Thanks Christof, as a Stafford gambit player who now knows the Petroff proper! For me personally, I've done a lot of work on openings just because I find it fascinating, so I'm switching my focus on the real culprits: tactics, tactics, and some endgame flaws. My goal is just to hit 2000 by age 50, and have fun along the way. I have a good mix of gambits and solid, and sometimes both (to choose). Evans Gambit, or Greco Attack (non-gambit, if I'm trying to be solid) Knight Attack (or Max Lange/Anderssen/Nakhmanson if I'm trying to be tricky) Smith Morra (no "solid" response yet to the Sicilian, but Morra has a great reputation and it teaches real principles) Stafford Gambit or Petroff proper French Advanced Milner Barry (there are more solid, less dubious lines) Caro Kann Fantasy QGD (also works against the English!). Against mainline Queen's Gambit, I love the Cambridge Springs variation. Qb6 lines against London Etc!
Loved this video! I'm happy I learned some simple chess openings I can fall back to as a beginner, but great to expand my mind to be willing to "get my hands dirty" with other openings for various reasons, without feeling it will hinder my growth as a chess player.
When it comes to system openings, there are sharper, more exciting choices like the Dutch system and King's Indian. I'm not anti-London, but I can't understand why someone would only want to play the same passive structure every game which doesn't even give an opening advantage and hardly creates imbalances that can be exploited.
I think the mindset is to play neutral waiting moves within the solid, “boring” structure until your opponent overreaches or makes an inaccuracy. Then you pounce. Also, some players are really strong in the middle and endgames, so they are perfectly fine setting up the same structure and then outplaying you after move 10
I'm a 1200 ELO online, and i play Catalan or Italian for white, and King's Indian or e5 with black. I have a book about Scheveninghen Najdorf, but i gave up the Sicilian because it's TOO deep and complicated. Ruy Lopez is also a very complicated opening with so many different lines.
It’s interesting, the main reason I play the London System as white is because the pawn structures and you usually get are very similar to certain variations of the caro kann but with the colors flipped. It really helps because I know I’ll pretty much always have an immediate and deep understanding of the position before even knowing what color I’m going to play as.
you only ever get one type of pawn structure though. very unconfrontational. its just boring to play from both sides imo. its solid enough you dont get blown off the board, but isnt fighting for an advantage with white
@@BMWE-hm7uz But that's just what Christof said in this video. One person might be ok with the same opening and "boring" positions over and over again, another person might like more variation and/or sharper lines. If they likes playing the London because he knows the pawn structures in the Caro Kann and the London leads to similar structures good for them. You don't like it, so you play something different. Everybody just needs to know their own goals when choosing their repertoire
They did mention it. If you are a club player your style is to drop pieces to tactically alert superiors. Playing openings that are fun for us matches any amateur style.
What a useless video! The vast majority of chess players are amateurs who are rated under 2000 and nobody is going to prepare against them, and it would not matter if they did, tactical mistakes are what decide games at that level, not openings. Yet more than half the discussion in this video refers to opponents preparing or not preparing. So who is this video for, anyway? Stronger players aren't going to watch this, and weaker players are given no useful advice here.
hard disagree. there was a lot of useful advice. it also illustrated the point that there is no simple answer to what openings people should play. it doesn't matter how often low rated amateurs are told not to focus on openings, they are going to do it anyway. for the low rated amateurs that only play online blitz, yeah, it doesn't matter what you play, but they did say that.
