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May 19, 2012

Sketching a 1.d4 repertiore

I've been enjoying watching the US championship so much it got me thinking about playing chess again.

To that end, I have been contemplating my openings.  I am a d4 player and my repertoire would involve 1 d4 and 2 c4.  I put together a list of major defences to 1 d4 below.  I also put together a list of my learning resources.  My plan is to pick and choose lines from amongst these sources.  My choices are undecided at this time.  Part of the reason is that several of the books are yet to be published.  The two by Schandorff and one by Watson should be available in June.


Major Opening Systems

1.       QGD

a.       Tarrasch

                                                               i.      Schara-Hennig Gambit

                                                             ii.      Swedish 6…c4

                                                            iii.      Semi-Tarrasch

                                                           iv.      Tarrasch Main-line.  TBD.  Probably 9.dxc5

b.      QGD Exchange 3 …Be7

c.       QGD Exchange 3 …Nf6

2.       Slav

a.       Sideline 3…dxc4

b.      Sidelines on move 5 and move 6 (like 5…Na6)

c.       Chebanenko Slav (aka …a6 slav)

d.      Schlecter Slav (…g6 systems)

e.      Main Slav with 6 Ne5

                                                               i.      Piece sac line

                                                             ii.      Sokolov (…Nb6)

                                                            iii.      Old Main line with …Qc7

1.       Classical 11…f6

2.       Morozevich 11…g5

3.       Semi-Slav

a.       Noteboom

b.      Cambridge Springs

c.       Botvinnik Variation

                                                               i.      Alortsev gambit

                                                             ii.      10…Be7 sideline

                                                            iii.      11…Rg8 sideline

                                                           iv.      Main line with Na4

d.      Anti-Moscow Gambit

4.       QGA, central systems with 3.e4

a.       3…e5

b.      3…c5

c.       3…Nf6

d.      3…Nc6

e.      3…b5

5.       Other 1 d4 d5 Systems

a.       Chigorin

b.      Baltic

c.       Symmetrical

d.      Albin

6.       Nimzo-Indian

7.       King’s Indian

8.       Grunfeld

9.       Benoni and Benko

a.       Modern Benoni

b.      Czech Benoni

c.       Benko

d.      Weird Benonis

10.   Other 1 d4 Nf6 Openings

a.       Old Indian

b.      Budapest Gambit

c.       Black Knight’s Tango

11.   Dutch Defense

12.   Other 1 d4 Openings

a.       1…Nc6

b.      1…b5 Polish

c.       Keres Defense

d.      English Defence

e.      1…d6 – (transpose to Pirc? Or allow 1 d4 d6 2 c4 e5 ?)

f.        Modern Defence 1…g6

Major Book Sources:

1.       Larry Kaufman, The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White, 2012.

2.       Valeri Broznik, 1.d4 – Beat the Guerrillas!, 2011.

3.       Lars Schandorff, Playing 1.d4 – The Queen’s Gambit, 2012.

4.       Lars Schandorff, Playing 1.d4 – The Indian Defences, 2012.

5.       John Watson, A Strategic Chess Opening Repertoire for White, 2012.

Other Book Sources:

1.       Lars Schandorff, Playing the Queen’s Gambit, 2009.

2.       John Cox, starting out: 1.d4!, 2006

3.       Yuri Yakovich, Play the 4.f3 Nimzo-Indian, 2004

4.       Richard Palliser, Play 1.d4!, 2003

5.       Semko Semkov, Kill KID 1, 2009

6.       Kiril Georgiev, Squeezing the Gambits, 2010

7.       Alexander Khalifman, Opening for White according to Kramnik 4, 2002

8.       Alexander Khalifman, Opening for White according to Kramnik 5, 2002

Chessbase DVD Sources:

1.       Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Beat the Slav the classical way

2.       Henrik Danielsen, The Benko Gambit with g3

3.       Lubomir Ftacnik, 1.d4 – a classical repertoire for White

4.       Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Anti-Moscow for Experts

5.       Loek van Wely, The Botvinnik and Moscow variation

6.       Nigel Davies, Queen’s Gambit Declined

Miscellaneous:

1.       Chessvibes Index, guide to annotated games from Chessvibes Openings

2.       Chesspublishing.com PDF books and annotated games

ICC videos:

1.       Joel Benjamin, Game of the Week, index by ECO code

2.       Larry Christiansen, Attack with LarryC, not archived well

3.       John Watson, Beyond the Opening series, grouped by pawn structure type

4.       Ronen Har-Zvi, Ronen’s Opening Survey, grouped by opening

3 comments:

  1. That's great that you're thinking about chess again, but please don't give up the backgammon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the support. I have been away from chess for a few years, and am hopeful I can enjoy and study both games. My interest ebbs and flows so who knows?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, these blogs are great stuff. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete