Queen's pawn opening help!

On this site I now have a rating of 1800~. This I have acheived under the burden of not having any clue whatsoever of what to do in a queen's pawn opening game. When my opponent plays 1. d4 I always either try to enter the Colle system or a Queens Gambit Declined. This is because my beginner's book  Chess Move by Move by Irving Chernev states that in the Colle system black should strive for c5 and in Queen's Gambit I believe it was e5 that should be prepared.

This is to me not enough to play a game of chess I am content with. It is true, I have made no attempt at pushing my e5 or c5 pawns that failed, and I do see why mister knight should go to d7 in most cases. I think my problem is that I do not see what has been acheived after said pawn pushes. Granted, my light squared bishop will come to life but my opponent almost always inflicts me with an isolated pawn (as in white pawns: d4 c4, black pawns: d5 c3 e5, white plays 1. cxd5 cxd5 2. dxe5 *knight recaptures*) which I consider weak if not always then at least in this case! It seems that if the pawn advances e5 and c5 I've mentioned are the only means for black to create counter play. If that is true then I cannot consider these two systems a good opening choice at all for black!

I believe the problem centers around the fact that my understanding of pawn advances are very poor in general. I do not understand when it is good to push pawns and when it is weak.

So could some enlightened mind please help me out here :) I am interested in general goals and plans for both black and white in the most common queen's pawn openings. I would also be very interested in hearing book recommendations about pawn advances, but that might be an entirely different forum!

Thanks for your time!

I hope you find a good response, because I struggle with exactly the same problem! Whenever somebody uses the queens opening I dont know what to do, and I just plays what feels right! Luckily I got away with it so far as it seems that because I dont follow the book, they dont really know what to do either!

I play the kings indian defence against a queen pawn opening as it favors an attacking style I guess. But it can get pretty cramped so be careful. the opening explorer also gives it a high draw rate.

as far as I can tell you, there is this book called pawn structure chess by Andrew Soltis which does a very good job of explaining black's attempts to break where and why. I don't have it with me right now but I will try to give a general idea with a position diagram that gives black a decent game.

Pawn Structure Chess is excellent.

http://www.amazon.com/Pawn-Structure-Chess-Andrew-Soltis/dp/0812925297

Mastering the Chess Openings volume 2 is all about D-Pawn openings.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Chess-Openings-Unlocking-Mysteries/dp/1904600697/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

edit: You're at 1300 OTB? Then I would recommend some other books as well including:

Ludek Pachman's Modern Chess Strategy

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Chess-Strategy-Ludek-Pachman/dp/0486202909

Chernev's Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played

http://www.amazon.com/Most-Instructive-Games-Chess-Played/dp/0486273024/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216990539&sr=1-1

To be followed by McDonald's The Art of Logical Chess Thinking

http://www.amazon.com/Chess-Logical-Thinking-First-Move/dp/0713488948/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216990588&sr=1-1

Also you'll need a good opening reference work like MCO

http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Chess-Openings-15th/dp/0812936825/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216990621&sr=1-1

and everyone should have Silman's endgame book if you don't already.

http://www.amazon.com/Silmans-Complete-Endgame-Course-Beginner/dp/1890085103/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216990681&sr=1-1

Against the "normal" Colle, the c5 move puts pressure against the d4-pawn.  Since c3-colle players have as their entire point to puch their pawn to e4, the d4 pawn becomes weaker.

This is exacerbated by the placement of the B/d3 and N/d2 blocking the Queen's natural defense of the pawn.

The upshot is that the c3-Colle player will need to play dxc5 before advancing his pawn or else he will be left with an isolated d-pawn after black exchanges [e4 cxd4, exd4 dxe4...]

And THAT is why playing ...Nbd7 is good against the c3-Colle, because then Black can respond Nxc5 [when White plays dxc5].

Indeed, this entire variation is a quagmire for c3-colle players that has never really been fixed.

Against the OTHER Colle [the better colle :)], the "Colle-Zukertort," the c5-pawn has a very different point. Black typically derives counterplay down the c-file, so the c5-pawn is advanced to exchange at the appropriate time to give Black an avenue into White's territory [if he survives long enough to use it!]

With regard to the Queen's gambit, it depends on what line you are talking about. For example, in the Orthodox QGD, it is Ne4 [getting Black out of his space problems by exchanging the bishop] that really makes the opening tick. In many slav variations it is c5-c4 that is prepared, etc.

-David