Beginner Repertoire

Yet here we are reading an article that is talking about my beginner chess repertoire. It seems kind of rebel-ish. Doesn't it?

Who are we to have a chess repertoire such low rated?

What is the purpose of a repertoire so low rated?

Well the simplest answer was I wanted to have a name. A Name? Well yes having a name is a very powerful thing. Not only in life but in chess as well.

Me, you, relatives, neighbors, when you actually think about it. Everything has a name doesn't it? An not just people but objects as well.

When I was a beginner I was completely new to chess. In fact none of my relatives know how to play chess. I had to learn from scratch all the basics.  I said to myself "I don't know anything about chess but I want to know 1 thing". I want to know the name of the line I play.

An when you think about it that is how life is. All you start off with is your name. You might not know what to do in life, what job you want, what school you want to go to, what decisions to make. Yet the only thing you do know is your name. An when I started playing chess I wanted to learn the name of a line to play. I went their with an idea of playing a line that had a name that was my prerogative.

It seems crazy or weird but people have asked me "Why did I do that"? Well the reason why was I wanted to be able to give an answer to my opponent.

Some people when you play them they talk to you and say stuff like.

Hey that was a nice game. What was that line you was playing?

I wanted to be the person who responded. I didn't want to respond with. I just played random moves! NO! I wanted to be the person who respond with a name. I wanted to say stuff like. I just played the Italian Game. I just played the Kings Indian Attack.

An if they insulted me and said "I played bad". I accepted their criticism. I would respond with phrases like. Yes I played my Kings Indian Attack wrongly and lost. You are right. However, I am a beginner and I am trying to improve with my Kings Indian Attack maybe next time I will be better.

Even though I wanted to play a line that had a name. I was a beginner still. I didn't have any idea of line names. I also didn't know the moves to even get into the lines. Believe it or not I found out some line names in the strangest of places lol. As I started playing chess more. I began spectating other players chess games.

As I watched other players play chess. I began hearing storys of other World Champion chess players by different players online in the chats. As you watch other people play sometimes players talk in the chat during the game. I would spectate a game and get caught up in hearing people in chats discuss great chess players.

They would talk about people like Anatoly Karpov, Mikhail Tal, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Tigran Petrosian, Jose Capablanca, etc...

An believe it or not I went and looked up some of those players online with google. An strangely enough I got a list of youtube videos and different games played by them from google lol. I actually did settle with 2 players. The 2 players I ended up liking were Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer.

An you can tell by the lines I chose as a beginner. They left an impression on me. Can't you tell? Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer both played the Kings Indian Defence and Bobby Fischer played the Kings Indian Attack. An with that small bit of information. I began my chess struggle with those 2 lines. I knew the name of 2 lines and that was it. I was full steam ahead. Yeah pure intimidation to my 500 ranked opponent. It was psychological warfare. An I wasn't afraid to talk some smack back to my opponent either.

If my opponent said something to me. I would respond. They say something. I would be like Oh Yeah Pal well I'm doing an attack on you right now. An I'm not doing any attack. I'm doing the Kings Indian Attack which is the King of all other Attacks. It was played by the Great World Champion Bobby Fischer and your doomed pal because Bobby Fischer was a Champion.

2 - 500 ranked players talking smack to each other about each others chess abilities. Its a shame you was not their to see it. Funniest thing ever. I sure was amusing back them.

An believe it or not that is how my beginner chess repertoire started to get created. The funny thing was I didn't realize chess players called it "repertoire". I thought of them as my favorite lines to play because 2 other GM played them. I tryed to play them often. It wasn't until later on I began to realize. I did in fact create a repertoire for myself as a beginner.

You may wonder were on earth did I get the other 3 lines from? Well that is a very interesting explanation as well.

I found myself in a spectator chat as I was their some random person typed the following phrase " Is there any beginners in here". Well I not thinking twice responded  to that random person. I honestly can't remember his user name any more. However, he said " Well I'm glad there is new beginners in this chat becuase I am going to share some very good knowledge" He said " If you play with the white pieces play the move 1.e4 becuase that is what Bobby Fischer said was best by test". Well thinking back on it now. I believe that person was trolling. However, At the time I was a little gullible beginner and I was like so excited.

I wasn't aware Bobby Fischer said that I was a beginner . So with that useful information. I began playing the move 1.e4 coupled with me knowing the name of 2 lines. I was ready to tackle the chess world. I was going to take it down like Bobby Fischer. I was a little guy with high hopes.

So I started playing 1.e4 trying to go into a KIA. Which is kind of weird. 1.Nf3 is considered the most common move order of the KIA. However, I was going with 1.e4 becuase that was best by test Bobby Fischer said so.

Than I ran into a problem. The problem I ran into was 1 of my opponents responses. When you play the move 1.e4 your opponent can respond in alot of ways. Well believe it or not their is 1 respond in which stops you from playing the KIA and that was the response I had trouble with for a short bit of time.

