Hey guys, girls and cats!

It's high time I learned what I should do against 1.Nf3

So in this thread I'm going to document my research, hopefully it will be useful for others to see the thought processes that go into creating a repertoire. Note that I've never really done something like this before, at least not for such a large opening. (Usually I follow some book recommendations). So it should be a useful learning experience for me too.

I should say that anyone is very welcome to help and/or pinch the repertoire for their own use

We could even create a Chessbase file for it once we are done.

I assume you have something in mind already. What do you play vs. d4 and e4? I guess one simple answer is to play 1...f5! and then you are always playing a Dutch variation no matter what. But the only real reason I'm bringing that up is simply because I switched to that opening recently and it seems quite playable vs. Nf3.

I'm interested in pitching in but if it's not a Dutch line I'm not sure how helpful the results will be for me and I'm not particular great at openings or chess in general so I may not be able to help much anyway, lol. I will follow along at the least either way, though, .

Yup, I have narrowed it down to a few candidates already.

I'm playing Grunfeld against 1.d4 and 1.e4 e5, both of which severely limit my options.

1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 and it's a Queen's gambit

1.Nf3 c5 2.e4 and Sicilian

1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 and Modern/Pirc/Philidor/Dragon

1.Nf3 e6 is no use either, neither e4 or d4 lead to what I want

I have played 1.Nf3 f5 quite a lot in the past, I think it's ok but I want something a bit more robust now.

So I'm more or less forced to reply 1...Nf6! Now 2.c4 is far and away the main line and most annoying for Grunfeld players, because after 2...g6 3.Nc3:



We are committed to going 3...d5, (otherwise 4.e4 will lead to a King's Indian) which is not to everyone's taste.

So the line I am pretty sure I will go for is 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 e6 4.g3 b6 5.Bg2 Bb7 6.0-0 Be7



I quite like the idea of these Hedgehog type positions, seems like lots of play for both sides while having quite a sound position, which is basically my objective when choosing an opening.

There are a couple of alternatives on move 3 (Nc6 and d5) which are worth considering, but unless anyone flags up any major issue I will go ahead with this line!

I guess I picked a mediocre time to start this, because I'm off for a tournament in 2 days time. Today my studying of this line just involved playing through lots of games relatively quickly, in the main line after 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4

Here were the most instructive games I found so far:

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...7e9b3c49d2f598

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...dd744c3d81d1b7

http://chess.tuxtown.net/game-replay...2ad667928eae38

These kind of positions are not won by Black very often at the top level, but are certainly very solid. At my level I reckon there is enough tension for this not to be a problem though, and I've noticed that there are also some ways to mix things up a bit.

I've tried to play this, my problem has been finding comfortable positions in 3.d4/4.d4 lines. What are you doing vs. that? Instead I've been playing 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 as suggested by Kaufman with the idea of 3.Bg2 Bb7 4.d4 g6, you have learn some QID lines though.
You can also look at a few Pirc lines with Nf3 in (no austrian attack!) and bluff away with 1.-g6 & go for the awesome double fianchetto hedgehog against c4+g3 setups.

Update: Python Strategy is a very very good book. Highly recommended

Wow. You read that fast.

Well I read through it without a board + looked at a couple of games. Very insightful games and good biography pieces. Kinda like Seirawan's Chess Duels.

Let me bump the epic thread with an instructive (imo) position. Find the best continuation (incl. follow-ups) for White.