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Hey guys, this is @Phantom_Beast23 And here is my new blog! I took a while to get people to answer my questions and gather up answers so It would be amazing if you could check it out Some things I talked about are: - my experience in studying openings - other people's thoughts - and how much you should study them based on your levels This took a while ( and when I say that I mean 13 days ish ) So it would mean a LOT if you could check it out! Here's also a link to all my other blogs! Thank you, @Phantom_Beast23 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you're too lazy to read it, the blog can be found below Hey everyone, this is @Phantom_Beast23, and in this blog, I wanted to talk about opening preparation. In my opinion, this is a rather controversial topic, as a bunch of people say, this is really important, while others say it's not as important as practicing tactics. In this blog, I wanted to kind of share my thoughts on this topic, as well as a few other people who will be mentioned later. Thanks to all of them for taking the time to give some answers and helping in this blog. My Experience After we were announced that there would be no school and winter break would start, I decided to take some time to study some openings. I took down notes using the opening explorer, seeing what was commonly played, and how it was refuted. After 3 days of studying, I was able to feel more or less confident in playing against openings such as the Sicilian and the Caro, and as black, the Scandinavian, and the French (Even though I'm still not good at it). After all that studying, I was sure my rating would sky-rocket. After all, they say practice makes perfect, right? Well, it didn't. My rating didn't really do up, nor did I go through tilt. It kind of stagnated, despite playing so many Blitz games. I also tried this in Rapid later, and while my rating did go up 30 points-ish, it still wasn't as great as I had hoped it to be. The opening prep didn't work really for me online USCF, mostly because everyone I know plays e4 e5. Now, it wasn't a complete failure. I was able to feel more confident when I played openings such as the Sicilian, the Caro, and the Alekhine's. I didn't feel as lost for sure, and it made me a bit more confident in playing these lines rather than playing unknown and untested moves. For people interested in how I studied, all I did was basically takes some notes down on a notebook, and repeating those lines on a chessboard to see which one I was comfortable with the most, had the most win rates, how many people played it, etc. Other people's thoughts I was worried my answer or opinion to this question may not have been justified enough, so I went around asking people about their thoughts on this topic. If my answer was one you didn't want or expect, here are some other responses I got while surveying people, thanks a TON for the people that participated "No, you gotta memorize the concept the lines, yes but it's not as important as knowing the concept like feeling the position." - @PeasantElevator __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "No need. Just learn the lines." - @LightningLeapord8 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "No, of course not, just learn the lines and main concepts." - @NobleElevator "Of course, you should memorize long openings. After playing a lot it should engrave in your brain, but OTB and online and very different things, and it's not like you play 15 OTB games a day" - @SneezingDino __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The most detailed answer came from Robert Shylakhtenko, also known as @1e41-0 on chess.com: "Any sort of chess study, when done correctly, is beneficial.if you analyze openings from the viewpoint of looking ideas and trying to understand the position, then opening work is definitely helpful. Even if the analysis turns out to be incorrect, you learn something about the opening variation and about chess. Don't "analyze" openings by simply plugging in the move the engine is recommending. That is not analysis. Your opponent will inevitably deviate from your analysis at some point; if you've memorized only the computer moves and not the underlying ideas, you will get lost quickly.This is why I suggest incorporating textual annotations and comments about typical themes in your analysis. This does not mean that you shouldn't analyze deeply or use the computer in your analysis; these are tools that will always enhance your analysis. But do not let these tools think for you -- otherwise you will not learn anything.I will also make one more comment. Many people consider opening analysis to be boring or unnecessary; that is most likely because they are doing it the wrong way. Many of the most beautiful ideas in chess have been discovered in opening analysis with the help of computers. And it can have immense practical benefits as well: I myself have won games due to having opening preparation superior to that of my opponent (and have lost games because of a lack of knowledge!).In short: analyze by yourself and analyze deeply. Use the tools at your disposal, but do not become the tool yourself. Understand what you are analyzing and why." - @1e41-0 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ For casuals like me, if you had trouble processing that, he said that you should definitely analyze and learn openings, but not for the sake of using engines and not the underlying ideas. He stated later that opponents will deviate or go a different direction which may not have been studied from engines. I also think that the question differs among people based on their ratings. For me, being 1200, I would say learning a lot of lines aren't that important, unless you're constantly struggling against a ceratin opening, then you should definitely take the time to learn a refutation. Obviously, this is not valid for someone that is 2000+. I feel taking the time to study openings is crucial, as, without that, you won't be able to gain rating. But of course, there are some exceptions, such as Emmanuel Lasker, who was known for poor opening theory, yet was known for his middle/endgame. But I feel that this sort of thing won't work as well as it did in the early 1900s. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Overall, I would recommend just learning some of the concepts of a certain opening instead of diving too deep, as I would recommend just practicing your tactics are more important than memorizing deep and long opening moves. I also feel this may not be as applicable to people 2000+, especially OTB, as the competition gets higher there, so learning deep openings can be very important. Anyways, that's basically it for this blog, I truly hope you enjoyed it if you came all the way here took me a good amount of time to make this, so I appreciate all the support. I had started working on this a while ago, yet I hadn't gotten enough time thus, I haven't been as active as before for blogging. I love discussing this topic in general, seeing all the different responses and different sides of the argument-it's pretty cool. And as always, make sure to check my other Blogs, They're pretty good as I take my time and effort to do them! I also hope to get Top Blogger soon so your support would be much appreciated! Thank you, @Phantom_Beast23

It might not be very impressive with u 2000 - 1700 people, but it is an achievement for me!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6586499942 a comeback win

https://www.chess.com/club/telegram-chess-com/

Overall, I think it was a pretty close game, and a rough one, so can you tell me if there are any mistakes. I've analyzed but I just want your opinions. Thanks!

https://www.chess.com/blog/giftedguppy1000/my-social-links

Hope you'd like it and please analysis this game!

hi!

Like me

Pretty self explanatory, I was just wondering if anybody wanted someone to study with as that is what I am looking for in someone else. It just makes it easier to practice as I can practically learn when there is two people.

I get it, nobody wants to review games because of the time. If you took the time to do this, thank you. I am rated 400 but I do play at about a 1000 to 1200 level. Here are some of my favorite games, and if you could give me tips or advice, I would really love it. That game was one of my tactical-play oriented games Now for one of my favorite fork-based games with a beautiful back-rank checkmate Now a good game with solid setups all around. The beautiful sac for the back rank checkmate. Enjoy! Three of my favorite games. If you could review and give feedback, I'd appreciate it. Also in the future I hope to create my first puzzles! In the meantime, I have a few tips for the king's Indian. On whichever side your opponent castles, always threaten a mate by your queen and bishops protecting. Make a massive pawn push to shred open the side of castling, and your dormant bishop will become a laser beam later on in the match. That's all for now!!

https://www.chess.com/blog/WunderpaulR

https://www.chess.com/club/kings-3 also join my friends club https://www.chess.com/club/chess-knights-3 https://www.chess.com/club/sv-chess