You should be studying openings. So when you are playing otb chess you are fast in the openings because you know the variations, main lines etc.
If you do not know such variations and ideas in that opening, that might give you a mess position in middlegame/endgame.
@JoeHempel1
You're not alone in not studying openings beyond the first 5-6 moves; some of us spend time doing other stuff - trying to learn to think our way out of trouble instead of memorizing lines - things also happen after the opening.
You're method is good enough to win and/or draw against people ratet 2200-2300 otb. Just keep on doing what you're doing!
Studying openings and memorizing openings are two different things. Seven moves is about as far as I know most of the book lines I play. However I am not lost at sea beyond the moves I have memorized and feel pretty well oriented well into the middlegame and beyond.
No, you don't need to memorize lines. However I find it hard to believe you only know 6 moves. In a Sicilian you often make 4 pawn moves, castling, 2 knight moves, and 1 bishop move. Later the other bishop comes. Good chance you also have plans to play Rac8 and/or Qc7. I have a hard time believing anyone just makes the 6 moves, and then makes the other moves randomly. You may play Nc6 or Nbd7 sometimes, but that doesn't apply to all the pieces. In other words, if the line is not too sharp, it will suffice to know the general setup plus the middle game plan. Most players aren't going to know the difference between some Be2 or Bd3 or Bg2 move in the opening. Those details are for way later.
For myself, I don't feel any need to study openings right now. I know the opening principles, and a while back I went through a phase where I learned a few opening lines and some traps. I think, overall, knowing the opening principles has benefited me greater than learning lines. I may not play the most accurate moves, but a lot of the time I reach a perfectly playable middle game.
When you start losing consistently as a direct result of your opening play, start studying openings.
Knowledge of openings helps a lot in speed chess.
At your level, you should probably know at least the basic principles behind whatever openings you are playing. Which files and diagonals are critical; which squares are critical; which exchanges to avoid or pursue; and any other theme typical of the opening in question. I believe these things are much more critical for good play than memorizing move sequences, at least until you start playing masters.
There is no general advice or rule.
If you are content with your positions in the early midgame - train tactics and endgames.
If you usually get out of the opening in worse positions - study the openings in which you fail.
Besides, studying openings will slightly reduce your used thinking time. So if you get in time-trouble more often than not and lose games because of it, this might also be a reason to work on openings.
Most amateur players make much ado about openings and it doesn't help them. Most openings can at least on amateurlevel be played just with natural moves.
Except for some very few ultra-sharp lines a decent player can play everything without (concrete) opening knowledge. Just choose some solid sideline and make your opponent think on his/her own.
Its very rare that a games outcome will be determined soley on opening knowledge.
I would you can get a better understanding at the start of the game and how to make a good foundation for the mid and endgame
Thanks for all the info everyone!
I used 6-7 moves as a guideline...I don't know if what I'm doing after that is considered book or whatever....I tend to look at the overall "idea" of the opening rather than the actual move set. I do end up coming out behind sometimes in the opening and use that as a learning tool, but I'm finding that I end up coming out usually okay, or am able to enact some sort of plan...especially when playing online rather than live.
I hate playing speed chess unless I'm just bored and want something to do.
Thanks folks! I'll keep doing what I'm doing and if I get crushed in the opening figure out what I did wrong and adjust next time!
One of the things I've started doing is a quick study and play through of some openings. My goal is to find some that might interest me and to see the patterns that are common to openings. One of the problems that I've encountered is that the players at my level seem to have no clue what the opening is or what to do with it, so it deviates so far from it that it completely trashes the idea of using a specific opening.
One that I'm interested in trying is Alkehine's Defense, but no one seems to go for it. It seems like people are afraid of trying to control the center. Here are the responses I usually see.
@ClavierCavalier,
I've played a lot of Alekheine as Black, and I know what you mean. I've gotten 2. Nc3 at least as much as 2. e5, and I've always followed with 2... d5 with fairly good results, though usually having to push through an annoying balanced open game without queens. Since I prefer a more closed game I eventually abandoned it for the Caro Kann, though I don't know if I'll move on again soon.
well i saw NM brosky on livechess the other day beating the 2000+ players available with something like 1.a4 followed by 2.h4. im sure studying openings can help a little bit but i dont think it matters for us mortals
I personally think this idea of not studying openings until you reach X rating seems a little silly. It seems to say "Completely ignore one part of the game, but study the rest." I feel like it'd be like me telling a piano student not to learn to read music, or no decent music until you learn to play crap like Czerny, or no Beethoven until you get your 16th note scales up to 200 BPM, or no improvising or composing until you've learnt a larger variety of harmonies. It's ignoring one important part for others.
I'd agree that not memorizing these openings might be best, but looking at them and thinking about what's going on and trying to figure out what purpose the moves have would probably be worthwhile. I'd also agree that studying tactics is probably more important than the openings, but if your opening skills are so bad you don't get to use tactics, then what's the point of studying tactics?
I'm not talking about learning tons of theory and memorizing openings. If we continue the music analogy, I'm talking about teaching a beginner intervals and basic notation, not Sonata-Allegro form, Augmented Sixth chords, and Pitch Class Sets.
Think about it this way:
1. Know nothing of openings and theory and play moves you think are best tactically.
2. Know a little of openings and theory and play moves you think are best tactically.
Obviously #2 is better, but that requires extra time. Yes you should probably have a response to d4 and e4, as well as an optimal opening for you to play, but you only need to know the first few moves, until you are a higher level. The OP said he only learned the first 5 moves or so, and until you are getting close to the 2000's level, that's fine.
So we agree!
It all depends on how low is consider lower rated. Different people have different standards. IMO, i think its alright if u want to study openings. Just learn about 5-8 moves in the opening and it should be fine.
I guess this all depends on how you define "studying openings." It's OK to look up specific lines in BCO, ECO, MCO etc occasionally that you find interesting or difficult to play against. And, I don't see a problem with reading books such as "Understanding the French/Sicilian/or whatever Defense" if they include entire games that are well annotated and explain the ideas behind the variations instead of just presenting oodles of the latest & greatest analysis and praxis minus any explanations.
Another way to study openings is to play thru as many unnannotated games by IMs & GMs as possible in order to figure out the basic ideas, trends and plans on your own esp if you have a large DB available.
Overall I'd think studying openings is much more important OTB than in CC
So I seem to be one of the only people that don't really study openings beyond like move 5 or 6.
What do you guys do? I tend to lean more towards forming some sort of plan and playing the board rather than memorization of different lines, and "book" stuff.
For instance, I know Hyper Accelerated Dragon, Ruy Lopez, and...actually I don't know any others lol. I have what I play against Queen Pawn opening, but have no idea what it's called, but it works for me, and so on.
Should I be studying openings??