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Dude, lightman is a smart guy, he'll have notes on the smith-Morra gambit.
Just to echo Lightman's comments about the openings; your first move says a LOT about who you are as a person, and what your views on the game are.
1.e4 is the attacking, arrogant opening  The claim is that white is a lot better for having the first move, so consequently, the positions reached are intended to be as a sharp (dangerous) as possible, to maximise the benefit of the first move. 1.e4 has a greater number of decisive games (non-draws) than any other opening. Overall, at Grandmaster level, it scores 52% for white (due mostly to the sicilian defence!). Famous users include Fisher and Anand - the current world champion.
1.d4 is grinding opening. White claims that the advantages allowed by the first move, such as space, square control and development, gives him a comfortable plus. White may go for a king attack, he may not. Many great 1.d4 players will actually just play for pressure on different areas of the board, hoping to win just a pawn - more than enough for them to win a game. 1.d4 tends to be more drawish than any other opening. Its scores 55% for White, although, in lines like the Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian or Queen's Gambit Declined, its almost equal. The openings against 1.d4 that play for a win are all a little suspect. There have been many great 1.d4 players, but ill name just a few: Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, Alekhine
1.c4 is similar to 1.d4, but with greater emphasis on flank play and creativity - it is less about massive home preparation. The positions reached can be as sharp or as slow as white wants, it is difficult for black to sharpen the position without white allowing it. Bent Larsen, one of the strongest players ever, said the "great think about flank openings are that they rarely, if ever, lead to mass piece exchanges. If your attack is not going to work, you can retreat and return in another sector of the board". Many of the greats play 1.c4, such as Botvinnik and Korchnoi. It scores around 52%.
1.Nf3 is the opening for players who know exactly what positions they are comfortable with, and are willing to miss out on some advantage to get those positions. Basically, 1.Nf3 is a transpositional tool to reach certain 1.d4 openings, while avoiding others. I use it in tournaments, so that the amount of study required beforehand is less Kramnik used 1.Nf3 for about 10 years, terrorising the entire chess world. Nonetheless, with creative play, it can lead to unique positions.
And just a comment on the Caro-Kann, it is favoured by players who think they are SaviOr (like me!). Macro-play baby!
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OK! So lighman you are awesome. I've been doing my homework looking over some games, getting myself acquainted with some decent e4 openings and reading... a lot!
I want in! Just take my suggestions with a grain of salt and I welcome any criticism. I will also do my best to explain my choices :D
BTW regarding you going over the TL Chess Match I thread that's so awesome of you but at this point I think it's better for me to start analyzing this match, but I might take you up on it during the holidays.
I vote d2-d4
+ Show Spoiler +I've seen a couple of e4 openings were the game progresses into a fight over control of the center of the board. I think that a P for better positioning is worth it, plus it stays in the spirit that I see the rest of the TL team aggressive and wanting to go for a fast win :p
Is lightman really that good that d4 is out of the question Naib?
Wow jfazz you really beat King? Is that match on Youtube I would love to watch it!
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I vote Nf3.
+ Show Spoiler + There's something to be said about the closed Sicilian (as black gets to dictate the specific variation that he wants in the open Sicilian), but if we want exciting play, the regular variations are probably fine for just an exhibition style of match.
In my opinion, Smith-Morra is a bad choice. There's a reason why it's not played that much at the pro level and it's because while good for some quick wins on the internet against inexperienced players, it doesn't hold up at longer time controls against someone who knows their stuff.
jfazz, Kasparov played both d4 and e4 pretty regularly, he was quite flexible in that area and a phenomenal theoretician. When it comes to my opening repertoire, I'm kind of weird in that I'm a d4 player exclusively, but I play some interesting stuff as black. 
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Guys, we should move our queen to e5, it'll protect our king while protecting the e pawn.
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Thanks for the lesson goldrush...?
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On December 08 2009 14:31 jfazz wrote:
Thanks for the lesson goldrush...?
haha I didn't mean it that way, I'm just saying that Kasparov wasn't only a grinder.
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Yeah, he left that to Karpov and Kramnik
All of that said, there are positional 1.e4 players (Leko) and attacking 1.d4 players (Alekhine).
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so far
Nf3 - 15 votes
d4 - 4 votes
I'll update the teams in a bit and the move tonight, so White still has time to vote and SIGN UPS.
Archangel,
I'm not going to say how would I react or how good or bad am I prepared if white plays 2. d4 (at least not now, maybe later).
so think of the move 2. d4 as proxy gates with DT rush in a PvT, meaning you'd better practiced this strategy 10000 times and apply what you plan perfectly otherwise you're going to lose horribly.
I'll update the teams in a bit and the move tonight, so White still has time to vote and SIGN UPS.
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d4 and sidelines like that are good for blitz or beating a much weaker player but nothing more. The pawn sacrifice is hard to justify if black plays even semi-correctly.
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Nf3 here. This should be fun!
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haha, lightman, if you had played e5 I would be pushing for the halloween gambit  And really, I don't see why so many people are objecting to the Mora Smith gambit, I'm just trying to spice up the game.
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I'll contribute! plenty of theory I can dig up .
2. Nf3 btw~
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i hope he gives us a good BB5 im feeling frisky
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Can I join?
I usually play 2. d4, but since we are playing someone who is actually really good, I vote
2. Nf3
+ Show Spoiler +If you don't exemplify on the development in Smith Morra, then Black can use the extra pawn for an advantage
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put me in, i was in the other one
i vote for
2. d4
lets play aggressive unlike the other game.
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lol @ d4.
I hope we play the Najdorf.
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EPT
