What questions should I ask myself to determine my playing style.

Sooner or later the opening leads to a unique position that isn't covered in a book. That's when player one's advantage slowly goes to naught. Sometimes a change in the pawn structure is more than enough to leave someone lost.

I have a friend who knew slightly more than that, but not much. He certainly didn't know the names of different types of open Sicilians. He literally said "I usually just sac something on e6 and it usually works out". He was 2150 at the time.

I agree with maskedbishop. I teach tactics and planning in the context of the most popular scholastic openings, because that's what's actually going to happen.

Learning pawn structures and the associated strategies is a proven method of improving.

Memorizing openings below expert level is pretty stupid. But learning strategies, plans, typical tactics, defensive ideas, etc. will make you a stronger player.

The Dragon is a Black opening, and you can't play any kind of Kings Indian against it.

Yawn. How many hundreds of threads must ask this same boring question???

Where's IM @Pfren when you need him? 

Learn "a formation" from the white side, one (or two) repetories from the black side, and your opening work is essentially done until you break into the USCF A Class.

Very simple, and painless.

On balance, the only good opening is the one you know and your opponent doesn't.

So choose your openings "narrowly" when starting out, and later, when your playing strength improves, branch out to wider horizons on all three phases of the game, including the opening.

Otherwise your opening preparation is largely a waste of time, because it's too easy for your opponent to TRANPOSE AWAY from your opening preparation by following the simple advice given above.

P.S. @UnmaskedBishop is a one-day-wonder on this site, but he sure has stirred up the natives.  He has a great profile, in any case.   

A player in the 1200 to 1500 range shouldn't be concerned about learning specific opening lines. They could spend their study time much more profitably by looking at opening theory (general ideas, not specific move sequences), typical endgames, tactical elements and combinations, model mates, common Pawn formations, and so on.

The Yugoslav structure? Something slightly similar is played against the Kings Indian, it's called the Samisch variation

>He literally said "I usually just sac something on e6 and it usually works out". He was 2150 at the time.<

Oh, BS. What's his name, we will look him up and email him. 2150 players know their openings, pal...don't take this discussion into the ludicrous to bolster your point.

>Learn "a formation" from the white side, one (or two) repetories from the black side, and your opening work is essentially done until you break into the USCF A Class.<

Ah, another one of those fabulous maxims. "Don't do (FILL IN BLANK) until you are rated 1800." Here's some for that blank:

Play d4 openings

Read opening books

Study Alekhine games

Play in open sections of tournaments

Go near Kasparov's boring collection of grandmaster books

Run for the USCF board

Beg Kramnik for a staff position

>@UnmaskedBishop is a one-day-wonder on this site, but he sure has stirred up the natives.  He has a great profile, in any case<

I was around a lot about 8-10 years ago on the old rec.games.chess scene...I tried going back there but it's all porn spam and psychotics now. So here I am...in my rookmobile...

And here's IM @Pfren's distilled knowledge in post #9 from the thread "Stop with solving tactics ??" --

 "I know a few GM's which are superb in tactical play, but literally suck positionally--and vice versa. The right blend between positional understanding and tactical awareness is the not-so-secret of improvement in chess, and this is achieved via hard work regarding all aspects of play."  (Emphasis added).

It's the best compact advice on this site. 

End of Story.

I started studying openings after reaching 2000, but pfren has a friend who was at least 2300 who didn't study openings at all. He played stuff like 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qe7.

By the way, I just started playing 1...e5 and I know practically zero theory. But I have still never lost a game because of the opening.

I can credit exactly one tournament win in part to opening preparation: I attained close to a winning position against NM Erik Karklins because I prepared for his Latvian Gambit before the game. But unless your opponent just plays a terrible opening, you aren't going to win because of the opening.

One player I know personally who studied no openings until breaking 2100 is Michael Auger.

There is a FM at my club who for several year used a die roll to select his first move (one of the pawns b-g one square forward), with no ill effects to his rating.

Ah yes, the world is full of chess savants who, despite playing for years in tournaments and posting 2100+ ratings, have never studied an opening. 

Never. Never bought a book, walked away if someone started analysing a variation...hell, ran screaming from the room if anyone said the word scheveningen. 

It's all true, really. You don't need to know openings to be a Master. Just make good moves and don't lose a piece, and be a tactical genius and never fudge an endgame. And you can laugh all at all those saps who talk about d4 vs e4 or Maroczy binds or Yugoslav attacks or Colle systems or semi-open positions or hell, 90% of chess...

I think my fave anecdote here is the dice-rolling FM. Oh look, I rolled a 4, so I''ll start with b3! Hey, I'm an FM! 

@MaskeyB, has your rookmobile driven up your arse?  Take a chill pill, please.

Zborg, I'm just fine, thanks. I'll let it go...but no, I don't believe a single word of these tales of fabulous players who never studied an opening, or who flip coins to see what piece to move, etc. And I'm also reasonably sure that everyone here has a chess library, of varying sizes, but the one common thread is that opening books comprise the largest percentage of a given collection.

Let the denials begin...

1. Claim that all anyone buys is chess opening books.

2. Call any claims to the contrary lies.

3. Don't play any chess games or reveal any information that might show that my opinions carry no weight.

4. ????

5. Profit.

Maskedbishop, we only have those opening books to protect the poor beginners who would otherwise have bought them!