How should you study openings?

One of the most commonly asked questions is, "How do I study openings?"

You'll see lots of different responses across the internet, but my answer would depend on where you are in your chess development. 

In general, your current skill level will dictate 1) How much time you need to spend on openings, 2) Which openings will further your development the most and 3) Which openings you will expect to face from your opponents.

For the purposes of the article, I'll be discussing openings at the intermediate level. 

Opening Study for the Intermediate Player (1400-1800)

The best advice I can give for players in the solid 1400-1800 ratings is that deeply understanding the middlegames that result from the opening is more important than memorizing opening variations themselves.

 In my experience, moves you'll face in amateur tournaments will likely significantly differ from those at the top grandmaster level - therefore spending hours upon hours of opening memorization are unlikely to accomplish much outside of the occasional quick victory. Amateur players tend to play "natural" moves, - ideas that seem straightforward, rather than the "best" moves.  

A great example would be the "bowdler attack" in the Sicilian. This is where white plays the move 2.Bc4 in response to the Sicilian Defense.

Now, any grandmaster will tell you that 2.Bc4 is a strategic mistake. Black can play 2...e6, blocking the bishop's diagonal, and get a comfortable game right away. For this reason, most grandmaster opening repertoire books will either completely ignore Bc4 or only very briefly mention it.  

Now, such a terrible opening should hardly be played, correct?  Well, data I compiled from an online database seems to tell a different story:

. 

Notice how a move that is completely spurned by professionals is the 2nd most popular move among 1600 players! This shows the disconnect between grandmasters and amateurs - GM repertoire books are almost completely ignoring one of the most frequently played openings at the club level. 

For this reason, I recommend that amateur players should not rely on opening manuals, but rather their own games as a basis for analysis. Being a frequent occurrence, I would highly recommend studying 2.Bc4 - but in particular, understanding why it is deficient.  Ways to boost your understanding include:

• Analyzing different potential variations by yourself and try to determine the best plans for both players
• Comparing your analysis to a computer's suggestion, and try to understand why any differences in evaluation occur
• Playing the position against the computer from both sides to gain experience playing these types of position
• Keep asking questions! Be curious about the position. The more questions you ask, the more you will learn! 

During the training session, my friend suggested the move Qc7 - the idea being to infiltrate the White kingside via the c3 square.  A good idea! Our analysis of white attempts for kingside activity such as h4 and g4 showed that black's attack was just too fast. 

However, when we try to play Qc7 against the computer, it found the defense Qc5! And suddenly black's attack is muted. A valuable lesson learned - Qc5 is a defense resource for white in this type of position. 

Having gained some knowledge of a white defense, we looked up the "book" move, and to our surprise found that Qc6 - rather than Qc7 - was the best move. This leads us to the question - "Why is Qc6 better than Qc7? What additional resource does black have when white tries the same defense Qc5?"

Try to answer this question yourself before moving on:

The answer lies in the Queen's freedom to move to f6! Black did not have this idea if the queen had been c7 rather than c6. White is now incapable of stopping black from infiltrating on the h8-a1 diagonal, and is in trouble. 

 What did we learn from this analysis? 

• An opening variation 
  • The reasons behind the opening variation
    • Chess concepts / Ways to play these types of middlegames (most important!)

While it takes time, this is the way to improve your chess! I wish you happy studying into the new year!

What tips or tricks have helped you learn openings? Post in the comments below!