Opening Advice - Club Game

I've got an OTB game on Saturday, just looking for some advice. My opponent has a FIDE rating of around 2100, which is obviously pretty solid, but he has not competed in anything serious for a long time. I've looked up his older games on chessgames.com, and there's considerable losses to hypermodern openings, like the Réti system, which I sort of specialise in, with the Catalan or QGD as transpositions. For that reason, I feel somewhat comfortable on white.

Against d4 I play the Nimzo-Indian if appropriate, or variations of the Indian defence. My issue is that my response to e4 is the Pirc, and although I personally find it sound, my OTB record using it is pretty bad. I don't really like the French or Sicilian and don't have that much knowledge about them, and the Caro-Kann is something my opponent is more knowledgeable in. Is there other options that I should consider?

"I'll dance with the one that brung me"

Lol 1st, y Pirc?
Too late for anything new. Stick with what you know. Play flawless and let him make a mistake.
You will get smoked trying something new.

How do u not like Sicilian? The amount of theory u need for top 3 Pirc variations is about the same for Accelerated Dragon or Kalashnikov.
Both better than Pirc. Not by much but better.
Even French Winawer gives you easier chance to equalize and play for advantage. I mean the French gave Fischer fits, the Pirc doesn't scare anyone. Accelerated dragon would be an upgrade in my opinion.

Slowly learn it and bring it out in August. Also look at Kalashnikov. It is an upgraded Berlin or Petrov in my opinion. Has more fight but still very solid like formentioned. Very simple strategy, nothing complicated. To fianchetto or not to fianchetto or to push f4.

But ride and die with your Pirc this weekend.
Study the toughest lines thoroughly. Use the clock. Don't rush, make smart decisions.
Good luck

Play what you know then look into transitioning to Accelerated dragon. It is BETTER than Pirc.
That cxd4 Nxd4 means something.

I wonder if this obsession with fancy openings is a general online thing or if it's specific to lichess.

When I started playing on lichess after a long pause from chess, it felt as if the world had changed a lot. Almost nobody played good old e4 e5 stuff and even if they did, Russian was more likely than "normal" 2. Nc6 openings. And when you saw 1. d4, London or similar was a safer bet than Queen's gambit.

But then I tried some OTB (rapid) tournaments and it seems like a completely different world, everything is as I remember it from the 80's: there is some 1. d4 folk (mostly Queen's gambit), some Sicilian, but mostly e4 e5, the usual stuff: Italian, Spanish, occasionally Scotch. Yes, I also met French or Caro-Kann - but that was like one game in thirty.

So what is so specific about online chess (or just lichess?) that people feel this urge to come with a fancy opening that will solve all their prolems? (It won't, of course.)

Openings doesnt matter in my opinion. It depends on the player. You can win with "The Cow", or example 1. A3 or 1. Kn h3 against this 2100 rated player.
You win/lose with sharp/closed games.
In my opinion openings aren't the most important part, it is the middlegame and endgame.
If you dondt have strategies, plan, positional play and good at tactical battle you'll lose. Its simpel.
You can't expect to win against example CM with example 85% accuracy. Often you need atleast 95% accuracy to win/draw them. See?

HELLO

END POSITION

@mkubecek said in #4:
> I wonder if this obsession with fancy openings is a general online thing or if it's specific to lichess.

I don't think they are all necessarily 'fancy', but I agree there's far more off-beat openings played on lichess than chess.com or chess24. Personally, I do admit to being a bit obsessed with Nimzowitsch's ideas though, I really enjoy reading his books in my free time.

> When I started playing on lichess after a long pause from chess, it felt as if the world had changed a lot. Almost nobody played good old e4 e5 stuff and even if they did, Russian was more likely than "normal" 2. Nc6 openings. And when you saw 1. d4, London or similar was a safer bet than Queen's gambit.

That's still the case OTB, the Italian and Ruy Lopez are probably the ones I see the most of.

> So what is so specific about online chess (or just lichess?) that people feel this urge to come with a fancy opening that will solve all their prolems? (It won't, of course.)

Studying opening theory (as long as you are ensuring why the moves are made, not just memorising) for me is the one thing I can have control over prior to a match, but yes there's strong players without much opening knowledge. Most of the posts about openings on here are from beginners though. I think the point you are getting at is that the opening is only one aspect of the game and if you are a competent player, it doesn't really matter all that much, which is a valid viewpoint.

@drSabrotna said in #3:
> Lol 1st, y Pirc?

I don't even like it, honestly I just did a lot practice with it and ended up playing decently with it. When I first started chess I played the Sicilian (horribly) and never used it again. I've been trying alternatives for a while.

> Too late for anything new. Stick with what you know. Play flawless and let him make a mistake.
> You will get smoked trying something new.

Probably true, there's a couple people I've played at his level and I've been smoked every time anyway lol.

> How do u not like Sicilian? The amount of theory u need for top 3 Pirc variations is about the same for Accelerated Dragon or Kalashnikov.
> Both better than Pirc. Not by much but better.
> Even French Winawer gives you easier chance to equalize and play for advantage. I mean the French gave Fischer fits, the Pirc doesn't scare anyone. Accelerated dragon would be an upgrade in my opinion.

At first glance the French Winawer looks a bit risky, white's kingside looks quite strong, exciting though. I'll look into that in the future. I think you're right, need to get over it and try the Sicilian again.

> But ride and die with your Pirc this weekend.
> Study the toughest lines thoroughly. Use the clock. Don't rush, make smart decisions.
> Good luck

Thanks very much, this was a great response, exactly what I was looking for. I'll try these out over the next couple of months.