OK so i know there are thousands of you chess nuts who have that specific question that has never been answered to your own SATISFACTION.

This is hopefully one giant blog that is Q and A.

DOES THIS BENIFIT ME? yes, ask a question and hopefully our Chess.com large community can answer your question to your satisfaction. FINALLY.

I will start off this Q and A of coarse.

Q. How Much should i really worry about the opening?

i say right now i spend 50-70 percent of my time on it.

HELP?

You mean studying?  70% of my studying is playing over annotated games: which means studying all the phases.  I think it's the most efficient way!  (Also the most enjoyable way, I think.)  The remaining 30% is about equally divided between endings (working through Max Euwe's Guide to Chess Endings at the moment), tactics (working through Palliser's Complete Chess Workout -- 1200 puzzles!), and openings (still trying to master the repertoire recommended by Kaufman in Chess Advantage in Black and White).

    My favorite game collections are Capablanca's Hundred Best, Rubinstein's Masterpieces, and 500 Master Games -- all rather old, but excellent nonetheless!  Also working through Purdy's Annotations, which are very good.

'' Your only task of the opening is to get a playable middlegame ''. -GM Lajos Portisch

i like this quote. thank you.

i believe i would like to be a power house in tactics. then i could build a good opening repitiore. i believe i will stick with e4 and go from there.

Do any of you guys have a question?

immanuel i like your idea over going over an entire game.

maybe over an oldschool master game

thanks for the advise

since i have no time for anything anymore.. i study tactics and thats pretty much it.. i have a book called 606 puzzles for chess nuts and i just carry it around with me.. i play e4 cause im looking for an excuse to get into the ponziani.. also im better at positional chess so im better with d4 and c4 first move so i play e4 to learn

mr. king and i .

i find if i am scared of something in chess then i should go and try and grasp it

for a while i was scared to fienchetto because of the weakened kinside castle.

so what did i do.

i play the close sicilian which also has e4. and i have strategy books that say the if there is already a center pawn in the way then it is kind of a waste of moves.

but then i finally grasped it. the games are closed so their are more manuevers and less worry about tempo as there are in open games.

so for you to be a positional player who plays e4 first move is great.

this will definetaly improve what you are not used to.

even try the kings gambit a few times, it will show you the excitement of a tactical game.

Chess in a way is very similar to golf.

Everyone knows that you drive for show and put for dough.

In golf if you cannot get off the tee decently 175 to 225+ yards in the fairway  you are in trouble to get to the green in regulation shots.

In chess if you do not know how to get thru the opening, you can be in trouble in the middle game and the end game.

Play what you know and introduce only one new opening at the time.

Golf and chess opening moves are similar: drive in golf is worth 20% or 25% or 33% of your shots depending if it is a par 5, 4 or 3, and at chess the first moves are about 25% of your game in my opinion that is. So you do need to know the opening that you are playing.

In golf the middle game, fairway shots to get to the green are worth about 25% of the game. For instance on a par 4, one drive, one shot to land on the green in regulation and 2 puts and you get par. Now if you miss the green on the  second shot this is where it gets critical as if you need 2 to 3 shots to get to the green from say 25 yards, and if you take 3 puts to hole, then you are looking at 7 or 8 strokes to finish the hole almost double the par at 7 and double at an 8 score.

In chess the middle game is about 30 to 35% of the game and the end game is 40 to 45% of the game result again in my personal opinion.

If anyone has more accurate numbers, I will certainly appreciate reading them.

Bottom line:

1. 25% worth. Learn your opening to get thru.

2. 35/30% worth.  Concentrate on the middle game to give yourself a decent chance in the end game.

3. 40/45% worth. Thouroughly learn the end game to win the game.

Now my question:

How critical in the end game is it to not have any pawns doubled on a file?

great analogy paul thank you.

well i hope someone of stronger rateing can help you. but i will gove my two cents worth.

im sure you are aware that in the endgame compared to the middle game, there are far less variables to deal with. thats why the sayin goes. "if you are up in material, trade down. so here are my pros and cons now i may add more later if any more surface.

cons

1.the pawns, if isolated, cannot defend eachother. leaving it to the king,major,and minor peices for protection.

2.it does not allow any easy mobility of the pawn stuck behind.

3.the pawns are usually not considered as threatening as two pawns, being that they are on the same rank.

pros.

1. this can make for one hell of a decoy, "picture your opponent ,of coarse, attacking the weakened pawns, oh....but wait it was a decoy now you have had time to build a counter attack on a different position on the board.

2.this can make for a good oppurtunity to look for tactics or strategy. example.

"in order for your opponent to get to the pawn say with a rook. then the rook may be to out of place to compete with your rook and king which is threatening the king on the other side of the board.

3. in knowing that doubled pawns are not considered a must have. you could use one as a desparado attack. running it down the board to maybe misplace an opponents pieces. then after the sacrifise you have new dynamics in the board setup and still have a pawn on the same rank.

well even though paul we are playing several games and you smash me. i hope maybe this has proved worthy of reading.

i would really like a stronger player to also give you their two cents.

 I mostly concur with you but never forget that the end game is crucial. It took me years about 20 years to start to understand and still at times struggle with it. It is a win or loose situation amd seldom a draw.

agreed

 I disagree, as I have gotten better and better I have found that most of my endgames are drawn...

As to your question, doubled pawns can be a positive or a negative.  Even in an endgame it does still mean that you likely have a file for your rooks 

It does POSSIBLY make for a target in the middlegame.  In king and pawn endgames it could mean the extra WINNING tempo

i have not had enouh correspondence endgames. to be a master at it. although i do enjoy endgames. such as king verse bishop knight king

mr.erikido do you have a question

It has been my experience in my 12+ years of playing that it is more important to concentrate study on the elements of chess. Really try and get to the meat of the issue. Take chess apart and disect it. I look at it sort of like painting ok. The chess opening is sort of like a paint by numbers template. You do this, you do that, you get pretty picture. Ok, but are we satisfied with this? I sure wasn't. I wanted to learn how to paint! So when you begin to dissect chess, find out what it really means to win, and learn the mechanics of piece movement and the measureable values on the chessboard, you start to learn the 'brush strokes' of chess. When you approach the chess opening with this array of skills, you will be able to retain more information because it will be in context of stored knowledge. You will be able to take the role of a creator instead of that of passive onlooker nodding your head 'yep yep, what's the next move?'

I do but I would have to have my books with me to get the right question out.  Maybe later. 

chessroshi i agree.

it is onethin to lnow opening lines. its another to understand the theory behind it and how to take advantage an error on the opponents part

in the end game, doubled pawns are generally weaker because they can not protect each other.

this is such a critical theme that some openings (eg. nimzo- indian) seek to initiate doubled c pawns in the opponents camp.

of course for this to be significant, your opponent needs to be able to stage a suitable restraint then blockade then eliminate  the pesky doubled pawns...

hope this helps.

my question:

why play the marshall attack (ruy lopez) if  it has been analysed upto 35 moves deep??only for theory to deem it drawish?

ps. am still learning the ideas behind it.

well i guess if you are a strong attacker and you feel you can find a new line this might be beneficial because  i know the importance of the marshall is it is one of the only lines in the lopez that gives black the initiative early due to a sacrifise of a pawn

thats all i know

Spending 70% of your studying on openings is a waste of time at our levels.