when regarding these 2 moves, i really cant think of an advantage that g3 possesses over Nf3. Nf3 offers more flexibility and central control while g3 practically forces the f1Bto be placed to g2 and dominates none of the central square.
sure after g3 b6 Bg2 Nc6 white gets an opportunity to wreck the structure by taking the N but i really dont think the structual damage compensates for the loss of kingside fianchettoed B.
perhaps the inferiority of g3 is evident from the popularity of the move, but top level GM like Magnus and Ding still occasionally play it, so i wonder if theres still a hidden secret or something about g3 that i dont know.
As you point out, the main difference is that 1 g3 is more committal. Kramnik often played 1 Nf3 and transposed to 1 d4 openings. Since the knight goes to f3 in many systems, 1 Nf3 is quite flexible whereas after 1 g3 you're restricted to fianchetto variations.
Another point to 1 Nf3, compared to 1 g3 or 1 c4, is that Black cannot reply 1...e5 leading to reversed king pawn openings.
If you're interested in 1 g3 take a look at the 1962 Candidates where Pal Benko played it and beat both Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Tal.
Players of 1.g3 would say that the point is to encourage Black to set up a powerful centre (1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5) because they want to play against it, hoping the black centre will turn out hard to maintain. It's the Pirc/Modern Defence with an extra move.
I'm not a openings expert but i think 1.g3 is not even slightly dubious.
after 1..e5 white can go for 2c4 tranpose to the english, 2c4 is marginal better as 2Bg2 there i think.
and after 1..d5 white plays 2Nf3 transpose to the reti.
With the move 1g3 one should be fine to transpose to the english opening or to the reti opening.
@wateenellende said in #4:
> I'm not a openings expert but i think 1.g3 is not even slightly dubious.
> after 1..e5 white can go for 2c4 tranpose to the english, 2c4 is marginal better as 2Bg2 there i think.
> and after 1..d5 white plays 2Nf3 transpose to the reti.
> With the move 1g3 one should be fine to transpose to the english opening or to the reti opening.
eXcept the nge2 english variation so nf3 is more fleXible
@Cs1xlly said in #1:
"the inferiority of g3"?
I wouldn't call it inferior. It has a lot of success in online chess. Certainly more than 1.e4 and 1.d4. OTB you need to be patient if you play an opening like this.
But in online chess the bad answer 1...h5 has the highest success rate...
Search the study:
The.g3.turn
The.Nf3.turn
Maybe then you might be able to see the differences.
I use Nf3 for or all sorts of d4 openings, it is just a transposition. I don’t have always a g3 follow-up in mind.
Like 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 d5.
I don’t like c4 and g3 because they allow 1. ...e5!
p.s. im not suspecting that 1.g3 is bad, im saying that isnt it just not that good compared to 1.Nf3
