Best response to 1.e4?

How do you meet 1.e4? Why?

I played the Sicilian religiously for 25 years, have had good results with the Petroff and several variations of the Spanish, but have been employing the French as my primary response to 1.e4 for about three years. Since adopting the French, my OTB rating has begun to climb again.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
How do you meet 1.e4? Why?

I played the Sicilian religiously for 25 years, have had good results with the Petroff and several variations of the Spanish, but have been employing the French as my primary response to 1.e4 for about three years. Since adopting the French, my OTB rating has begun to climb again.

Originally posted by pinkthunder
What about playing the French do you attribute to your OTB rating climb?

I usually play e6 (sometimes 1...d6, 2...Nf6, 3...g6, 4...Bg7). Against considerably lower-rated players, however, I'll play c5. I like e6. It fits my style and offers counter-attacking possibilities.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
Better results. Original play. Forcing me to think positionally as well as tactically.

It could be that by changing your opening, you're forcing yourself to think differently about chess, because the positions that arise from the French (i.e. doubled pawns, pawn phalanx, kingside attack, bad bishop) are peculiar to that opening. Playing over some of the games where Botvinnik and Boleslavsky defended the French will really broaden your overall understanding of the game.

Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
It could be that by changing your opening, you're forcing yourself to think differently about chess, because the positions that arise from the French (i.e. doubled pawns, pawn phalanx, kingside attack, bad bishop) are peculiar to that opening. Playing over some of the games where Botvinnik and Boleslavsky defended the French will really broaden your overall understanding of the game.

I say 1...c5

Gives black a reasonable chance, fun lively games, tons of tactics, majority of Gm's play it, etc...

I play 1...e5 always, tried 1...c5 in otb when I first joined since i saw gm's playing it, didn't know much about it, got crushed twice. Switched back to 1...e5.

Read Starting out the Sicilian and now i'm trying it out again. First in CC then when i'm comfortable i'll play it in OTB, althought i did play it onces in feb to avoid the vienna gambit since i had black and didn't like facing it.

I like 1...d6, the Pirc defense. White players are usually not as well prepared for it as they are for other more common defenses (sicilian, french, caro, etc.). Plus, there are a good many who think it is a 'weak' defense, or 'unsound', and play over-optimistically against it.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
How do you meet 1.e4? Why?

I used to play ..c5 Najdorf starting out in competative play, not sure why I stopped playing it though, tried out the Pirc for a bit, but didn't like playing against Bc4 lines. Then switched to the French, loved the Winawer line and the advance, but hated playing against Tarrasch/KIA/Chigorin. I've finally settled on Alekhine's Defense, something about it that's rather addictive.

The Caro-Kann,1...c6,has been my mainstay vs.1.e4 for the last 25 years. I back it up with 1....Nc6,Nimzovitches Defense,as a good surprize weapon. 1....e5 is the absolute best response to 1.e4,but there are too many lines,and too much theory to know.

OTB and online blitz I play almost exclusively 1...c6. It is solid and easy to understand how the pieces fit together, and fits well with a Slav or Semi-Slav vs. 1. d4. At RHP I have experimented recently with 1...c5 (with considerable help from various databases and books) and 1...e5, following the ideas in Larry Kaufmann's book (The Chess Advantage in Black and White). I liked the Sicilian alot, but am nowhere near ready to implement it in "real" games.

Originally posted by Freddie2006
What is a pawn phalax?

Originally posted by BLReid
OTB and online blitz I play almost exclusively 1...c6. It is solid and easy to understand how the pieces fit together, and fits well with a Slav or Semi-Slav vs. 1. d4. At RHP I have experimented recently with 1...c5 (with considerable help from various databases and books) and 1...e5, following the ideas in Larry Kaufmann's book (The Chess Advantage in Blac ...[text shortened]... White). I liked the Sicilian alot, but am nowhere near ready to implement it in "real" games.