A couple of chess opening repertoire issues

[Kevin Pacey]

I'll mention here a couple of interesting issues that can come up when forming a chess opening repertoire.

First, there is the question of transpositional possibilities. Sometimes such may go unnoticed for years, especially if they happen fairly deep into a sequence that one hopes to utilize. There seems to be no surefire way to avoid unpleasant transpositional possibilities coming up unexpectedly, other than trying to be studious over the years. However, funny things can happen even to experienced GMs that really shouldn't. For example, there is Miles-Yusupov, Tunis (izt) 1985, where after 1.c4 c6, Black was anticipating playing a Slav, but Miles simply replied 2.e4 and he had already steered the game into Caro-Kann channels, for which Yusupov admits he was completely unprepared, not playing that defence before (though he did manage to win this game). Clearly one ought not be surprised in such fashion already at move two(!).

Secondly, there a couple of common quandaries, perhaps, that may frequently need to be dealt with, which I'd like to mention:

First, the case of many wanting to normally play an Anti-Sicilian as White, starting with the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3. Let's assume White likes the Rossolimo + Moscow complex (i.e. 2...Nc6/d6 3.Bb5[+]), but he may be wondering what to do in case of 2...e6. Sometimes people play 3.c4 (which might be seen as transposing to a sideline in an English Opening), or 3.b3, but let's suppose White wishes to play something a shade more respected/juicy (i.e. not clearly rather under-powered):

I can offer 4 suggested choices: (1) 3.c3 is a line of the Alapin Sicilian (2.c3) where Black has already made more of a commitment (...e7-e6 early) than White's Nf3 move, which is almost always his preferred way to proceed (and it never really hurts much that it was played, either); this may even be of consolation to those who already play 2.c3 and who otherwise were hoping for acquiring another Anti-Sicilian system that's totally independent of the Alapin; (2) 3.d3 intending a King's Indian Attack is possible, where once again we note that Black has made his commitment to ...e7-e6 here already; those who already play a KIA via e.g. 2.d3 can take a similar consolation to some Alapin players here too; (3) 3.Nc3, normally intending g2-g3 next, with a sort of Closed Sicilian, is possible (White might also play d2-d4 next, with an Open Sicilian of some sort coming, after seeing what further commitment Black may make at move 3); (4) 3.d4, even, is possible too, heading for an Open Sicilian where Black is commited to ...e7-e6 and White still has the possibility of advancing his c-pawn later on (unlike after 3.Nc3 intending d2-d4); granted, it may be mostly experienced players who have both Open Sicilians and Anti-Sicilians in their repertoires, or who might wish to have both.


Second, the case of what to play vs. 1.Nf3 with Black. A lot can depend on one's exact repertoire, but let's suppose that against 1.c4 you really like 1...e5, and 1...c5 is your second choice (with possibly in addition some 'Universal System' choices you might like such as the Slav + Caro-Kann). That means against 1.Nf3 you'll want to include 1...c5 (or at least 1...Nf6, and if 2.c4 c5, depending if you don't want to allow White to transpose to a Sicilian). The problem may be that now it seems there's no obvious match to 1.c4 e5, as far as when facing 1.Nf3. Here I can offer a number of ideas: (1) 1...g6 can transpose to a number of openings, where White is committed to Nf3, which may be a consolation if you already play an early ...g7-g6 vs. just about every first move (compare the discussion of the Alapin Sicilian in the above paragraph); (2) You can play 1...d5 hoping to transpose to a Queen's Gambit Accepted (even if you don't play that vs. 1.d4, at least White is already committed a bit by playing Nf3) - vs. 2.c4 you can play 2...d4/...dxc4, while vs. 2.g3 you might play 2...Nf6 3.Bg2 Bf5/Bg4 and perhaps not use e.g. a Slav formation just to be independent-minded of it; (3) You can play 1...f5 and have a Dutch where White is committed to Nf3, again a consolation even if you don't use the Dutch vs. other first moves; (4) You can play 1...d5 and hope for, e.g. 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 with the so-called Ragozin Defence, thanks to the fact White has committed to Nf3 early; note that White might instead try to play something like a Catalan or English with ...e6 played, though (at least vs. the former there's the choice of the Open or Closed sorts of variations, if you want to think you have an independent system in case you already allow the Catalan vs. 1.d4, and vs. 1.c4/1.Nf3, if you play e.g. a QGD + French as a universal system, too); (5) You could simply just use 1.Nf3 c5, still, but drop the idea of playing 1.c4 c5 - the latter allows White to avoid playing Nf3 if he wishes, and 1.c4 e5 scores more wins percentage-wise for Black at the elite level than 1.c4 c5 does, at least, if you're looking for a justification. Then 1.Nf3 c5 would become the matching choice to 1.c4 e5.