I play 1. Nf3 and then usually transpose it into 1. d4 lines while avoiding the semi-slav, QGD, Benoni, Nimzo-Indian, Bogo-Indian, and the toughest Queen's Indian lines. After 1... c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. e4, I had transposed him into the Maroczy Bind variation of the Accelerated Dragon which is obv extremely dangerous for black. He was trying to play a symmetrical English and did not know he could end up in a Maroczy Bind. I play the Accelerated Dragon as black as well, so the opening could not have gone much better for me.
The main drawback to my 1. Nf3 is that I can be forced to play a symmetrical English. But as in this game, I am quite good at transposing people into the most dangerous lines. Fwiw, I don't care much about openings as long as I am getting playable positions consistently. I have been improving dramatically since I stopped worrying about openings and have been spending my study time on tactics and endgames.
A couple key positions:
Black has just played 11... Nf6-e8. I play 12. c5 to punish this passive move.
The turning point of the game:
Black has just played 15... Qa5. I play 16. cxd6 planning 17. b4 and 18. e5. But after 16... Nxd3 17. b4 Qb6, I realize that I am forced to trade queens and have simply developed his knight for him and solved all of his problems. When I played 16. cxd6, I thought he had to move his queen to either a3 or d8 after 17. b4 because I had calculated poorly and am not used to people trying to trade queens with me. 16 Nd5 was great for me. 16. b4 also works after 16... dxc5 Qxc5 (trading queens favorably and keeping his knight in jail).
But bad moves happen at my level, and I felt like my opponent was not playing well at all given moves like 11... Ne8 and his general demeanor. I do think that he was very capable of making plenty of bad moves even after my mistake. For example, he seemed very eager to make passive moves and trade pieces in search of his draw. But in a rook endgame, active piece play and well calculated tactics are crucial. I could easily imagine him passively defending his pawns in a rook endgame which would be semi-suicidal. I do, of course, need to get the minor pieces off the board first. But that looks very doable.
Last edited by Unguarded; 02-26-2017 at 06:43 PM.