My Repertoire
My last couple years of high school I basically stopped playing, then when I was a freshman in school in Chicago I started playing a lot of blitz cause there are places to play (North Avenue usually has some good players hanging around). So then I started playing again and I really didn't know what openings to play. I had played the Accelerated Dragon for a long time (I still do) so I didn't need any help against e4. But I had no idea what to play for white or what to play against d4. I had played both e4 and d4 at different times in my youth and against d4 I had played the Benko and I had also played the KID, enjoying good success with both. But I was in the mood for a change so I started looking around. Then I found a complete repertoire book from Larry Kaufman called The Chess Advantage in Black and White. Now I would never buy a book like this now, but back when I had limited knowledge of theory it was a very useful find. He sets up a repertoire for white based on e4 with the Spanish Exchange, the Bb5 Sicilian, the French Tarrasch, the Caro-Kann Short System, and the Be3 Pirc. These systems share the fact that the theory is relatively easy to learn and they are all highly respected systems. For Black he recommended e5, which I ignored, and the Semi-Slav, which is a system that I like playing a lot. So I read the book and started playing these systems. But I found that with white I wanted more than these lines gave me, so I gradually made substitutes.
The first line to go was the Spanish Exchange, I learned the Scotch exclusively from a database and was getting good results with it online but I don't think I ever had to play it in a tournament. Throughout this whole period I was not playing tournament chess during the year as Chicago unfortunately does not have a good club (actually did not while I was there). Next I began experimenting with other Caro-Kann systems (also from a database), the advance with Nc3 and g4, and the main line. I am confident that in tournament play I could play any of these three systems at will although I have not looked at the advance Caro-Kann for a long time. Next to go was the Sicilian, from another repertoire book incidentally by Jacob Aagaard (and others) called Experts vs. the Sicilian. If you want to learn the Open Sicilian I would start with this book, it gives you a very strong introduction to the lines. Then I switched from the Tarrasch (or Trash as I like to call it (only because of my style, it is a very solid opening)) to the French Main Line, with help from Lev Psakhis in two texts from his four volume survey of the French. I have only read the two focusing on Nc3 (one is on 3 Nc3 Bb4 exclusively and the other is the rest of 3 Nc3) but assuming the other two are of similar quality this series is indispensable if you play the French. So that's how I built the repertoire I have now. You'll notice I am mostly drawn to the main lines, this has been a gift and a curse. These lines are very theory intensive, if you cannot learn theory easily then this is not a repertoire for you. What draws me to these lines is that the ensuing games are extremely fascinating. I used to think the French was boring and dull, but now I've played several Winawers and Alekhine-Chatards and I realize that this is far from the truth. The problem with playing main lines is that you are biting your opponents pet line. When you are learning the Open Sicilian you have to prepare to meet many systems (Najdorf, Dragon, Classical, Sveshnikov, Kalashnikov, Four Knights, Kan/Taimanov, Scheveningen, etc.), your opponents on the other hand only have to be prepared to face a few lines within each system. For instance I know when my opponent plays the open sicilian against me that I will only have to face the Main Line or the Maroczy Bind, but at that point (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.d4) my opponent must be ready to play against the Kan/Taimanov, the Classical, the Four Knights, or my Accelerated Dragon. This used to be very frightening when playing the Open Sicilian, especially when I knew I could play Bb5 and get a comfortable game. And the lines are usually at least 10 moves long, in the 4th round of the WSO I played a game in the Dragon that followed a well-known game until my opponent deviated on move 25! (we had played each other the year before and we could tell we were playing each other so we both hit the databases hard in between rounds). However, the strategic and tactical themes are surprisingly similar throughout all of these systems, so once you start to pick up on these it makes it much easier to be confident in facing c5 with the Open Sicilian. My conclusion from learning main lines is that they are a lot of fun but they are very difficult. The primary reason that I learned the main lines is that I feel that they are essential if you want to be able to play to win at a higher level. This is obviously a controversial statement and there are of course other systems that afford White good practical chances. But the fact remains that these are main lines for a reason and against a seasoned player it is very difficult to gain any sort of an advantage in the opening with a side line.
Now that I have a good hold on the main lines of e4, I would like to broaden my repertoire further to include d4, primarily to give myself experience in different types of positions. I played d4 three times last year, once after losing three straight games, it was a nice win against a weaker player. I also played d4 in two out of my three games with white in the 2006 National Open and both were very impressive wins. So I'm sure that I can be successful with d4 but I am not sure where to start, but I have a repertoire book about 1. d4 on my computer so looks like I will repeat the process with which I built my current repertoire. If anyone has suggestions as to books or systems I would appreciate it.
The first line to go was the Spanish Exchange, I learned the Scotch exclusively from a database and was getting good results with it online but I don't think I ever had to play it in a tournament. Throughout this whole period I was not playing tournament chess during the year as Chicago unfortunately does not have a good club (actually did not while I was there). Next I began experimenting with other Caro-Kann systems (also from a database), the advance with Nc3 and g4, and the main line. I am confident that in tournament play I could play any of these three systems at will although I have not looked at the advance Caro-Kann for a long time. Next to go was the Sicilian, from another repertoire book incidentally by Jacob Aagaard (and others) called Experts vs. the Sicilian. If you want to learn the Open Sicilian I would start with this book, it gives you a very strong introduction to the lines. Then I switched from the Tarrasch (or Trash as I like to call it (only because of my style, it is a very solid opening)) to the French Main Line, with help from Lev Psakhis in two texts from his four volume survey of the French. I have only read the two focusing on Nc3 (one is on 3 Nc3 Bb4 exclusively and the other is the rest of 3 Nc3) but assuming the other two are of similar quality this series is indispensable if you play the French. So that's how I built the repertoire I have now. You'll notice I am mostly drawn to the main lines, this has been a gift and a curse. These lines are very theory intensive, if you cannot learn theory easily then this is not a repertoire for you. What draws me to these lines is that the ensuing games are extremely fascinating. I used to think the French was boring and dull, but now I've played several Winawers and Alekhine-Chatards and I realize that this is far from the truth. The problem with playing main lines is that you are biting your opponents pet line. When you are learning the Open Sicilian you have to prepare to meet many systems (Najdorf, Dragon, Classical, Sveshnikov, Kalashnikov, Four Knights, Kan/Taimanov, Scheveningen, etc.), your opponents on the other hand only have to be prepared to face a few lines within each system. For instance I know when my opponent plays the open sicilian against me that I will only have to face the Main Line or the Maroczy Bind, but at that point (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.d4) my opponent must be ready to play against the Kan/Taimanov, the Classical, the Four Knights, or my Accelerated Dragon. This used to be very frightening when playing the Open Sicilian, especially when I knew I could play Bb5 and get a comfortable game. And the lines are usually at least 10 moves long, in the 4th round of the WSO I played a game in the Dragon that followed a well-known game until my opponent deviated on move 25! (we had played each other the year before and we could tell we were playing each other so we both hit the databases hard in between rounds). However, the strategic and tactical themes are surprisingly similar throughout all of these systems, so once you start to pick up on these it makes it much easier to be confident in facing c5 with the Open Sicilian. My conclusion from learning main lines is that they are a lot of fun but they are very difficult. The primary reason that I learned the main lines is that I feel that they are essential if you want to be able to play to win at a higher level. This is obviously a controversial statement and there are of course other systems that afford White good practical chances. But the fact remains that these are main lines for a reason and against a seasoned player it is very difficult to gain any sort of an advantage in the opening with a side line.
Now that I have a good hold on the main lines of e4, I would like to broaden my repertoire further to include d4, primarily to give myself experience in different types of positions. I played d4 three times last year, once after losing three straight games, it was a nice win against a weaker player. I also played d4 in two out of my three games with white in the 2006 National Open and both were very impressive wins. So I'm sure that I can be successful with d4 but I am not sure where to start, but I have a repertoire book about 1. d4 on my computer so looks like I will repeat the process with which I built my current repertoire. If anyone has suggestions as to books or systems I would appreciate it.