En Passant

Yesterday the club started a four round G/40 Swiss (two games a day, over two Mondays). I won both games, and as White I stuck with playing 1. e4.

I feel more comfortable playing 1. e4 at the club under faster time controls (especially against lower rated players). The amount of theory needed to play accurately [...]

I won the rated blitz tournament at the club tonight (7.5 out of 10). As White I played 1. e4, as Black I played the French vs. 1. e4 and against 1. d4 I just kind of played what I felt were reasonable moves (I used to play the Dutch as it works well with [...]

I recently purchased Starting Out: The Reti, by GM Neil McDonald. I enjoyed some of his other books, Starting out: 1. e4 and How to Play against 1. e4. The latter having a nice section on the Fort Knox and an explanation by the author that being a “lazy” player it was the perfect shortcut in [...]

Hi. Let’s talk about openings.

On the White side I have tried pretty much everything. I started with a system common to beginners, the King’s Indian Attack. It’s nice being able to play pretty much the same moves regardless of Black’s responses (within reason), but of course that tends to squander whatever advantage having the first [...]