hello,

i have some questions about creating an opening repertoire:

1. when can i say that i actually "know" a specific opening? its when i know all the best lines until the middlegame against any move even the weaker ones?

2. why is a good thing to know a lot of openings? why not to stick to some that i always play? why its not a waste of time to learn opening that i might barely use?

3. there is a good way to document my progress in learning an opening?

4. there is a good metod to learn openings? maybe a recommended study program?

its just that i am going to start learning this phase of the game (after train a lot in tactics, and learn the basic endgames)

thanks in advance for the help

1. You never "know" an opening, you can only hope that you "know" it better than your opponent.

2.At the beginning of your chess life it is a good idea to play a lot of different things. That way you learn about different kinds of structures and plans. Later on it might be a good idea to specialize a bit, but by then you'll really know what kinds of positions you like, so your choice will be better.

3/4/ http://www.chesspositiontrainer.com/

This is a program that lets you input your opening repertoire into a database and then drill the positions like a tactics puzzle. Another good way to go is to go over many games played in your chosen openings, and buying some good books written on said openings.

You can't possibly learn all the variations in any particular opening, even the top GMs aren't on top of them all.  Better to learn how to play the typical pawn structures, which transcends the rote memorization of openings.