TL Chess Match 4 - Page 9

Imo we need to take a few things into account when choosing an opening:

Firstly the fact that this is a correspondance game should rule out moves like 1.f4 or the king's gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4). While these are perfectly playable at normal time controls, having 3 days per move really eliminates the 'surprise' factor. Also afaik Ng5 is an expert on the king's gambit, as he plays it a lot in blitz games, so I'd prefer to avoid it.

From what I saw when I watched some of his 24hr chess marathon, Ng5 is an 1.e4 player, so he has a lot of experience with the opening from both sides. This shouldn't be too important as he has 3 days to think about each position anyway, but it may be better to try and take the game towards unfamiliar territory.

I think we should strive for complications where we as a collective will hopefully be able to out think our opponent, and imo some kind of queen's gambit declined, semi-slav or KID may be the way to go by playing 1.d4. If we do end up playing 1.e4, I hope to steer towards some kind of open sicilian, although the problem with that kind of opening is that there is a lot of opening theory, so the game won't really start for a month or so.

1.c4 could also be an interesting move to play, but I thought it would be too hard to get a majority vote, so I voted 1.d4.

I'd also like to point out to the people playing their moves out of familiarity, this is your chance to try something new (not 1.f4 please lol) as you have 60 other players to back you up if you get stuck.

Anyway these are basically my thoughts at the moment, take from it what you will.

1.Nf3 is a flexible opening that has plenty of transitions to other openings and ignores a few responses that I would rather not play, for example, 1...e5, and can ignore the Sicilian altogether. Plus, it's an opening that still hasn't been played yet in a TL Chess Match.

Anyway, this game is just to have fun, so I'd rather avoid something with a lot of theory out there. In the past games we've played, the voting side has followed theory almost exclusively and it just makes for a boring match through the first few moves.

It rules. My FIDE rating is around 2180. What fun.

Queen pawn openings are boring, sorry

I normally open my games with 1.d4 because I tend to favor positional games and closed positions. I sometimes play 1.e4 but I generally do worst with open positions (maybe I just don't know how to coordinate my pieces well). Also because black can employ openings like the Sicilian that offer good chances, or it can lead to 1.e4 e5, which I find boring because that's how all my friends open against me when I played chess at a younger age.

The problem is that 1. e4 is more dependent on what black plays then what white plays and given the current collective mentality it seems that going for aggressive variations against the Sicilian, Caro-Kann, Pirc, French, and King's Pawn, aren't going to happen. With d4 there is less room for the collective to simply pick a "safest" move without suffering some sort of positional loss.

I honestly foresee the game being quite bland given the current mentality if Ng5 doesn't play 1 ... Nf6 that he is so in love with. I want to play against a Benoni or Nimzo Indian that I'm sure he'll play.

edit:

The King's Gambit is an interesting game, but its only if they accept it. I'm sure Ng5 will accept the gambit and go for a g5 push to keep things interesting, but I highly doubt that group will go for f4 over Nc3 or Nf3 in favor of a Vienna or a Spanish game given the relative familiarity most people will have with these opens as you can easily transpose in to or from both of these.

My reason behind this is that it will create a more dynamic game, as stated by the others favoring this move. 1.e4 is a good solid opening, it is also too...normal. TBH i usually open 1. e4, but feel that this would be a good opportunity to try a new opening.
I feel that the"blazinghand" argument is a good argument, but i believe that it is also applicable to 1. d4. We are many and thus many can analyze our position following 1. d4 in the same way we can analyze our position following 1. e4 . While more people may feel more comfortable with 1. e4, we should establish early in the 'vote' game that we may not be comfortable with every move we must make.

You don't have to attack from move 2 to make the game interesting. We can play the Scotch against e5 or even the Italian hoping for a Nf6, where the main line leads to a dynamic game (though with black's initiative for the pawn).

Going down the main line a few moves and then deviating can give us a much better game than playing something provocative like the King's Gambit. And I sort of expect Ng5 to cooperate in playing for a sharp unbalanced position in the opening.