Play something original...the vulture.
d4 c5!
Black questions white's center right away. Attacking and aggressive.
While you must count on playing the catalan the punch b5 isn't bad.
There are a lot of references. Just search altavista.
If you play d4 d5 c4...do not take. Try to follow the classical thoughts.
DO not give up the center going into hypermodern- the cave is too
large and confusing. Occupy the center.
I'm not too certain that 1...c5 deserves the ! 😉 I'd love to play the
White side against you some time.
Here are some other options to avoid traditional QGD lines after 1.d4
d5; 2.c4... These are grouped under the heading Queen's Gambit
Refused:
The Baltic Defense: 2...Bf5 aims for control of e4. One problem is a
timely Qb3, attacking the undefended b7. Perhaps the Bishop move is
a bit premature, like it's 1.e4 cousin the Bishop's Opening, but it is
still very playable at an amateur level.
The Chigorin defense: 2...Nc6; 3.Nf3 Bg4; Black will eventually have to
part w/ the bishop pair, but his his rapid development should
compensate.
The Albin Countergambit: 2...e5 appeals to attacking players. White's
plan involves the moves a3, g3, Bg2, Nbd2 and O-O in some order.
Personally, I enjoy experimenting with the Indian games. They seem
to be the most common response to 1.d4 in GM play. Some favorites
of mine are the King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian, and Gruenfeld Defenses.
Occupy the center? Pah! Wait for white to build up his straw house,
then huff and puff and blow it down! Hypermodern defenses don't
ignore the center, they wait for an appropriate opportunity to blow it
apart with a pawn break supported by the (usually) fiancettoed
bishops.
A good suggestion would be to pick up a good opening encyclopedia
like Schiller's Standard Chess Openings or Nunn's Chess Openings
and start experimenting in your games. There is nothing better to
learn what works for you than trying everything you can get your hands
on. If you have a reference to know the "correct" moves for your
opening du jour, you'll get much more out of these games. That's
what I did. How else do you think I know this stuff? Osmosis?
So... find a book or online reference (there aren't many good ones
that I've found) on openings. Play a few games here using that as a
reference. (I don't think anyone will mind too much. This is just
practice, after all.) You'll find yourself with solid, flexible positions in
the middle game and your increased tactical opportunities will be
backed by a decades of theory on how to obtain a strong position in
the opening. I bet you'll have more fun too.
Rein
It's similar, in fact, to the "Vulture" and I imagine transpositions would
be easy if white doesn't take immediately.
I don't play the Modern Benoni often since the Taimanov variation is
so dangerous:
1.d4 Nf6
2.c4 c5
3.d5 e6
4.Nc3 exd5
5.cxd5 d6
g.e4 g6
7.f4 Bg7
8.Bb5+
and Black's best seems to be 8...Nfd7, which seems like a particularly
ugly move to me.
Luckily, not a lot of white players at my level seem to know this one.
But this is getting a *bit* off topic! I'll stick with my old standby, the
King's Indian.
--Rein
I could go on for awhile about all of this but I will refrain....but the one
thing I must say about is to recommend Schiller's SCO or Nunn's NCO
over "The Bible" MCO makes my skin crawl. I own all three and MCO is
the one singular refrence book of the three...of course the ECO set is
the best and always will be..but we all can't afford that can we?
MCO...tried and true...please do not buy the phony knockoffs.
Dave
