The Power of Opening Preparation

In a recent blog post, I shared a training with all of you about learning all of the "Branches of the Tree" for a particular opening. The general theme of the article was that most players think about opening preparation completely wrong, and that bad opening preparation and understanding is the major culprit for bad middlegame play!

I got a lot of great, positive feedback on this training, but also more than a few skeptics. A lot of players doubted the effectiveness of this structured approach to opening preparation, saying that it wouldn't work for anyone below Master level. "What's the purpose of deep opening preparation when my opponent always deviates on move 7?" they lament.

I was very happy to receive an email from Vladislav, a player I've been mentoring, containing the following game. If you're still skeptical about the power of preparation, take a look at this game and see for yourself!

We also see that memorization itself is not the most important aspect, contrary to popular belief. Vlad played an amazing game despite his opponent deviating on move 9!

If you're serious about building a Master-Level Opening Repertoire, memorization is only the 3rd most important pillar. This is the subject of an exclusive training video I've made which isn't publicly available.

In the past, I've reserved this training for private students...but if you're serious about constructing a Master-Level-Opening Repertoire, I want to help you out. If you want this training, let me know HERE and I will send it to you for free.

Thanks!

Blake