Stay or Switch? Help!

Hello. i asked a FIDE Master what should i play (i was playing kings indian defence) and he asked me to play french defence because i can learn about pawn strucures and stuff. im confused. french defense seems pretty good, also kings indian defense has powerful defense and attack. NOTE: im expirianced using Kings indian , french i started it using it today. should i stay with french or should i swith to KID? Help!

You should play the opening that you would naturally play. For example, if you feel that 1. e4 is what you believe than play it.  If you feel that 1. a4 is a move for you, then play that.  Your openning techniques and ideas will evolve over time.

The King's Indian is a defense against 1.d4. The French (while a good opening) is a response to 1.e4.

The advice doesn't make sense.

In this case you should listen to the FIDE Master.

The KID usually can only get played from 1.c4 or 1.d4

However, you need another line to play against 1.e4

You can get a line similar to a KID against 1.e4.

However, It is not the same line and you have to address the position differently.

The Pirc Defense or Modern Defense is some what similar to the KID vs 1.e4

However, I do not believe they do as great as the KID.

I would give the French Defense a shot against 1.e4.

You can play both lines against players who play different first moves.

KID vs 1.d4, 1.c4, or 1.Nf3 

French vs 1.e4

It makes sense when you think about it.

It seems like the OP went up to a FM and said something along the lines of

"Hey I am a beginner. What line should I play"

The FM responded with play the French Defense since it teaches importance of pawn strucures etc.

I do not think he told the FM what he plays. Which is why he is come here to figure out what he should do because he is confused.

However, I am not confused.

An I say why limit yourself to one defense when you can have two defenses and be twice as smart.

WOOOOOOO HOOOOOO

I was just stating that you should play natural and not just memorize opening lines.

I guess it depends on each individual person. It seems some people do better trying to understand specific opening moves. While other people feel more comfortable just using chess principles.

I did notice a friend of mine who kind of got stressed out it seemed with specific moves etc. He ended up going down chess principles route because it made him less stressed.

I actually experinced the opposite effect. I found myself getting stressed out or upset when I developed pieces just to develop them with out an idea.

It made me feel as if I didn't know what I was doing. I would find myself developing a piece than my opponent would make a response and I would have to move my piece again. It would make me feel as if I had done something wrong.

French and King's Indian have rather similar concepts. Their rather distinct closed pawn formations mirror each other. Pawn breaks f5/c6 resemble pawn breaks c5/f6. And black has a bad bishop problem to solve in both openings.

It's perfectly fine to play both. When I have a student near beginner level, this would not really be my advice though. I would prefer a little bit more variety in middlegame themes for a learner, but that may be just me.

you should not care about openings at your level. you are way to low rated to learn opening theory. focus on tactic training. that can be here or on a other website like chesstempo.com. train tactics for 15-25 minutes per day. and combine that wiht (blitz)chess. than you will get better.

Thank you for your advice!

Matej, I think it is not the first few opening lines that you should be learning as the first thing in chess. I suggest that instead of getting into opening debate (which you should consider only once you get to 1250 rating), you should master the 5 basic chess attacks and tactics. It's tactics that decide the game, not the openings.

Plus, each opening line further branches off to 3 or more variations, which means that to master an opening, you will need to cram some 20 moves set at least. And then, if you opponent leaves the book and plays an individual move anywhere in the opening, you would be left baffled how to reply it.

Once again, I suggest that you master the tactics and 5 basic chess attack patterns before the openings. For the openings at this stage, simply learn the 5 basic opening principles which say that within the first 8 moves, you must try to:

1- Develop at least 3 of your minor pieces (minor pieces include bishops and knights) on positions where they are safe, and have a wide range of action.

2- Not move the same piece twice (unless it's extremely urgent).

3- Get a control of the 4 central squares.

4- Enable castling, so that there is nothing between the king and the rook (on one side).

5- Try not to move the queen in the first 6 moves (unless extremely urgent).

When you follow these principles, you will notice you are automatically following a book opening line (you might not know it's name though :p)

What if I move my queen at move 2.

It sure feels urgent.

X PLAYER JX you are just trying to confuse a beginner with exceptional situations. It's not going to help him (or anybody else). You are only making him feel unsure and inconfident about which principles to follow and which not, in the opening.

I am just teasing Pikay. I know you have a sense of humor !

I think the OP is got some great advice already.

Which is why I feel like having fun. I feel happy today. Lets spread the joy and laughter around.

when i was a beginner i played just e5 against e4. against d4 there r way too many options so play whatever u already play, if that is KID ontinue playing it. i never really liked french, especially as a beginner. e4 e5 is much more dynamic and interesting, also if u r better than ur opponent in tactics u will have much better chances. though i play sicilian as black now, once in a while i still play e5 in blitz and do pretty well.

I'd suggest you might want to listen to this instructor. There's a lot that can be learned from the French.

I guess he already mentioned pawn structures but it's also fairly straight forward strategically. Especially with the idea that with Black, it often pays to equalize first before trying an attack. Probably in the future he'll get into how to open the position or simplify with advantage, which is key in the French as well as many other closed and semi-closed openings.

Having the coach mention the not very trendy French might suggest there's a good chance you could learn a lot from this guy.

Jajaja. With people like you and me, we can easily differentiate between phun and reality. Kids and n00bs may take things literally ;) They are like robots of sorts, taking things literally.

Robot: Sir, the unhandled exception that caused the loss of $2 million was caused by a shortcircuit in my processor. What should I do?

Man: Go to hell.

Robot: Command is lacking prerequisite parameters. Kindly define the latitude-longitudes of target destination. Thank you.

dudes in this website i might appear like beiginner. in reality im intermediate  going for advanced. ill soon be joining a tourment. i know basics and everything . i know how to attack. i know a lot of traps and how to set them. with the Queen s' gambit and Bayonet attack im pretty powerful. also i know how to counter attack using the KID. the french seems a lot better than the KID. but ill use both of them. french againt e4 KID against D4 c4 etc. i know why and how to sacriface. so im not a beiginner! Cheers!

"in reality im intermediate  going for advanced."

So funny...

Iam also only a blunderer online, in reality, iam close to my first GM-norm...Magnus, watch out for your nightmare!

And if y'all didn't know, I'm Eric The Red!

Yeah. Go figure!