The response was 1...e5 by black. Well at the time I was a beginner so I didn't know. However, I played the KIA any way even with black playing 1...e5 it wasn't going to stop me. Funny thing is it did actually stop me. I was a beginner yet I did bad doing a fianchetteo against 1...e5. In truth the reason I did bad was becuase putting your bishop on g2 behind your pawn on e4 that is blocked by the black e5 pawn really wasn't great. I found myself bascially down a piece alot of the game. Which is why I went to find some help.

I than began to seek out some help. I went to see some of Bobby Fischer games and tryed to see how he handled the move 1...e5. I wanted to see his approach against it. Well as it turned out.  Bobby Fischer didn't play the KIA against 1...e5. Instead he played 2 other lines. The Ruy Lopez(Spanish Game) and The Italian Game.

Bobby Fischer played the Ruy Lopez alot in his career; however, He did mix it up and play the Italian Game. I did try both lines for a little while. Than I finally settled with the Italian Game becuase it seemed easier for me.

TA DA!

Makes sense doesn't it? I started with 2 lines than found myself having problems so I had to add another line. The Italian Game. Which than lead me to having 3 lines in total.

• The Italian Game
• The Kings Indian Attack
• The Kings Indian Defence

Now remember I had 5 lines in total in my beginner repertoire from way above. So how did I come up with the other 2 lines?

Well believe it or not I ended up getting the answers to the other 2 lines from a chess.com group. I joined one of their clubs and talked in their group chats. I ended up getting some advice for my other 2 lines.

I told them I was a beginner. An one of the higher level players told me  some advice. He told me what I needed to do was find replys to certain chess moves.

He told me if I planned to play the move 1.e4 as my first move I had to prepare myself for the 4 major response against 1.e4.

1...Nf6 Kings Indian Defence

1...c5 Sicilian Dragon <<< If I had to do things over again I would of replaced that to the French Defense becuase it is alot easier to learn as a beginner.

An all together I had a total of 5 lines.

Italian game

Sicilian Dragon

Kings Indian Attack

Kings Indian Defence

London System

An if you replace the Sicilian Dragon to the French Defence it still only 5.

An the reasons I played these lines were very simple.

My goal was to play a line that had short theory, was simple to get into, helped develop my pieces, and made me feel comfortable.

Which is what all 5 of those above do well except maybe the dragon. Yet I was a beginner than lol. I didn't know about the French that much.

An that served me well for quite some time.

• The opening theory for the 4 lines below maybe at most 4-8 moves if that.

Italian game

Kings Indian Attack

Kings Indian Defence

London System

• They was simple to get into didn't take alot of memorization or anything. Very simple structures. The London System was like a triangle lol who could forget that. KID and KIA both the same fianchetteo. Only confusing one might be Italian Game but many could get hang of it.
• They allow you the chance to develop pieces to the same spots almost 90% of the time. An once the pieces were placed in that certain spot they were considered good
  
• These lines also help players learn to develop pieces. As a beginner it can be very hard to get into the habit of developing all your pieces. The wonderful thing about these lines is they are very simple that you end up developing your pieces more often.
  
• These lines also help player reach a comfortable position. Usually you end up in the same position multiple times which helps you get used to seeing similiar ideas and patterns.
  

These lines really did help me though the main reason why is becuase in lower levels most players don't use all their pieces. They go on 1 or 2 piece attacks or do a bunch of wild pawn moves. An when you play solid lines like these that consistently bring out more pieces. You will end up just mopping the floor with your opponents becuase of their lack of development. You will rake in alot of points like that in the beginner stages of chess. Just by playing solidly and developing your pieces.

As I mentioned from above there is alot of positive things these lines have to offer for beginners. Which is why I loved playing them.

However, these lines do have some draw backs.

• They give up equality fairly easy.

• Eventually as you become a stronger player you are going to have more ambition to try and pressurize your opponents more.When you think about it. You end up playing moves and getting into very comfortable positions. Yet at the same time so does your opponents. You get into your structure and your opponents get into there structure. Than usually the battle rages from there. As you get stronger as a chess player you are going to want to pressurize black more specially if you have the white pieces. Which usually means you want to try and find ways of stopping black from reaching there ideal/comfortable setup while at the same time trying to reach your comfortable setup.

The lines are more of a build up/spring coil type of lines. Which as I said in the beginner/intermidate rankings of chess is good becuase your opponents will be doing 1 piece attacks etc. Eventually they will stop though. Than both sides will build up for a huge fight. These lines have been played in Grand Master level. So I mean they can stay with you the rest of your chess career. In more recent years GM's have been playing other things which are more demanding/pressurizing.

As I started getting stronger as a chess player I began doing Upgrades. I started adding/introducing more lines into my repertoire.

In the below chart, You can see my Advanced Beginner Repertoire. You can see how I started off with my first 5 lines. Which I have highlighted with the light blue color. Than I began introducing more lines/learning more lines. Which got added into my Repertoire which is shown with the dark blue color.

My Advanced Beginner Repertoire 1201-1400