1. e4 e5?????

I love the closed sicilian as white. I play a similar setup against just about anything after 1. e4 as long as it isn't 1...e5. Granted, I don't play this Closed Sicilian setup against 1...d4 or the Petroff, but I do play it against just about everything else. To this point I've been playing the Scotch against 1...e5 making an effort to sac a few pawns for quick development of my bishops. Those games end up wide open with clear attacking lines, and while that might not be "bad", I prefer to play positions with a little more "tension" - I like the French as black.

Can any of you recommend lines or openings for white which might lead to a Closed Sicilian "half open" type position? I've tried to read up on the KIA a bit but I'm not sure I really like the knight on f3. When I play the Closed Sicilian I always put the g1 knight on e2 allowing me to push the f pawn. Here is a game I played last night with the Closed Sicilian, it is probably my best game ever. I'd like to find another white opening that I can play with the same "feel" as this . . .

Thanks so much for any recommendations!!!!

-Ted

You could try the Guioco Piannisimo or the Ruy Lopez.  If I were you, I'd go with the Giuoco Piannisimo because there is less theory to remember.  Some ideas:

The Vienna with 3.g3.

Can't imagine why you'd even consider anything else, if your whole goal is to get a good game as white against ...e5 in a line that was both similar to the closed Sicilian, and usable at the highest levels of chess.

9 out of 10 games you play below the master level are going to feature almost the same exact thematic moves you make all the time in the closed.

If there's a drawback, it's that the lines starting with 3...d5 are probably about equal.  But as with all equal positions, the advantage goes to the guy more familiar with the position.  Also, if you were all that worried about having to face equal middlegames, you wouldn't be that interested in the closed Sicilian to begin with.

Thanks so much for reaffirming an idea I had a few months ago. For some reason I was turned off by the Vienna because I couldn't find many games w 3.g3. But again, it makes perfect sense, so I'll do my best to pursue that idea.

Thanks,

Ted

Just out of curiosity, where are you looking?  The big online databases have them by the thousands.  Including lots of 2500+ model games.

For the record, another plan might be to play 1.f4.

Most times, 1...c5 can be steered into a closed Sicilian, and 1...d5 or 1...Nf6 can be played in a Leningrad style that features a number of similar ideas.

Those will account for 90% of your games.  All you'd need is an independent idea against 1...e5.  But that's no different than needing independent ideas against the Scandinavian or ...g6 or Alekhine's or whatever with e4.  I think if anything 1.f4 would give you a much higher percent of games you might enjoy if you're into kingside fianchettos, e4/f4 pushes, and attacks on the castled king.

I was going to recommend Bird's (1.f4) for the same reasons as Rvfvs (and I play Leningrad Dutch, as well as Grand Prix, so I can say they have similarities in feel), but I'm not sure it's actually that -good-. It is worth trying to see if you like it, but be aware that if you continue to improve at chess, eventually you may have to change to a more fundamentally sound opening. For the moment though, have at it; you probably will like it. =)

Four Knights variation of the scotch is a clear + for white.

Hey guys!

1. e4?? unfortunately leads to a forced loss for white. I think you instead should have a look into the true best move in the whole universe, 1. a4!!. Everything is explained in this topic:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/1-a4-best-chess-opening2

Good luck!

Someone should stop this guy, he wastes a lot of time.

I've played a little 1.f4 as I too have played the Leningrad a bit. While I tend like f4, I am honestly looking for something considered to be "more solid". But the more I think about comments like that, I realize that they might not make too much sense . . . what is the point of a "solid" opening when I'm still hanging pieces?????

The only databases that I have access to are from pgnmentor.com. And while there might be plenty of games w 3.g3, I wasn't able to find them very easily. One of the problems is that I'm on a mac, so chessbase isn't available. And to be honest, I don't know much about the world of online chess databases. I'd be happy to learn from any of you guys who might be willing to point me in the right direction.

Thanks again!

Ted

Since you are a diamond member here on chess.com you should start here:

http://www.chess.com/explorer/

Go to the game explorer and put in the moves 1.e4 e5 2.nc3 nf6 3. g3 and then there should be an option where you can look at games in the chess.com database that arrive from that position and there should be more than enough to at least get started.

im not so sure about 3.g3 but i do have another line.

 Hi.

Look at chesslive.de, 365chess.com, chesslab.com, and chessgames.com for starters.  Some are bigger, some are smaller, but it's probably most important that you find one with an interface you like.  Enjoy!

In the Vienna, I found that 3.g3 is being played both after 2...Nc6 and after 2...Nf6. Some of the highest rated games I found:

Morozevich,Alexander (2745) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2717) [C26]

