Jan Gustafsson's List of Good 1.e4 Defenses

In Jan's Chessable course, he said it's hard to endorse moves like 1...e6, 1...c6, 1...g6, etc. The center is there, fight for it! But don't go overboard with something extreme like 1...d5 or 1...Nf6, of course.

He then lists strong black openings against 1.e4, they are the following:

• The Berlin
• The Marshall
• The Petroff
• The Sveshnikov
• The Najdorf
• The Open Spanish

Does Jan's list still hold in 2024 or is it outdated? Should he have included the Breyer, the Zaitsev, the Kalashnikov, the Taimanov, or the Dragon. How do you rank these openings in terms of recent masters games

The list is hogwash. There is absolutely nothing wrong with 1...c6 or 1...e6. On move two, they contest the e4-pawn instead of the d4-square like 1...e5 and 1...c5.

Some people get very autistic when it comes to openings, and it seems Jan is one such example.

Black can use any of those opening moves to fight for the center.

What Jan seems to have meant is that he prefers openings that contest the d4 square right away (1... e5 or 1... c5).

But d4 square isn't the only square in the "center". There are four central squares: e4, d4, e5, and d5.

Even if we give Jans the benefit of the doubt, we can reduce his message to say "Fight for White's center!", which would be referring to two squares: the e4 square, and the d4 square.

The Alekhine and the Scandinavian both challenge the e4 square on move 1. The French and the Caro both challenge the e4 square on move 2. The Modern prepares to challenge the d4 square a few moves down the road, usually with an eventual ...e5 or ...c5 push.

So ... they all fight for the center - just in different ways.