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Don't want to learn openings

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temetvince

I don't want to study openings too much, I just want to lose less often because of the opening. I have very bad adhd, so open positions are much more difficult for me than closed ones, regardless of how much I practice "tactics". What two openings would you recommend that are:
 
1. Easy to learn (not necessarily the best opening)
2. Closed game or lots of piece swapping

Dolphin27

One option would be to use what GM Nigel Davies termed "the busy person's opening system", it's a reversed Old Indian set up played against everything, except the Scandinavian for which it doesn't work well.

Here's the basic set up of it played against the French for example

There's a Foxy Opening DVD called Anti-Flank by IM Andrew Martin that talks about using this set up from the Black side but it can be used for White as well.

Also you can perhaps cure your ADHD somewhat by studying tactics because it will train you to concentrate better. Don't write yourself off because of that, you can still be a GM someday if you work hard at it.

Ziggy_Zugzwang

You could try 1g3 and 1...g6. (Statiscally, both do unexpectly well - but can only take you so far - but still a long way -as a chess player IMHO.)

You will get plenty of advice on this thread - but the chances are you will be overwhelmed by all the advice and be back at square one....then you still have to decide. That's what makes a repertoire so personal to any one player.

AKAL1

I would agree with Fiveofswords. There is no way to avoid tactics in a chess game. You should take into account that while all of these openings are semiclosed, success in all of them depend on knowing exactly when to open or close the center.

Tactics does rely on thinking ahead, but not very heavily on concentration. In fact, most of the time the right move just pops in your head after looking at the position for some time.

temetvince

I think I'm going to look into the indian, hedgehog, and fianchetto openings to see if any of them fit my fancy. Thanks for the recommendations!

Fiveofswords... I'm not avoiding all tactics or "turtling" up. I just want to try for openings that avoid sharp lines at the beginning.

There's a difference between being scared of something and being wise about your weaknesses. If I despised tactics, why would I play chess?

AKAL1

What fiveofswords is saying is that tactics will happen anyways, so you don't need to avoid them at the beginning.

TitanCG

Avoiding tactics in the opening to get to the middlegame is a normal strategy. Stuff like 1.b3 or 1.Nf3/1.g3 with a KIA is good for that. Basically by avoiding pawn and piece contact you can avoid concrete variations for a while.

bigpoison

Paragraphs are your friend.

Joseph-S

  Don't want to learn the openings?  Fair enough but remember, "knights before bishops".  I underestimated that rule at first.        Smile

sftac
temetvince wrote:
 
1. Easy to learn (not necessarily the best opening)
2. Closed game or lots of piece swapping

Stick with it, and most openings become easy to learn.  My two that have worked well enough (if only because I've become thoroughly used to their quirks, traps and strengths) have been:

a) for White, the reverse stonewall (the stonewall as usually played by Black, is played by White instead). usually as:  d4, e3, f4

b) for Black, the center counter (Scandinavian).  Of course, White does not always oblige with 1. e4  (so, I'm not shy about converting other openings into the center counter if that's manageable, else I'll just make do with basic principles of opening development, watch out for traps and hope for the best.

sftac

ipcress12

Tem: I looked at three of your Standard games. The openings looked fine for a 1500ish player. I don't think that's your problem.

If you want to try some closed systems, that's cool. You'll learn some new stuff and maybe you'll find them more copacetic to your talents.

However, as FOS pointed out, there is a huge amount of theory to closed openings -- far more than the Bishop's Opening you sometimes play. Even though tactics are reduced in closed games, you can drift into bad middlegames if you don't know what you are doing and your opponent does.

You might consider queen pawn openings, if you wish to avoid sharp tactical play from the git-go. You can play QP games with natural developing moves much more than the hurlyburly KP stuff.

PossibleOatmeal

You should really look into the Colle System or the London System.  The Colle System is pretty appealing to me, though I don't really play it.

ipcress12
PossibleOatmeal wrote:

You should really look into the Colle System or the London System.  The Colle System is pretty appealing to me, though I don't really play it.

I think the Colle is just what the doctor ordered for class players who don't want to be bothered with tricky tactics in the openings.

GM Koltanowski was quite successful with the Colle in the 20s and 30s. He taught many of his students to play it.

The London is similar. GM Kovacevic played it regularly in the 80s, 90s and into the 21st Century.

They aren't enterprising attempts for White to seize and hold the initiative, but they are time-tested, conservative approaches for White to reach the middlegame without getting his hair mussed.

stocksAndChess1

Another way to approach this is, instead of looking for easy openings, just don't particularly study the opening

If you're making mistakes in the opening then study why you made those mistakes ( poor calculation, principles)

A lot of players put too much emphasis on the openings

For example there's a lot of1400rated players who spend more time on the openings than2200

Just food for thought