After writing the first entry last night, I spent time trying to figure out what kind of Openings and Defenses I like. I knew that since I am not going to be playing 1.e4 any longer, I need to find some opening that suits my style. What is my style? I would like to think that I am an attacking player. Not an all out attacking player, but one that if I have an advantage, I will try to maximize it to a win. I think I am a pretty good defender... I have always liked Fischer and Capablanca because I find it easier to follow their games and explain them, most of the time. However, those are super-talents. I like Fischer a lot because he shows that if you add hard work to talent, you can create amazing things. So, I had to choose somebody whose process to greatness I admire. I decided to list down all the greats I like and then choose how I am going to use them. Here is my breakdown:

1. Fischer: he almost always played 1.e4 as White and he almost always defended it with the Sicilian Defense as Black. So I will use him to study how to fight off White's 1.e4. This will not be too hard as I have played 1.e4 for the past 18+ years.

2. Morozevich: he finds a way to get in trouble. His Chess is exciting, win or lose. He plays a wide-variety of openings, so I will use him to scan some things that I would otherwise not come across.

3. Karpov: Nobody gives him the props because he lacks flare. I wouldn't say my style has flare either. At least not all the time. You need the silent killer option. You know, sometimes somebody beats you and you can't just figure out where you went wrong. I think Karpov is that type of player.

4. Kasparov: Similar to Morozevich, but he rarely gets in trouble! If I have a day to chew over a move, how best to do it than to play through Kaspa's games?

5. Alekhine: Another master at creating lightening and thunder out of the clear sky. He played a variety of openings too. So he will be a good supplement to Morozevich.

6. Tal: Most of his games were short and sweet. I try to win by move 30. Tal's games were determined in the teens. I don't intend to try out his style, but it is such a breath of fresh air that you just have to play through them. He is also going to provide me with tons of tactical practice games.

So after choosing these players. I went through their opening repertoires to see what they played as Black and as White. I downloaded what I will want to study. French Defense (and Sicilian Defense) against 1.e4, King's Indian Defense (and Grunfeld Defense) against 1.d4. My Opening repertoire for 1.d4 will develop as I study my defenses to 1.d4.

Then I downloaded the games of these players with the Openings that I am interested in.

I think I have an idea of how I am going to study these thousands of games. I guess I need to refine the plan/idea further. It will be in a future chess diary entry.

(For Chess Diary Entry 1, click here.)