I really hate talking about the Scotch Opening = Scotch Game...

About myself after 30 years away i am returning to chess at age 50 plus Tax !!! :) so after some 3 months my rating is around 1350; this is really sort of funny since i am killing the enemy at the range of 1450 to 1500 and then i blow games against 1000-1150 ? Why ???

It is simple i get lazy and miss tactics, if your looking to improve your rating an get to 1600 for FREE ? here is the secret formula; 1) Choose a solid opening that has a simple first few moves that is easy to learn and understand; but stresses the "Principles of DEVELOPMENT" !, 2) Focus on making sure your moves are error and mistake free; make sure you consider 'checks', 'forks', 'attacks' and 'threats', 3) Stick with the one opening that flows into OPEN games; this means E4, if you want to get better then forget D4 and Flank openings till you are good at E4 "Open-Games" ??? WHY !!! ???

Simple from what you are after in chess ? if your playing for procrastination or fun then play anything. However if you want to get better you need to understand tactics from 'pattern recognition' it is not the best just to do tactical puzzles since you are TOLD to find the 'solution', this is good training but you get no hints in your own games like this. Thus you need open "uncomplicated" E4 type tactical games to learn to 'see' tactics you use to win material or win position. If you play D4 / Flank complicated games it is much harder for you to 'visualise' piece movements and tactics, simply you must learn to crawl before oyu can run...

And the Scotch Game is great for this, it can easily lead to OPEN tactical games, but slight changes allows the one opening to lock the centre or another to completley 'empty' the centre. Thus this one opening has very basic straight-forward ways to generate immediate threats or can become 'positional' in nature for variety.

This simple powerful proven opening can easily become your life long winning chess opening however it is less well known than some other major openings. This is Why i HATE telling people about the Scotch Opening since i prefer to have it 'forgotten' so i can surprise my enemies more with its powers. But having so long searched for the 'perfect' White opening compared to all other White openings i just have to tell others the Scotch Game has these features...

1) Fast to learn the first few opening moves,

2) a perfect playground for the beginner to adventure in,

3) useful for the rest of your life,

4) not totally well known,

5) easily changable into a variety of different play styles according to you wishes,

6) not a ton of preparation nor updating is needed...

So do not tell others please keep the Scotch Game our Secret weapon, be assured it is a proven giant killer at the the highest levels and has been for about 20 decades !!!