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Best Opening Strategy Suggestions

Submitted by kbcbishop on Sat, 06/14/2008 at 11:32am.

Think through what you have heard or learned. What is the one best suggestion or idea for having a solid opening for your games? If your game struggles here, what one aspect is in need of help? Share your need to seek help from others.


 

Comments:

by Cheryl88 - 16 months ago
United States
Member Since: Aug 2010
Member Points: 2483

I suggest two types of openings/defenses - mainstay and alternative.  Mainstay is your main opening (i.e. e4-Ruy Lopez or f4-Bird's Opening), your main defense to e4 (i.e. Sicilian or Caro-Kann), and your main defense to d4, c4, Nf3 (i.e. Slav or King's Indian).  Alternative are the openings and defenses that you experiment with and use to throw off your opponent that you play frequently against.  Having a good mixture of mainstay and alternative means that you are able to play either for a win or draw as needed.  For example, suppose your mainstay e4 defense is the Sicilian.  Wouldn't it be nice to have as an alternative defense the Caro-Kann for those occasions when you want to draw?  Vice versa, suppose your mainstay defense was the Caro-Kann but on occasion you needed to play for the win - have a pet line in the Sicilian!

by BillyIdle - 2 years ago
Humboldt Park, Chicago United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 9859

     I suggest to new players they use the same moves in all games.  It is obvious why.

d3, g3, Bg2 for White

d6, g6, Bg7 for Black

     They can preface the White moves with 1.c4  Later on they can study the King's Indian, Pirc Defense and English Opening when they reach that phase where they wish to understand more.  They can also have a look at the Nimzo-Larsen Attack (where the games of Alexander Bagirov, Bent Larsen and Bobby Fischer will increase their knowledge) and Fischer's games with the King's Indian.  The c4 move blends in with the Reti Opening, Bird's Opening and the Nimzo-Larsen.  This is a system where they can activate the bishops.  Bagirov often employed a double fianchetto in the Nimzo-Larsen Attack.

   For advanced players, you might want to look at the games of Vladimir Bagirov and Alekander Shabalov (on Chessgames.com) playing the Slav Defense and the Semi-Slav Defense.  Very popular these days.  Bagirov was chess coach to Shirov and Shabalov.  He was also the Soviet coach of two lesser known players, Mikhail Tal and Gary Kasparov.     

by PawnInTheGame - 3 years ago
Warsaw Poland
Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 376

I really like the O'Kelly variation of the sicillian, recently I play it a lot.

I post some common and interesting lines that I came up with with Game Explorer and memorized.

This opening is real fun, I'm bored with 3.Nc6!? :)

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1.e4 c5

2.Nf3 a6

3.d4 cxd4

4.Nxd4 Nf6

5.Nc3 e5

 

6.Nf3 Bb4

 

7.Nxe5 O-O

8.Bd3 Re8

9.Nf3 Nxe4

7.Bd2 d6

8.Bd3 O-O

9.O-O Nbd7

10.a3 Bxc3

11.Bxc3 Nc5

12.Re1 Bg4

13.h3 Bh5

6.Nb3 Bb4

7.Bd3 d5

8.exd5 Nxd5

9.Bd2 Nxc3

10.bxc3 Bd6

11.O-O O-O

12.Qh5 f5

6.Nf5 d5

7.Ng3 d4

8.Nb1 Nc6

3.c3 e6

4.d4 d5

5.e5 Bd7

6.Bd3 cxd4

7.cxd4 Bb5

8.Bxb5 axb5

9.Nc3 b4

3.c4 e6

 

4.d4 cxd4

5.Nxd4 Nf6

6.Nc3 Qc7

7.Bd3 Nc6

8.Nxc6 dxc6

9.O-O e5

4.Nc3 Qc7

5.Be2 b6

6.O-O Bb7

7.d4 cxd4

8.Nxd4 Nf6

9.f3 Be7

10.Be3 O-O

3.Nc3 e6

4.d4 cxd4

5.Nxd4 b5

6.Bd3 Qb6

 

7.Nb3 Qc7

8.O-O Bb7

7.Be3 Bc5

8.Be2 Nc6

9.Nxc6 dxc6

10.Bxc5 Qxc5

11.Qd3 Nf6

12.O-O-O O-O

13.f4 e5

14.f5 a5

by Nightshadow - 3 years ago
Bangalore India
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 186

One's opening should always suit their style of play. If you play an opening that lands you into an unfamiliar or uncomfortable middlegame, you will most likely struggle.

So, my advice is to go through your past games, assess your temperment and figure out your style of play. Then, go through games which have a similar style and check out the openings. Play them out in a few games and if you feel comfortable, continue practice. If not, repeat the process until you do. Soon enough, you will have a good repetoire. Also, learn the best way to counter these openings yourself. If you face an unfamiliar opening, opening principles are the only guide.

Practice is the only way one can improve so I suggest playing a lot of games. Soon enough, you will see an improvement(if you're sincere enough).

 

Wishing everyone good luck in their training,

Nightshadow

 

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