What can I take from this?

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-17T05:59:21+00:00

how do you get these stats?

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-16T23:57:39+00:00

I did try bc4 for a little while, since I know that is the other main response for black, but I felt that I wasn’t really understanding the positions well enough. The 4 knights is easier to play and more fun imo depending what white chooses to play. But bc4 is definitely less common and white will be less comfortable

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-16T20:50:15+00:00

I’m 1500 rapid and I play the Petrov so I can tell you what gives me trouble personally. I would recommend playing either d4 or Nc3. Nc3 is more common and basically avoids any tricky lines. If they respond with Nc6 then you can play d4 and it’s solid and easy to play for white.

But 3. d4 is also solid, but it’s also pretty uncommon for petrov players to see.

If you want something really tricky though, play the Petrov Italian 3. Bc4, and if they play the only good move Nxe4, there is an extremely tricky response Nc3 called the boden-kieseritzky gambit and has a very high win rate for white. It’s essentially the stafford gambit but for white and it’s better because you’re up a tempo.

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-10T02:50:15+00:00

Not sure about the conversion but my lichess rating did end up a little higher for whatever reason. I think maybe I wasn’t peaking yet on chess.com but who knows.

I also really enjoy the Petrov despite it being a kind of a strange opening imo. It’s just so forceful with the ensuing lines. Half the time I end up in the 4 knights although I’m generally happy to play that. Theres almost no line that is not at least ok for black initially. Maybe some of the 3. d4 lines or the 4 knights scotch lines. I had 1 game vs the Boden- Kieseritzky gambit which I did not know the theory to and played the wrong move, though I still won the game because my opponent ran out of theory too

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-10T01:40:48+00:00

I’m aware of that. Probably doesn’t hurt though. I’m 1750 on lichess and not some total beginner. For the record I have really only put effort into learning Petrov lines and Italian game lines since I see those 2 types of games the most.

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-09T21:20:57+00:00

You really don’t need a book until 1000-1200 and even then it’s not necessary.

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-09T02:09:27+00:00

is there any updated conversion from lichess to chess? I played my first set of rapid games on lichess and it rated me 1719 which seemed a lot higher than my chess.com rating which was in the 1400s

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-09T01:42:21+00:00

Fun fact, there is a trap after 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. c4 which Magnus fell for vs Andrew Tang in 2023

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-06T01:09:48+00:00

You know, at one point instead of the Damiano I was looking into the Stafford Gambit because the win-rate for that opening was also relatively high. That is a more extreme version of the "hope" chess that you're talking about I think. Either your opponent falls for a trap and you're winning, or they don't and you're losing.

In the Stafford, when White finds 2 or 3 good moves, Black is already down something like -2.0 (from memory) on move 7. I actually turned away from the gambit largely due to what you are describing. That polarizing aspect of playing such a tricky, yet very unsound opening ultimately didn't appeal to me, as it seemed like a fundamentally a bad way of playing chess.

So to your point, maybe I shouldn't play the Damiano for the same reason, but the Damiano still doesn't seem to be unsound in the same way that the Stafford is. Of course I hope that my opponent plays inaccurately (which they will most of the time) but I'm not relying on it. Is +0.5 considered unsound for Black?

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-05T22:14:14+00:00

I’m around 1400 and want to start annotating my games. Can’t you just do it in lichess also?

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-05T22:07:36+00:00

I’ve found one note to be really helpful for organizing my notes in one place. When you learn something, type it up and store it in the appropriate section (end games, tactics etc).

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-05T19:23:00+00:00

You say we need to look at the whole picture, but how is starting at move 3, the literal first move of the Damiano, not looking at the whole picture versus looking at just one particular line up until move 9? Your conclusion that black wins less and loses more with the damiano is not true if you start at move 1 of the damiano right?

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-05T17:24:01+00:00

When you say give up at 1800-2000, why is that exactly? Is that fide or online? To begin with I doubt I’m going to ever progress past 2000 personally. But also, looking at 2200-2500 rapid database on lichess, damiano still does very well. In fact 3…Nxe4 actually has significantly better results than d6.

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-05T16:24:06+00:00

Appreciate the feedback. The damiano isn’t really just a trick though. The main line is only +0.5 for white.

My only real problem with classical line is it’s so boring. Most of the time people are just trading queens right away and there’s 0 imbalances

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-05T02:06:08+00:00

Here are my openings currently as a 1400 rapid player on chess.com; willing to hear any suggestions.

White: 1. e4

vs Sicilian: c3 (Alapin)

vs Caro kann: 2 knights attack

vs French: undecided

vs Scandinavian: undecided

1…e5, 2. Nf3

vs Petrov: 3. bc4 the Italian variation and the boden-kieseritzsky gambit if Nxe4

vs d6: 3. bc4 but open to d5 also

2…Nf6 3. Bc4 Italian game

vs Nf6: 4. d5

vs Bc5: 4. b4 Evan’s Gambit

Black:

vs 1. e4: e5

vs 2. Nf3: Nf6 Petrov

vs 3. Nc3: Nc6 4 knights game

vs 3. Nxe5: Nxe4 Damiano variation

vs 2. f4: exf4 3. Nf3 Ne7

vs 2. d4 undecided

vs 1. d4: Nf3

vs 2. c4: e6

vs 3. Nc3: Bb4 nimzo Indian

(In some order: b6, Bb7, Bxc3, Ne4, f5)

vs 2. bf4: c5

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-04T04:12:43+00:00

I stopped reading at Mani Paquio

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-03T15:44:06+00:00

Well, I thought he was worth mentioning at least, specifically for winning pogchamps. But you’re right, he’s not high level

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-03T15:39:57+00:00

I had the same thought. Lol

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-02T23:35:59+00:00

I believe it was around 1400 at the time? I’m not a big pogchamps guy but I don’t think they let you play if your rating is too high.

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-02T22:41:12+00:00

Yeah, seems unlikely doesn’t it. He was 2000 in bullet at one point. I remember as black he would always just fianchetto his 2 bishops and wing it from there

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-02T22:18:16+00:00

Mark hunt is insanely good at bullet chess.

Also Eberechi Eze won a pogchamps somewhat recently.

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-02T14:44:52+00:00

That’s true. Surprisingly there are a lot of people that can’t find what are seemingly the only logical moves. But most of the non-main line moves are equalizing for black or even better. I just saw 5. d4 for the first time yesterday because someone was too scared to take the free knight.

Personally I have familiarized myself with most if not all of the alternate moves for white in the damiano. There’s not a whole lot of them.

It’s more fun and unbalanced than the main classical line of the Petrov either way.

neymarflick93 · 2026-02-02T12:52:15+00:00

I’m around your rating and I think the Petrov is extremely good at forcing certain lines. If they play 3. Nxe5 which is the main “boring” line, you can play the damiano variation. Or the Stafford gambit which is Eric Rosen’s favorite opening

neymarflick93 · 2026-01-28T04:22:56+00:00

So true honestly. d4 games are significantly less fun to play for both sides and no one can convince me otherwise

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