How I beat a GM by learning chess openings correctly

United States champion and world chess champion Bobby Fischer once stated that "a theoretical advantage is as good as being a queen up."

Now in my early years I did not understand what that statement meant. I remember getting the Modern Chess Openings (MCO) book, which is a reference work on almost all modern opening variations.

I remember the very first chapter being about the King's Gambit, one of the oldest openings ever and a favorite of World Champion Boris Spassky.

My rating was probably around 1000 blitz/rapid at that point. I found the book quite tedious and overwhelming, and some of the evaluations at the end of a given sequence were abstract and made no sense.

For example, I would ask, Why is this position slightly better for White? Why is this position equal? Why is this position better for Black?

I simply lacked the skills to evaluate a position based on imbalances and positional elements at that point in my chess development.

I have taken to learning openings once again. The impetus comes from being constantly outplayed in the English opening setup or constantly failing with the Nimzo and Bogo Indian defenses.

It's clear that after the first 4 or 5 moves, I have no idea what to do. What are the typical ideas, etc.?

During this approach to learning openings by focusing on general plans, ideas, and typical schemes, I found that I spend less time thinking and tend to find myself in better or comfortable positions out of the opening.

In the past month, I began studying the Benoni. I was once a Benko Gambit player, but I gave it up, as some variations may lead to Benoni-like structures, and I just felt uncomfortable.

My win/loss ratio in Benoni positions was quite abysmal.

So I watched a few videos and looked at a few games to learn the typical ideas and maneuvers that occur in Benoni pawn structures.

Some of the maneuvers and nuances are very creative. It is doubtful that I would ever come up with them on my own.

Perhaps that may be possible in a correspondence game where you are allowed to analyze/move the pieces around using a chessboard.

Once my study of the major variations of the Benoni was complete, I began employing it.

My greatest victory came when I was paired with a grandmaster. I found myself playing very quickly, and my subsequent moves were clear. I felt like I was in control.

My grandmaster opponent slowed down. He was stuck. He needed a plan and could not generate reasonable ideas given just 3 minutes to play.

He was better at points during the game, but my speed of play and the positional threats that I developed probably caused discomfort and slowed down his play.

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Some game Notes:

On Move 11 I remembered this knight maneuver from studying the opening.

On move 13, I want to trade bishops for 3 reasons:

My opponent has a space advantage, and trading will attenuate this advantage and ease my cramped position.
The bishop defends the e4 pawn. Trading it would allow greater pressure against it in the future with moves like Re8, Qe7, etc.
c4, d3, and b3 can be critical squares. For example, after I put a pawn on c4, I can then transfer a knight to c5 and then to d3, introducing pressure and difficulties to my opponent.
On move 18, I played 18...Nd7!! I am already realizing my plan to place my knight on c5. I already had this in mind from move 13!

On move 21! I finally placed my knight on d3! All worked out since move 13!

In the end I was up 1:27 on the clock, and my opponent lost on time.

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That's the power of studying openings with a view to learn ideas and not blindly memorizing specific moves.

So when learning openings, learn about ideas. Learn about plans. Learn about the pawn structure and typical positions and maneuvers!

This technique gives you understanding!

This is better than memorizing a 21-move sequence and not understanding "why" these moves are reasonable.