Corus Wijk aan Zee NED (8), 22.01.2001

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Bc5 4.Bg2 c6 5.Qe2 d5 6.d3 0-0 7.Nf3 Nbd7 8.0-0 Re8 9.Nh4 dxe4 10.dxe4 g6 11.Bg5 Be7 12.Rad1 Qb6 13.Na4 Qb5 14.Qxb5 cxb5 15.Nc3 a6 16.Nf3 Kg7 17.a3 h6 18.Bc1 b6 19.b4 Bb7 20.Bb2 Bc6 21.Bh3 Kf8 22.Rfe1 Ra7 23.Nd5 Bxd5 24.exd5 Bd6 25.Nd2 Rc7 26.Bxd7 Nxd7 27.Ne4 Ke7 28.f4 Rxc2 29.Rd2 Rxd2 30.Nxd2 Kd8 31.f5 gxf5 32.Rf1 f4 33.gxf4 exf4 34.Nf3 Re3 35.Nd4 Rd3 36.Re1 f3 37.Nc6+ Kc7 38.Rc1 Rd2 39.Be5 Nxe5 40.Nxe5+ Kb7 41.Nxf3 Rxd5 42.Rc3 a5 43.Rb3 Kc6 44.Kf2 Be7 45.Ke3 Bf6 46.Rb1 Kd6 47.h4 Bc3 48.Rb3 Bg7 49.Rb1 h5 50.Ke2 Bh6 51.Rg1 Ke7 52.Rb1 Bf4 53.Rb3 Bd6 54.Ke3 f5 55.Rb1 Kf6 56.Rb3 axb4 57.axb4 Rd1 58.Ke2 Rc1 59.Nd2 Bf4 60.Nb1 Be5 61.Na3 Rh1 62.Nxb5 Rxh4 63.Na7 Rh2+ 64.Kf1 h4 65.Nc6 Bg3 66.Nd4 Rf2+ 67.Kg1 Ke5 68.Nf3+ Kf4 69.Ne1 Kg4 0-1

Zvjaginsev,V (2664) - Sokolov,I (2689) [C26]

7th Karpov Poikovsky RUS (9), 27.03.2006

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 Bc5 4.Bg2 d6 5.Nge2 Nc6 6.Na4 Be6 7.d3 Bd4 8.h3 Qe7 9.Nac3 Bb6 10.Nd5 Bxd5 11.exd5 Nd4 12.c3 Nxe2 13.Qxe2 Nd7 14.Bd2 f5 15.0-0-0 0-0 16.f4 Rae8 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.Rdf1 e4 19.dxe4 fxe4 20.Rxf8+ Qxf8 21.Rf1 Qe7 22.Bf4 Nc5 23.Kc2 Qf7 24.Be3 Qxd5 25.Bxc5 Bxc5 26.Rf4 Qd3+ 27.Qxd3 exd3+ ½-½

Morozevich,Alexander (2756) - Almasi,Z (2668) [C26]

34th Olympiad Istanbul (3), 30.10.2000

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 Bc5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.h3 d6 7.Nge2 Be6 8.0-0 Qd7 9.Kh2 h5 10.Nd5 0-0-0 11.b4 Ba7 12.Be3 Bxd5 13.exd5 Nd4 14.Nxd4 Bxd4 15.Rb1 Bxe3 16.fxe3 e4 17.dxe4 h4 18.g4 Qe7 19.Qd4 Kb8 20.a4 Rde8 21.Rf4 Qe5 22.Kg1 Re7 23.Qd3 g6 24.c4 Nd7 25.Qd4 Nb6 26.c5 Nxa4 27.Rc1 Rhe8 28.Qxe5 Rxe5 29.Rxf7 R5e7 30.Rf6 Nb2 31.Rc3 g5 32.Kf1 Na4 33.Rc2 a5 34.cxd6 cxd6 35.bxa5 Rc7 36.Rxc7 Kxc7 37.Rf7+ Kc8 38.Rg7 Re5 39.Ke2 Nc5 40.Kd2 Kb8 41.Kc3 Kc8 42.Kc4 Kb8 43.Kb5 Kc8 44.Kb6 Na4+ 45.Ka7 Nc5 46.Bf3 Nb3 47.a6 bxa6 48.Kb6 Nd2 49.Kc6 Kd8 50.Kxd6 Nxf3 51.Rf7 Ke8 52.Rxf3 Rxe4 53.Rf6 Rxe3 54.Kc7 Rxh3 55.Rc6 Rd3 56.d6 h3 57.Rc2 a5 58.Re2+ Kf7 59.d7 Rc3+ 60.Kd6 Rd3+ 61.Kc7 Rc3+ 62.Kd8 a4 63.Rf2+ Kg7 64.Rd2 Kf7 65.Rf2+ Kg7 ½-½

Leko,Peter (2743) - Kramnik,Vladimir (2770) [C26]

RWE Gas Match Budapest HUN (6), 2001

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.exd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bd6 7.Nf3 0-0 8.0-0 Nd7 9.d4 h6 10.Re1 exd4 11.cxd4 Nb6 12.Ne5 c6 13.c3 Be6 14.Qh5 Re8 15.Bf4 Nd5 16.Bd2 Nf6 17.Qd1 Bd5 18.Qc2 Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Bxe5 20.dxe5 Qd5+ 21.f3 Rxe5 22.c4 Qe6 23.Rxe5 Qxe5 24.Re1 Qc5 25.Be3 Qa3 26.Bc1 Qf8 27.Qb2 Re8 28.Rxe8 Qxe8 29.Bxh6 gxh6 30.Qxf6 Qe2+ 31.Kg1 Qxc4 32.Qxh6 Qd4+ 33.Kg2 c5 34.Qg5+ Kf8 35.Qg4 Qd2+ 36.Kf1 Qd1+ 37.Kf2 Qd2+ 38.Kf1 Qxa2 39.Qc8+ Kg7 40.Qxc5 Qxh2 ½-½

You can also play the scotch

Here's a game

Actually, I don't see how 1. f4 is unsolid at all.  I play lots of it, and it can definitely lead to solid positions.  But the OP must be ready to face From's Gambit - that is the main kicker.  

tks