I need an opening as white similar to the Alekhine defense

Sort:
Freevision89

Im looking for an offbeat opening as white to get out of the most played e4 or Queen's Gambit, any suggestion?

Thanks

yetanotheraoc

It might (or might not) help to know what you play as black against 1.d4. I knew an NM who played the Dutch, as white he eventually switched from 1.e4 to 1.f4. A Nimzo-Indian player might check out 1.b3 (or 1.Nf3 and 2.b3). Lev Alburt used to play the Trompowsky.

But most Alekhine players do stick with "e4 or Queen's Gambit"....

Freevision89

Against d4 I like to play the Slav, I know it's not the most spicy defense but I cutt off a lot of work and study because I can play the same set-up against anything except e4, including all the sublines or systems.

I have tried the Dutch but I have terrible results with it, maybe play it as white might be a good choice. It's interesting! Thanks for replying.

Ziryab

Try Bird's. You can lose almost as fast as you do in the Alekhine.

tygxc

play 1 a3 e5 2 Nf3
You can also play 1 g3 e5 2 Nf3, or 1 e3 e5 2 Nf3, or 1 c3 e5 2 Nf3

rooksb4

A couple of things: First off, I was told not to move a piece twice during the opening, second off, if white moves the pawn forward, you knight move was useless, and third off, I heard it is better to have a boring game if that means you have an interesting position.

yetanotheraoc

A Slav player could try the Saragossa 1.c3. It's not so great but can be effective against certain black players, especially if they don't play 1.d4 as white or they prefer ...c5 systems, say Sicilian or Benoni. For some reason I have a tremendous record with the Saragossa in about a dozen slow games. I won almost all of them, and only lost once, vs a GM, it started 1.c3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nd2 d5 5.e3 and here he started to think. As he explained later, against the Torre Attack (white has Ng1-f3 instead of c2-c3) he likes to play ...c7-c6, but here he was a little worried about me playing f2-f4 with my bishop outside the "Stonewall". So 5...c5! 6.Ngf3 and we played a normal chess game.

Freevision89
yetanotheraoc escribió:

A Slav player could try the Saragossa 1.c3. It's not so great but can be effective against certain black players, especially if they don't play 1.d4 as white or they prefer ...c5 systems, say Sicilian or Benoni. For some reason I have a tremendous record with the Saragossa in about a dozen slow games. I won almost all of them, and only lost once, vs a GM, it started 1.c3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nd2 d5 5.e3 and here he started to think. As he explained later, against the Torre Attack (white has Ng1-f3 instead of c2-c3) he likes to play ...c7-c6, but here he was a little worried about me playing f2-f4 with my bishop outside the "Stonewall". So 5...c5! 6.Ngf3 and we played a normal chess game.

 

Wow, that's very interesting, I was wondering whats the point of playing c3 if we are gonna transpose most likely into a London or Torre system, but as you pointed out it can be very effective against certain players to avoid some lines. Thanks again wink.png

Currently I have very good results with 1.d4 2.Nc3 followed either by Bf4 or Bg5 (Rapport-Jobava System or Righter-Veresov Attack)

MaetsNori

1.b3 - the Nimzo-Larsen.

Example line:

It gives the game a less-common flavor, though it's also known enough that you still can find study resources on it, too.

sndeww
Ziryab wrote:

Try Bird's. You can lose almost as fast as you do in the Alekhine.

sad.png

sndeww

You can try this home-cooked garbage, which is probably not as bad as it looks:

They're just reversed Norwegian and Alekhine Brooklyn:

 

Ziryab
B1ZMARK wrote:
Ziryab wrote:

Try Bird's. You can lose almost as fast as you do in the Alekhine.

sad.png

wink bullet

orlock20

The Colle System. Note that it's a system rather than a particular opening. For instance, a pawn wedge is one variation, while I like to transfer into the QGD.

darkunorthodox88

you can play the reverse alekhine 1.g3 e5 2.nf3 (or 2.bg2 .d5 3.nf3), you can also play the Van Geet attack 1.nc3 d5 2.e4 hoping for the d4 lines.

the problem as you may anticipate is that black doesnt have to indulge white in playing for the space advantage. But that's just life.

tygxc

@13

Why play the knight on the rim 3 Nh4 / 3 Ng1? The central 3 Nd4 looks better.

sndeww
tygxc wrote:

@13

Why play the knight on the rim 3 Nh4 / 3 Ng1? The central 3 Nd4 looks better.

Well, it’s also more funny. I feel like Nd4 is actually less stable in the center for example black might play d5, or Nc6, when Nxc6 bxc6 and the future Bg2 will be biting on granite. On h4 the knight is more out of the way (also I’m pretty sure it’s the top Stockfish move)

kingsknighttwitch

The Sokolsky (1. b4) is a nice offbeat positional opening. Objectively it gives Black equality but it can lead to some interesting positions.

Bird's Opening (1. f4) can be fun if you like the Dutch Defence (i.e. very double-edged and chaotic positions). The Leningrad Bird is the best variant if you want to maintain the first move advantage of White, but the Classical Bird and Stonewall Bird are playable as well.

The Nimzo-Larsen (1. b3) can be fun and lead to very weird positions. You can avoid the most challenging defence (1. ... e5) by playing 1. Nf3 and then 2. b3. It can often turn into a reversed Nimzo-Indian (if you like that opening).

The Reti / King's Indian Attack / Catalan / English are excellent if you like being very dynamic (i.e. reacting in very specific ways against very specific lines and treating every position like a special snowflake).

nighteyes1234

Why not 1h3 e5? Nothing lost and no brand new opening to study?

Now I'll memorize 3 Nh4 in case 1g3.  And how many 1g3 have i seen? Umm like 1?

sndeww
nighteyes1234 wrote:

Why not 1h3 e5? Nothing lost and no brand new opening to study?

1.a3 is the least committal move if you want to play black as white happy.png

the downside is that a3 is not really a move you care to include in the alekhine's defense normal, so 1...e5 2.Nf3 won't be as good as a normal alekhine

StevieG65
It’s got to be the Nimzo-Larsen. A couple of playable sidelines are 1.b3, e5 2.Bb2, Nc6 3.Nc3 and 2 … d6 3.d4. They should appeal to an Alekhinist, though my own results with them aren’t very good.