What do I want to reach with my new opening repertoire? In the first place, I want a direction to my actions.
Floundering around
For years, I played my openings by means of chance. Since I can learn pretty quick a bunch of variations, I usually can replace a repertoire within a few weeks. I have done this so many times in the past. But the problem with variations is, that they will hit sooner or later the end of the variation. Black is slightly better. Now what? If you can't answer that question, you might as well rephrase the question with: So what?
Feedback
By choosing a direction for my actions, I create the possibility for feedback. If you don't know what you want to achieve, you have no way to judge whether you achieved it. In fact, the direction you choose initially, doesn't matter all that much. Since feedback should guarantee that you correct your direction along the way. Hence I will not hesitate to stretch matters to the brink of absurdity. The fastest way to end up in the middle is to test the extremes first.
Initial direction
So what initial direction shall I choose? An opening should lead to a certain type of middlegame. Aox provided me with a bunch of papers about the middlegame. That will be my main direction. Nimzowitsch wrote about centralization. That will be my practical guide. Further media:
- DVD FM Storey The Sniper!
- DVD FM Storey The White Sniper
- Videos GM Ron Henley about the Sniper
Saving time
An important reason for choosing a direction, is that it saves time. Big time. Without direction, you can think about a move until the cows come home. If you have no goal, you cannot know if you have reached it. For me that used to mean that I always ended up in time trouble. Now I chase a goal, I play much faster.
Practical matters
There are many ways to play an opening. There is no absolute right way. Hence I will not try to find the best moves. Good enough moves will do. If you stick out your c5 pawn early in the game as black, you might well end up with a majority in the center, once your c pawn is traded for his d pawn. From that moment on, you created an extra possibility: you can trade pieces and enter an endgame. Trying to convert the central pawn majority into a win.
His system
Nimzowitsch' system tells us how to treat a center:
That's what I want to achieve with the Sniper. And the HAD. I'm not interested in variations, but in ways to achieve this. Since I don't want to do things half-heartedly, I'm going to play the sniper with white as well.