How to handle when your opponent is copying your moves

I have a friend that I play chess with through iMessage or IRL since we live together and we've grown an interest in chess lately. Probably, more me than him. However, his method lately has been to copy my every single move. It's been extremely annoying and the only thing that comes to my mind is to immediately resign because the game is no longer fun when he is copying everything...

So far, most of my openings have been King/Queen side opening when I play as white against him. Is there an opening that I need to learn to put his copying method to an immediate stop? Or do I just not play with him anymore? Lol.

I like to put in a quick check to make them think, or try some sneaky knight maneuver to get an advantage

1. Symmetrical Opening: Start the game with a symmetrical opening. For example, if you play 1.e4, your opponent will play 1.e5.
2. Pawn Advancement: Continue with symmetrical moves until you can advance your pawns in a way that forces asymmetry. One effective way is to use a queen pawn opening, such as 1.d4 followed by 2.c4.
3. King and Queen Swap:
• Move your king-side knight to f3.
• Move your queen to d2 and then to d1 (this is just an example; the key is to maneuver your queen to get it out of the way of the king).
4. Castling: When you are ready, move your king to e2 (assuming your opponent is copying and has also castled or made symmetrical moves). This allows you to castle on the next move while your opponent cannot copy this exact move.
5. King Move to Opponent’s King Position: Once you’ve castled, your opponent will not be able to make an identical move. If you continue moving your king towards their king’s original position, their copycat strategy will fall apart because they won’t be able to mirror your moves effectively.

Here’s a possible sequence of moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. d4 d4
4. exd4 exd4
5. Qxd4 Qxd4
6. Nxd4 Nxd4
7. Be3 Be3
8. Nc3 Nc3
9. O-O-O O-O-O
10. Nb5 Nxb5
11. Bxb5 Bxb5
12. Rxd8+ Kxd8
13. Nf3 Nf6
14. Ng5 Ng4
15. Nxf7+ Ke7
16. Nxh8

You can force to make imbalances in some ways. There's moment when your opponent cannot copy your moves.

Nice post. Good advice.
GM Aman Hambleton also has a funny "Copycat Chess" series where he literally just copies every move of his opponent, until such times as it becomes illegal to do so (like in your examples) and then takes-over, to see how high up the rating ladder he can get. Would recommend searching on youtube for it, it's quite fun.

There's also a video by Eric Rosen where he shows a quick checkmate of an opponent who is copying every opening move.

One easy way, as White, is to play a center pawn first (e4 or d4). Then play a pawn along side it. Then exchange pawns, and your opponent won't be able to maintain symmetry anymore.

Examples:
If you open with 1.e4, move both your central pawns, then capture Black's e-pawn.

Now the game isn't symmetrical anymore, and you've successfully escaped the "copy-cat" realm.

Play for the initiative, if you attack from the beginning he will only have to defend

Scholars mate surely?

Choose openings that naturally create asymmetrical positions where copying moves becomes impractical or impossible.