hi everyone, i am confused lol 1.b6

Hi all and thank you for any help you might choose to provide.

Ah chess "openings", cannot 'live' with them; cannot live without them, you know the story...

So i already use one black opening against any White opening regardless and want a second opening. And yes there really is a "universal" Black defense opening.

So i want to add 1...b6 into my games, so can i use that same theory for 1.b3 as well. In other words can i build a solid complete set of openings based on 1.b3 or put another way "a Queens' Bishop opening" and use a Queens Bishop Opening as Black with 1...b6.

It seems to my mind 1... b6 has many names but it basically transposes into anything, Owens opening, Queens Indian Defense, and add in the 2... e6 you get English Def., French Def, Nimzo Indian or if you play 2... Nf6 you get everything else almost like Alekhine, Pirc, Grunfeld, Kings Indian Defense.

So simply it seems 1...b6 is the best opening option for Black compared to any White first move. Even 1.g3 could be met by a 1...Nc6. it seems that would not be great but despite this 1...b6 seems like a perfect first move to base a lifetime of chess around.

Is this a solid choice, and have i overlooked anything; suggestions and comments please?

Thank you

It is probably solid enough for blitz and rapid, but dont get too excited. In classical chess you will almost always fight for equallity. Heh, truth is equallity is best you can hope for. I meant separate lines. If you want to transpose to popular openings then 1. b6 doesnt make any sense.

IMHO 1b3 and 1...b6 are very good second string options. The b3 and b6 groups on chess.com are the best I've seen and the person running them has done a lot of hard work linking to and giving resources.

I would say good for blitz and occasional "normal time" outings. Difficult to prove an advantage against with time pressure and contains a few nooks and crannies to ambush the unwary. Might be more problematic if opponent "sees you coming"

i c yr rating and it is way above mine :) i think 1.b6 makes perfect sense as a life long opening choice. I say that becasue if oyu want to transpose to popular openings 1.b6 does not make sense... With so many possible transpositions available so interesting things are to a 1...b6 player. Firstly no one is ever going to look up my games, but if someone is rated far higher then in the internet age people can easily research any other players major games. So having no "main-stream" opening this makes it unlikely people can prepare against your main "A" game.

By playing 1. b6 most white players will be thrown off their main aims initially and to throw White of their main attacks is something to always be hoped for in chess when playing the disadvantaged black pieces.

Also 1...b6 makes White 'declare' their set up for a few moves before oyu need to show your true defensive nature, thus black can choose which particular opening they feel will give them the most hitting power after white has given them more information.

I recall a swimmer was asked how she became a world champion, she replied my coach said i could not compete in the main stream swimming freestyles so i chose backstroke and now hold many gold medals. I think any chess player of any calibre can easily add an extra few hundred points to their rating by becoming very good with such a flexible offbeat opening like 1... b6.

While others are trying to "out-think" memorised lines of study in the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian a 1... b6 player can focus on what makes this opening work in different situations. Thus a far greater knowledge than your opponent and far less theory so a 1...b6 player can focus on all those other areas of chess that often take second place to studying openings; like end games for example.

I think learning to use such an off-beat flexible flank defense will add tons of all-round chess knowledge to any player who is prepared to make this opening work for them. Such an unusual opening is not for everyones 'taste' but if it "kills" White then why not...

I've been studying b6 and b3 lately and playing on 10 mins blitz. I think you are right that it will get you to a certain level. Some people have had a lot of success like Tony Miles for example. In practical terms it's like having a good strategy for climbing say the seventh highest mountain in the world without ever wanting to climb the highest - so that's fine :-)

The other side of the coin of course is the player who slavishly follows master praxis and repeats handed down mantras about "inferior" openings...

I've found b6/b3 very interesting and it's given me food for thought about using b6 against the c3 Sicilian.

A lot of Kool-Aid drinking going on in this thread.

My attempt (well, actually I have taken for other sources) at refuting the main equalizing tries . Therefore, if analysis is correct, black has to put himself in a passive position white a white advantage and no hope of black ever winning.

That Nge2 stuff looks pretty promising actually.  I've always played the positional system with Bd3,Nf3,c3,Qe2,a3,O-O (leaving the Nb1 there for the time being) - this is the system which, according to a book on the St. George by Michael Basman in which he recounts his discussions about the Owen's with Tony Miles, Miles was most concerned with.

What did Tony play against this 5.Nge2?

5...g6 and 5...c5 are better lines IMHO.