Openings: Understand, don't Memorize!

Hi chess.com members! It's very valuable to understand that the best way to study openings is to know the ideas, and plans, not just theory! A very common mistake is to try to memorize the theory in every variation of an opening. The question is... What happens when your opponent plays a move you don't know, and all you know is theory? Well this is exactly how it could backfire to not have understanding of an opening. I recommend taking the time in your opening analysis to figure out the plans, ideas and analyse the key variations. Are my recommending to not study theory? Of course not, one should study theory on the main lines and  even the sidelines, and use their general chess knowledge to improvise against sidelines they don't know. I once was at a chess tournament and an undisclosed person said ''I memorized the Sicilian Dragon in a year!'' Why this is hopeful thinking one can not learn a whole opening in their life! Since after 4 moves there are Billions of Billions of possibilities, that is just simply impossible to achieve as a human.

My Tips for Successful Opening Preperation:

1. Choose and opening repertoire based on your style, if your not into the opening you will not get your best results possible!

2. Know the theory on the main lines, and know the ideas in case your opponent plays a move you have never seen.

3. If your opponent plays a move that you have never seen, and is not common in the database it's probably not the a good move!

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I hope these tips help you in your opening preperation and chess career's!

Thank you for Reading!