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

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.e

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 thre.

Absolutly correct except that I only played the sicillian for 5 years before switching to the french. It is amazing how many people play the exchange. I rarely lose against the exchange as there is little to fear. Come on people this is CC, you have time to learn the closed lines =)

Although I did lose an exchange (french) yesterday due to stupidity, but that happens in all openings.

Mr. Smaug, thanks for the info about the less than bug.

Originally posted by RahimK
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?

Typically it goes:

1. e4 e6
2. d4 d5
3. exd5 exd5 =

However In my last tournament after 1.e4 e6 I ran into both 2. g3 and 2. d3. I won against g3 and lost against d3 (I castled into his attack...).

Originally posted by zebano
Absolutly correct except that I only played the sicillian for 5 years before switching to the french. It is amazing how many people play the exchange. I rarely lose against the exchange as there is little to fear. Come on people this is CC, you have time to learn the closed lines =)

Although I did lose an exchange (french) yesterday due to stupidity, but that happens in all openings.

Mr. Smaug, thanks for the info about the less than bug.

People don't fear the french. They just don't know how to play it. If people knew that the exchange variation was bad they wouldn't play it. 3. Nc3 or 3. Nd2 both give white an advantage. I just think low level players (less than 1500) don't know how to play the french and play the inferior exd5 because they dont know any better. after 3.Nc3 or 3.Nd2 White has a an advantage. And why would you fear having a massive k-side attack like most french main variations?

Originally posted by Gambitzoid
People don't fear the french. They just don't know how to play it. If people knew that the exchange variation was bad they wouldn't play it. 3. Nc3 or 3. Nd2 both give white an advantage. I just think low level players (less than 1500) don't know how to play the french and play the inferior exd5 because they dont know any better. after 3.Nc3 or 3.Nd2 Whit ...[text shortened]... age. And why would you fear having a massive k-side attack like most french main variations?

You are of course correct, however I feel that in all my french lines, I have winning chances, though whites may be slightly better. It is generally my style to play for an endgame advantage, weather the storm then win and the french provides this nicely. It used to be the case that I played only sharp tactical open games (scotch, kings gambit and sicillian) but I have grown tamer of late. However, those k-side attacks are rarely that vicious. In most games that I lose to a king side attack, it is because I played an inferior defense, not because a win was forced. As my defense improves, so too does my french.

Originally posted by Gambitzoid
People don't fear the french. They just don't know how to play it. If people knew that the exchange variation was bad they wouldn't play it. 3. Nc3 or 3. Nd2 both give white an advantage. I just think low level players (less than 1500) don't know how to play the french and play the inferior exd5 because they dont know any better. after 3.Nc3 or 3.Nd2 Whit ...[text shortened]... age. And why would you fear having a massive k-side attack like most french main variations?

That's interesting, because I always play the exchange variation. In fairness, I haven't really tried anything else because (kind of what you said....) I have no idea how to play anything else.

Originally posted by ketchuplover
I play all of those. Yes I also suck at all of those 🙂

Trust me....all bullsh!t.

Black's reply after 1. e4 (best by test) depends on if you want to draw or to win with black. To draw say against a stronger player or to get a team win or to conserve energy for other games then the Petrov's defence 1. e4 e4 2. Nf3 Nf6 equalises most easily I find for black and is the hardest line for white to break down in practice with the best lines and also the piece liquidation that inevitably arises in these openings decreases whites attacking capabilities. The Sicilian if you need to win with black because it destabilises the position and ensures open lines of attack for both sides. The French leaves black with a very poor queen's bishop!

Originally posted by micarr
Black's reply after 1. e4 (best by test) depends on if you want to draw or to win with black. To draw say against a stronger player or to get a team win or to conserve energy for other games then the Petrov's defence 1. e4 e4 2. Nf3 Nf6 equalises most easily I find for black and is the hardest line for white to break down in practice with the best lines and a ...[text shortened]... open lines of attack for both sides. The French leaves black with a very poor queen's bishop!

You want a draw? Play the caro-khan classical. That is the "devil's" opening. Many people refer to it as this, so it's just not me.

God was playing the devil, and after 1.e4 the devil replied with 1...c6

He created that opening and it came from hell 🙂

I always thought God versus the Devil was a Nadjorf Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin variation?

Originally posted by micarr
I always thought God versus the Devil was a Nadjorf Sicilian, Fischer-Sozin variation?

Naw, they has a nice story about god vs the devil at chessbase during christmas. Very enjoyable read.

Originally posted by micarr
Black's reply after 1. e4 (best by test) depends on if you want to draw or to win with black. To draw say against a stronger player or to get a team win or to conserve energy for other games then the Petrov's defence 1. e4 e4 2. Nf3 Nf6 equalises most easily I find for black and is the hardest line for white to break down in practice with the best lines and a ...[text shortened]... open lines of attack for both sides. The French leaves black with a very poor queen's bishop!

I once heard someone say that the berlin defence is the refutation of e4. Actually, I've begun to play the berlin defence and the two knights defence (against 3.Bc4) and find that white has very few viable attacking resources in both of those openings.

My favorite used to be 1. ... e5, although my coach is persuading me to lean towards 1. ... d5, leading to 2. exd5 Qxd5. This doesn't make sense to me, since it's common knowledge to avoid the queen until roughly move eight unless the classic Qxd1+ or Qxd8+ arises.

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)

Thanks to all who participated. The results are below.

Couple observations: I wasn't terribly surprised the plurality went with the Sicilian. But I was surprised that the Caro-Kahn beat out the French.

1. 1... e5 (leading to the Italian Game, the Petroff Defense, the Philidor Defense, etc.) 13 24%
2. 1... c5 (Sicilian Def.) 17 31%
3. 1... Nf6 (Alekhine's Def.) 4 7%
4. 1... c6 (Caro-Kann Def.) 8 15%
5. 1... e6 (French Def.) 5 9%
6. 1... d6 ( Pirc Def.) 4 7%
7. 1... d5 (Center Counter Def.) 2 4%
8. 1... g6 ( Robatsch Def.) 0 0%
9. 1... Nc6 (Nimzovich Def.) 0 0%
10. OTHER 2 4%