remember what it was.

EDIT: as you can see from the above HTML tags dont work... so i dont know, maybe it's a vestige remaining from old code which allowed html or something? yeah i guess it is a bug then, i can't fathom it being to hard to fix though.

Originally posted by Gambitzoid
I'm sorry but the french defense is so overrated. I once heard that after 1. e5 e6 black is winning! That's so ridiculous, the french defense is so easy to play against once you learn a little theory. Yes, it is a solid defense but definitely not winning and definitely not better than any of the other solid defenses to e4. Why are french players in partic ...[text shortened]... he best response and in fact that black is better. French players need to get over themselves.

I praise the French, and play it because when I played 1.e4 I lost to it more often than anything else. I played the Sicilian for 25 years, but never feared it as white.

Judging by the large number of exchange variation French positions that I find myself in, I'd say that it's a fair bet that many players fear the French. In the exchange variation, white abandons almost all hope for advantage on move three.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
I praise the French, and play it because when I played 1.e4 I lost to it more often than anything else. I played the Sicilian for 25 years, but never feared it as white.

Judging by the large number of exchange variation French positions that I find myself in, I'd say that it's a fair bet that many players fear the French. In the exchange variation, white abandons almost all hope for advantage on move three.

Don't come after me for this, but in our club we got this saying which goes:

In Chess as in War, Nobody loses to the French! 🙂

I have lost to the french several times but have also won against it several times.

Originally posted by RahimK
Don't come after me for this, but in our club we got this saying which goes:

In Chess as in War, Nobody loses to the French! 🙂

I have lost to the french several times but have also won against it several times.

That's a fine saying so long as you remain ignorant of history. The English lost to the French, which is why English is no longer German. The language we know as English is a Germanic language that was corrupted (or improved, depending on one's loyalties) by a Romance language after the Norman Conquest.

Nevertheless, I understand why this sentiment might hold sway in most of Canada with all the problems Quebec has presented in recent years. 😀

I know players of the French who whine constantly about the exchange variation, as it makes it so difficult to win. But, partly to my surprise, I've been stringing together quite a run of wins against it. As my teacher said last summer, "it's amazing how some players self-destruct against the French."

(It's not you that I'm coming after) 😉

Originally posted by Wulebgr
That's a fine saying so long as you remain ignorant of history.

(It's not you that I'm coming after) 😉

It sure sounds like it 🙁

I just asked them if they ever lost to the french because I used to have a hard time vs it, and that is how they responded to me.

I thought it was a funny saying, and i thought i would share it with ya all.

Originally posted by RahimK
It sure sounds like it 🙁

I just asked them if they ever lost to the french because I used to have a hard time vs it, and that is how they responded to me.

I thought it was a funny saying, and i thought i would share it with ya all.

I agree that it's comic, but in ways not intended by the speakers.

Give me the black pieces and bring 'em on.

It's quite interesting the extent to which people will go to avoid the French. Sometimes the anti-French lines seem even more convoluted than the anti-Sicilians.

I say that if you plan to play 1.e4, then have some courage. Meet the Sicilian head on: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4, and do the same against the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. move a knight. Avoiding these lines is cowardice.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
I know players of the French who whine constantly about the exchange variation,...

at first when I took up french, I also thought exchange variation was really annoying. then, after a while, getting killed numerous times because of trapped light bishop (two of them against rahim 🙂) finally drove the point through my thick skull: in exchange variation the light bishop is free to roam the battlefield right from the start. after that realisation I've welcomed the exchange variation with open arms.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
I agree that it's comic, but in ways not intended by the speakers.

Give me the black pieces and bring 'em on.

It's quite interesting the extent to which people will go to avoid the French. Sometimes the anti-French lines seem even more convoluted than the anti-Sicilians.

I say that if you plan to play 1.e4, then have some courage. Meet the Sicilian ...[text shortened]... same against the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. move a knight. Avoiding these lines is cowardice.

The reason so many people fear the french is because nobody knows how to attack it as white. People study the sicilian because it is common, and people study 1...e5 of course but few people ever look at the french. I used to lose at lot to it, like two years ago. I took a little bit of time to study the white side a little bit and now find that i actually have the shock factor in my favor. It seems at club level (1500) french players are rare. but people who know the white side of french are rarer still! once you learn a little bit of theory the french is not scary at all.

and no, avoiding those lines is not cowardice, any more so than not playing 1...e5 is cowardice.

Originally posted by Gambitzoid

and no, avoiding those lines is not cowardice, any more so than not playing 1...e5 is cowardice.

Perhaps not all who avoid those lines do so out of fear, but many do.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
I agree that it's comic, but in ways not intended by the speakers.

Give me the black pieces and bring 'em on.

It's quite interesting the extent to which people will go to avoid the French. Sometimes the anti-French lines seem even more convoluted than the anti-Sicilians.

I say that if you plan to play 1.e4, then have some courage. Meet the Sicilian ...[text shortened]... same against the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3. move a knight. Avoiding these lines is cowardice.

Yes those cowards! We were thinking about abolishing openings starting with anti-XXXX at our club and any opening starting with exchange-XXXXX.

However, the council has many players who play such openings and it would never pass.

I never seen anyone avoid that french before. How do you avoid it? Play 2.d3?

Originally posted by BlueEyedRook
I am the infamous instigator of other polls on this website (some controversial, others less so), but they usually tend to be pretty conversational and thought-provoking. This one is more of a survey, but I would be curious how everyone answers. Caro-Kann Clan, any thoughts on this? 🙂

http://blueeyedrook.blogspot.com/

How do you usually respon ...[text shortened]... ch Def.)
OTHER (Please feel free to submit your answer in the comments portion of this survey)

I play either e5, and continue with the ruy lopez, or e6, and go with french. I occasionally play the sicillian.