1 e4! According to the Dojo

The Dojo is joined by GM Eugene Perelshteyn to talk concrete suggestions for 1.e4 players.

0:00:00 Intro
0:07:06 Ruy
0:16:06 Najdorf
0:26:47 French
0:37:20 Caro
0:49:30 Scandi
0:57:00 Pirc
1:00:22 Dragon
1:08:55 e6 Sicilian

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[mlad]

Davids face on the leela caro line was hilarious

[exquisitecorpse]

As a certified peasant who's tried a lot of things, a club player's main task should be to pick openings that grow with you. David's idea of playing everything sounds awesome, but - with so many holes in our chess - opening study yields less growth per hour than endgames, puzzles, or game collections. So you choose openings that will follow you forever.

At 1100, the king's gambit will score easy points....but when you're 1500, black has a pet weapon, your positions are bad, and you'll need to spend 20 hours learning something else. Learn the Ruy at 1100, and it's usable at any level; those 20 hours can be spent doing something else OR just going deeper into the Spanish which has plenty of depth to plumb.

Gimmicks have a ratings-based expiration date. Main lines are evergreen.

[Frogfish]

I love how you guys all have different strong personalities and approach your content differently. The dynamic between the 3 of you is so entertaining!

[Musicrafter]

I think the reason the Ruy no longer features very much c3-d4 is because black figured out that they never had to allow it. Trying to shoot for it with 6. Re1 will usually run into the Marshall, and the Anti-Marshalls inherently avoid c3-d4 as a matter of course. The 8. h3 Anti-Marshall can also run into various d5 sacrifices where white often fails to prove anything with the extra pawn, and the 8. a4 Anti-Marshall is largely neutralized by 8...b4, at least in my own analysis.

The main problem in most Anti-Marshalls is that since white gives up on c3-d4 and so the center stays locked for longer, black can find ways to engineer situations in which one of white's moves was a waste of time. In the 8. h3 Bb7 9. d3 d5 line, h3 is the waste of time since black's bishop has left the relevant diagonal. In 8. a4 b4 9. a5 d6 10. d3 Bd6, it's Re1 that was the waste of time, as evidenced by the following alternative line: 6. d3! b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. a4 b4 9. a5 d6 10. Nbd2 Bd6 11. Nc4! -- we reach almost the same position as before, but white is "a tempo up" in a sense, since Re1 hasn't been played and can therefore avoid exchanging the bishops.

So, the "Carlsen Ruy" is just where white acknowledges that if he tries to engineer the efficient c3-d4 plan, black will disallow it -- the moral of the story is in some ways that there are no seriously constructive moves on move 8 in 6. Re1 other than 8. c3 should black choose the (probably superior) Marshall Move Order -- and hence just gives up on the plan much earlier with the useful move 6. d3. In many variations, you can actually win the tempo back if black allows you to pull the bishop on a4 back to c2 in one move instead of two, and eventually engineer the classic c3-d4 type positions anyway. I was analyzing lines here at one point and even found a possible transposition to the old main lines (specifically the Zaitsev) out of 6. d3.

Black has to play in a very specific way to achieve meaningfully *different* positions and claim to "exploit" the move order 6. d3 -- in most cases you just end up getting improved a4 Anti-Marshalls with Re1 omitted, direct transpositions to healthy a4 Anti-Marshalls, transpositions to actual mainlines, or acquiring thematically similar but fresh mainline-ish c3-d4 positions.

On this basis I actually switched from 6. Re1 to 6. d3 myself recently.

[keedt]

As you didn't explicitly cover the Petrov, an opening I picked up recently (yes I am boring that way), I have tried to come up with my own answers:
David: 5 d4 mainlines like Kasparov used to play them.
Jesse: 5 Qe2: Endgame repertoire, baby!
Kostya: 5 Nc3 and opposite side castling.
Eugene: for pros, 5 Nc3 and for peasants Bishop's opening or 4 knights with fianchetto.
How did I do?

[kartavyaschesschannel]

Best Chess Content! Only Serious Chess and this is what we need! Thanks ChessDojo!

[natureechoesmusic]

You guys have such excellent content. You deserve a lot more attention. Keep it up!

[mikoajozarowski]

Oh no, you guys missed the best response against 1.e4 - Alekhine Defense... In all seriousness though, this is great stuff. I'm a bit surprised no one mentioned the Austrian Attack against the Pirc, especially David who seems to be all about the most critical lines. Thank you all for the content!

[putskan]

Great video, thanks. Showing the variations on the board itself was important

[JockeDieden]

This is an amazing upload. For you guys to take the philosophical approach and not cramp it into 30 minutes is just wholesome. Thanks! <3

[biscottone]

The multiple point of view you offer in this channel are truly a gift. thanks!

[xebit]

I just found this channel and LOVE it!
it would be very interesting to see this format from blacks pov (discussion for responses vs 1.e4 and vs 1.d4, ..)

[haydenn]

I have watched this video as background noise while studying 100s of times. I could probably quote the whole episode

[lazyfrog]

I do remember Bc4 being referred to as the Yugoslav in older books, in connection with h3, so Jesse is not wrong.

[brucelittleboy]

Many players will have a mixed strategy and focus on some lines deeply while using quick-and-easy options for other defences, especially those less often encountered. I wonder about offering different advice to players who are starting out but have high ambitions. They are still starting out and still have much to learn. And opening selections could depend on the openings others play. If a club rival always plays the Najdorf and is delighted to get the practice, you could learn a line in the Najdorf and safely ignore other main-line Sicilians.

[ocean]

Here's my take on the matter, I think for ruy lopez you shouldn't play it under 1800 but if you want to... be prepared, and mess around with it and see what variations you like from white the most. For the najdorf, I agree with kostya, the h3 lines are nice and not as dangerous as Bg5, but a safer route is the way jesse approached it, for the french I recommend the Nd2 line for non ambitious, but for ambitious players Nc3 is just better. For the caro, I'd recommend the exchange for under 1800 and for more ambitious I'd recommend advance for all but when you pass 2000 I'd recommend the classical, against the scandi, I'd agree with kostya.

For the pirc, I'd recommend the austrian attack or 150-attack

Against the dragon I'd recommend a levenfish style attack on it, and for e6 sicillian I'd recommend what david said or playing grand prix

[robertyounger]

I’m really interested in the idea of expanding opening knowledge by following the history of opening popularity. (Basically starting out with gambits and moving on to positional, etc.). Would love to hear that expounded on a little more.

I sometimes wish I’d just picked one opening but to study, but I’ve realized my personality is drawn to having a large garden of openings

[Merkard]

First time seeing the channel. but really enjoyed this video!

[julek]

I switched to 1.d4 two months ago after years of playing 1.e4. I very rarely played mainline stuff, I was usually drawn to less common openings.
- Against 1...e5 I played the Scotch
- Against 1...c5, 2...d6 I usually tried to play Qxd4 instead of Nxd4 to avoid theory
- Against the French I played the two Knights variation, 2. Nf3, 3 Nc3
- In Caro-Kann I actually played advanced Short variation, the mainline Nf3, Be2, 0-0, as people at my level (1800~) often misplayed it and got in trouble quickly (mostly when trying to save the bishop by retreating it to g6, giving me time to play c4 opening the position.
- Against Scandi I played 2. Nf3
- Against the Pirc, Modern and e6 I played mainline stuff.

Now it's all 1.d4 and almost always main lines :)

[citizen]

Can’t believe they left out the Tal Variation against the caro for lower rated players. That variation is murderous