I was glancing over Chess Openings for Black Explaine and stumbled onto their preferred response to 1. c4. Not surprisingly, they recommend 1 ... c5. Their reasons? It can often transpose into familiar positions, like the Maroczy bind and so it is essentially building on the knowledge of the Sicilian. I wasn't as enthusiastic as the author about allowing the Maroczy bind again, but I wasn't worried.
Now I'm worried! I looked over chessgames.com and other resources, and the Symmetrical English gives White a nice 15% winning advantage. Why is this? Is it considered refuted?
Here's the author's mainline: 1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 g6 and then there are endless variations. Is it really that bad?
Against 1.c4 you can play plenty of moves - but you must be ready for various transpositions.
1. ... Nf6, your opponent can decide contihue 2. d4 and u left the English
1. ... e5 - no problem with it, but many fear playing against Sicilian even with White, here u give your opponent an extra tempo to his Sicilian!
1. ... c5 - u should have a good positional smell to feel when it is the time to leave the simmetry, though it can be done much later than in many other openings (f.e. four knights)
u can also try to drag your opponent into the openings that you personally prefer.
Examples:
1. ... f5 if u like Dutch
1. ... c6 - if u are equally ready for Caro-Kann and Slav
1. ... g6 - if yoy play Robach
1. ... d6, 1. ... e6, 1. ... Nc6
Originally posted by Oddjob291No, but my book uses c5 as the preferred response because it is similar to the Sicilian lines it presents earlier. Thus, they select c5 mostly to save time, not necessarily because they think it is better. They don't cover the e5 response.
Is there a problem with the 1... e5 lines?
Originally posted by VovochkaWell, since the book recommends g6 as black's second move, breaking symmetry is not the concerning factor. Most of the variations are covered by the book. What concerns me is the not so pretty winning percentage for black in the symmetrical variation. I'm wondering if this means that White gets a bigger edge if I play c5.
1. ... c5 - u should have a good pos y ready for Caro-Kann and Slav
Originally posted by exigentskyPlay 2.g3, the accelerated fianchetto! It's less well known and practically plays itself!
I was glancing over Chess Openings for Black Explaine and stumbled onto their preferred response to 1. c4. Not surprisingly, they recommend 1 ... c5. Their reasons? It can often transpose into familiar positions, like the Maroczy bind and so it is essentially building on the knowledge of the Sicilian. I wasn't as enthusiastic as the author about allowing ...[text shortened]... 's mainline: 1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 g6 and then there are endless variations. Is it really that bad?
Originally posted by exigentskyUnless you are an expert or better, you really don't need to worry about what happens when the GM's use your opening.
You guys both seem to misunderstand me. First of all, I am playing the BLACK side of the Symmetrical English and secondly, symmetry is usually broken my black's second move, g6.
Personally When i am in the mood for answering c4 with c5 I prefer to play a hedgehog. Also playing the fianchetto may or may not break symettry. Don't worry about it.
I want to be confident in my opening repertoire. The poor black scores in the symmetrical English make that impossible at the moment.
However, I admit that the responses the books authors give do not have a specific ECO, so I have no idea how good or bad the percentages would be.
Originally posted by exigentskyI prefer to avoid symmetrical positions if I can, I find they can be a bit dull as both sides tend to adopt the same same plan (if any). More unbalanced, dynamic positions are much more fun to play.
I want to be confident in my opening repertoire. The poor black scores in the symmetrical English make that impossible at the moment.
However, I admit that the responses the books authors give do not have a specific ECO, so I have no idea how good or bad the percentages would be.
Against the English Opening, I might suggest playing a Queen's Gambit Declined arrangement.
Originally posted by exigentskyWell White has an edge in every symmetrical opening, simply by the fact that White goes first and so can determine the course of the game, to an extent.
That's a good suggestion, but I'm not yet at the stage of abandoning teh symmetrical English. My main concern is whether it gives White an edge, why the numbers are so skewed for White.
Originally posted by exigentskyI don't know about percentages among masters, but I do have 2 books on the english, one specifically on symettry. Trust me, black is fine if you find the right lines. By the way the symetric english does not mean that every move of yours mimics whites. It means the first 2 moves are 1.c4 c5. After that there are some lines that maintain symettry, but there are plenty that don't.
That's a good suggestion, but I'm not yet at the stage of abandoning teh symmetrical English. My main concern is whether it gives White an edge, why the numbers are so skewed for White.