Colle-Zukertort - unbeatable

My dear friends, I recently discovered an opening that i fell in love with: Colle-Zukertot. I was playing around with Catalon and Larsen's attack for a while now, but this opening just clicked with me and I logged some nice wins against much higher rated opponents. However, though it looks like a panacea against virtually any black's responses< i am afraid it won't work quiet as well on a higher level. I welcome your comments and your experience with this opening. For those who don't know how to play, White simply play the following structure despite any black's moves: d4, Nf3, e3, b3, Bb2 Nbe2, Bd3

Let me guess: you "fell in love" with it because it means you can avoid studying?

Quiet the contrary actually. I just ordered a book (in russian) on this system with 250 pages of commentaries. So there is a lot to study, but so far my experience with this opening proved that it's a really fire proof system. And what's funny that I tried to play it as black and it also worked: d5 Nf6 e6 b6 Bb7...

You're rated 2343 and you said it worked against even higher rated opponents, so I'd say it seems to work on a high level :)

At my low level (~1200) I definitely like to play either the Colle or Colle-Zukertort, and I got some good results as well with an "inverted Colle" as black :)

Thank you Donnie, 2343 is my bullet rating which doesn't tell much. I am 1950 FIDE

thankyou fro this forum post.  I have strated playing the colle zuk after a breif study period.  I am a novice at chess and have won all of my past 15 ish games.  I think what i lik eabout the colle is that it is tactical and i am more tactical than a positional player.  Didnt even know that such a concept existed!

What is  Nbe2?

Nb3,Ne2?

I play Colle exclusively as white, and hve used it inverted as well. It has helped win against players 500 ratings points higher.

Also his story is quite interesting.

Colle or Zukertort?

Colle

 Hell no! you have to study for this opening very hard agaisnt some lines but yes I too have fell in love with this opening 5 years ago and other than my first year of playing chess It's always been my main go to opening my loss rate with it is lower than most Class A players in there overall general loss rate  and I've got some proud victories over some high and low experts  (2000/2100) .

FYI I also fell in love with the catalan and its a opening I would trust to play  against SM's or lower (IM's/GM's when I get more experianced) but I just dont come across it that much.

Actually Colle system must be studied, as all openings, due to the variety of reponses black can make.

although this should be a good thing I've found this to be a truly nightmare for me since I've been in situations where I had to play against my beloved opening and always have major trouble against it. Even the most annoying lines that black throws at me aren't annoying cause there hard to ward off but hard to break through and even when playing those annoying lines myself most positions end up dry and eventually flat out drawn.

One of the benefits of the opening is it doesnt require in depth knowledge like other openings.  Its very popular with low rated players.

I was wondering the same thing.

Here's the answer: 

Colle–Zukertort System

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

One variation on the Colle is the Colle–Zukertort System (named for Johannes Zukertort) characterized by developing the dark-squared bishop on b2. The typical plan is: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.0-0 Bd6 7.Bb2 0-0 In this variation White will make an attempt to free both bishops while Black will attempt to trap one or both. This system has been seen at Grandmaster level.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colle_System

Thanks e4nf3, it still doesn't explain Nbe2 in the OP (just a typo I guess).  The first thing google returns is Zukertort's own website, which probably has the definitive video on it -   in it there's an Nd2, so that's probably what was meant.

Typo. Several typos...even spelling of the system's name in opening statement.

Shrug. No criticism from me. I was asked a question.

BTW, I see value in this opening line; I like it. I don't see it as a panacea, though.

I think that the Zukertort black bishop moves deliniates the use of the King rook to assist the pushing of the King pawn which is essentially what Colle's system strives for.

Of course I am only an 1000 rating player so maybe I am missing the point.

Any insight?

While this system is a bit annoying to play against, I have found some antidotes. I usually play g6 and Bg7, to reduce the firepower of white's light-squared bishop. In general this fianchettoed position means it's more difficult for white to create a mating attack. Usually I also play c5 quite early to counter white's strong d4 pawn which also supports the annoying e5 outpost for the white knight. One way to prevent that knight coming there is a pawn on d6 as well. But I admit that the Colle-Zukertort can be annoying and at least seemingly (I haven't tried it as white) easy to learn system, and can be an effective weapon against unprepared opponents.    

 From my view you have pegged it exactly, and those 2 moves you mentioned, just so you know are equally annoying but can be prevented by white, but it drags out the opening. Colle never held stubbornly with his opening, and would always deviate as necessary