How to Beat Me, Lesson #5: Slam Shut My Openings

If you were to comb through all the chess advice out there, you would find that an extraordinary amount is devoted to openings. The reason is simple. By my calculation, there are only 18 possible first moves in chess, and 18 possible responses. Once you toss out the truly oddball choices, you have fewer than a dozen standard moves.

Once past the first move, the possible combinations increase exponentially, and so suggestions begin to quickly descend into general principles, such as piece development and a strong center.

The biggest difference between masters and casual players is the masters' deep knowledge of many openings and follow-on lines. They have played and studied so many games that they immediately recognize possible moves and counter-moves and where they will lead.

I like to play chess, but there is no chance in creation that I'm going to spend the necessary time and energy to try to recognize and master dozens of openings and defenses. So, like most casual players, I concentrate on a couple that I enjoy playing and feel comfortable with.

For me as White, that means only three possibities: Ponziani, London or Closed Sicilian.

I only play the London against opponents I fear. They're not going to fall for tricks or traps, and since I don't play blitz or bullet, they're not going to stumble into them because of time pressures. It's a very conservative opening for White, which is why it's considered to be boring. True, but it's certainly better than getting mated in 15 moves because I've fallen into a counter-trap. So if I open with d4 against you, consider it a compliment.

I like the Ponziani a lot because the concept is simple: push the center pawns. Playing c3 on the third move often results in a much-delayed response from Black, which is always gratifying. Black can fall into a lot of traps, but frankly, it's just as easy for White to bungle the traps because of incorrect move order, which is probably why it isn't played more often. Still, there is no question that White has all the initiative with the Ponziani, limiting Black to responses rather than any real counterattacks.

Even if the traps amount to nothing, the Ponziani isn't really a gambit, so you don't enter the middle game with a disadvantage.

The Ponziani begins with e4, so I'll try to play it after most responses from Black. I'll only abandon the idea if Black plays c5. Then I'll play Nc3 and continue with a Closed Sicilian. The reason is because I assume that Black would rather play an Open Sicilian and, absent any strong ideas of my own, I'm content just to deny my opponent his wish.

As Black, I love to play the Stafford Gambit. If White is unfamiliar, it can lead to a lot of quick checkmates. Even if White has seen it before, he is still stuck, at least for opening 10 moves or so, with responding to your attacks. The problem with the Stafford is the longer the game drags on, the worse off Black is. As with any gambit, the idea is to turn the loss of a pawn into a decisive advantage. If you don't do it, eventually you're just down a pawn and likely to lose against a reasonably strong player.

Other than the Stafford, the only other things I do as Black is a series of moves to respond to White playing the London (I don't even know if the defense has a name), or otherwise, I'm simply responding to whatever White does that adheres to normal chess principles. I don't play the Sicilian or the Caro-Kann or really any other standard defense.

I assume most players on this site are like me, and don't play more than two or three openings. Of course, if you're playing bullet or blitz or rapid, there is no opportunity to learn your opponent's tendencies, but in daily play it's perfectly acceptable, and smart, to take a look at their most recent games and see what they like to do. I've saved you that trouble if you play against me.

I'm not going to list the ways to refute the London, Ponziani, Closed Sicilian or Stafford. I'd probably mess it up anyway. But now that you know what I'm likely to play, you can check out the literally hundreds of websites and YouTube videos that will tell you all you need to know to slam shut my openings and leave me scrambling in the middle game.

Previous entries in the "How to Beat Me" series:

There's No Secret to Beating Me - Here's How
How to Beat Me, Lesson #2: Never Resign
How to Beat Me, Lesson #3: Lock Your Back Door
How to Beat Me, Lesson #4: It's Daily, Not Bullet