Chess Openings

jobava is not dubious. black just equalizes easily. very good and dangerous opening that can be played even at super gm level

Yeah people win more cos its used as a suprise weapon and in blitz/rapid. ig dubious was a bit too much. Your not gonna be able tp play jobava for your whole life so you have to switch at some point which is why something like QG is recommended cos even if you change your opening to catalan for eg the c pawn pressuring and all those ideas are still there so it is easier. even IM Alex Banzea mainly uses it in blitz and @nooslam its not the best choice in summary ofc it is dangerous and one more thing the pawn storm is almost dubious as one time when i used to play jobava (i knew it pretty well) the pawn storm was always refuted somehow by my coach like c5 and a6 is very strong cos the knight on c3 is useless after a6

yeah a6 in the jobava really turns a lot of the fun off for white but then its just equal. catalan is my main opening so id agree its a much better long term option

For those interested in a new weapon against the French I thought I'd share my opening study work from over the summer. The Schlechter variation, this is rare enough to be a surprise (2% of games played) but still sound (engine quickly goes to 0.0 with best moves by both sides).

There are also a few common mistakes that black makes such as

Black's over use of pawn moves leaves their structure ruined and them without development.

Another common line is

This is often a quite fun game with White attacking on the kingside and Black on the Queenside. The ideas I learnt from this has helped in alot of similar openings as this structure isn't too uncommon. If Black plays c4 then the fun really begins as White can get some really nasty attacks throwing all the pieces or pawns at the King.

A nice line that I know in this and have played something similar to goes:

Two pawns for an enormous attack has fun written all over it.

The main line is interesting as you get to put the Bishop on f3 which generates alot of potential on the long diagonal that might be quite unusual to a Black French player used to a locked up centre.

Would be interesting to see some openings that others have learnt recently and are willing to share

Hi guys, I would be very grateful if you could fill out the survey about sicilian defense.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfMN_Y3NqrCWUP2bZdgaBUMnN99N57tkBe9fhuroHgAlqsdiw/viewform?usp=header

I love the rossolimo/moscow, they're my main opening

Hi! I’m new to actually learning chess and having some trouble. My opponents play random moves that interrupt my opening, what do I do? Does that mean I need to learn more openings, or do I just continue the best I can? 400-500 elo range. Specifically struggling with the Italian

it's best to know ideas of the opening rather than memorizing deep lines, if your opponents deviate from theory early they're probably making a bunch of mistakes and you have to learn how to recognize them and punish them.

My suggestion is that you grab a bunch of games you lost this week, and go through each one, writing down when you made a losing move and what could you have played that's better, then you'll eventually improve.

This is really good, practical advice. Thank you!

Go with the basic opening principles. Chess openings revolve around controlling and occupying the central space. If your opponent lets you put piece after piece in the center, you should do it. If you make this a habit, soon you'll find yourself playing book moves even in openings you never heard of.

I'll give an encouraging anecdote. About a month or two ago, I faced some gambit I had never heard of, twice in the same day. I didn't know what to do, so I just tried to make sensible moves and fight for the center as much as I could. I won both games in about 15 moves and after I checked with the engine, I was surprised to find out I had played at 99% accuracy in one game, and 98% in the other, a highly unusual feat for me. The same thing in reverse has happened too: sometimes I play somewhat dubious openings, like the King's Gambit, and get absolutely hammered.

@cammiexox That's a great question! @cegaletta and @Sebu13 have already given excellent points of advice, but here's something that I'd like to add: at your level, it's not about studying openings as much as it is recognizing your opponents' blunders and preventing your own. Puzzles are a great resource for this, as they reinforce tactical awareness and even positional ideas. Now, that's not to say that studying openings at a 400-500 level of play is not encouraged. On the contrary, openings are a great way to master sound, fundamental chess principles. The Italian is a great opening that does just that, and is an excellent opening for someone at your level (and all levels, for that matter), so great choice!

For specific improvement, I would encourage you to focus on preventing blunders and capitalizing on your opponents' blunders, and maybe review some Italian theory here and there (not several moves deep, but just the basic opening ideas and principles).

Hope this helps! Best of luck in your improvement!

@Cartoon46 That looks like a very interesting line against the French! Thanks for sharing! My personal favorite is the Tarrasch Variation, which I learned from Danya's YouTube speedruns. Here are some really fun games I've had against some friends with this variation:

Although this game below isn't a Tarrasch game, I was able to use some principles in the Tarrasch to help me get a better position (this one also has annotations as a bonus). It started as an Alapin but transposed into an Advance French:

2 words. Follow principles. Learn opening principles, castle early develop pieces etc.

Does anyone have any recommendations/tips/tricks against the Scandinavian? I usually play the ponziani, but for a while I exclusively played the reti simply because the scandi exists. It always feels like my opponent gets to dictate the game, evenif I play exd5 Nc3 and d4. Looking for actual advice, not the ICBM. Thanks in advance.

Interestingly the line i play has some transpositions into the Tarrasch so I should give it a look at some point (not this year or next though!).

One nice thing about learning an opening in enough depth is that the ideas are often useful in other situations. I've become quite comfortable with ideas of Bd2-c3 /d7-c6 and Be2-f3/e7-f6 under the circumstances when the Knight and the Rook haven't moved and the Queen attacks the pawn that the Bishop is defending. This comes with sacrificing the pawn for tempo or trapping the Queen. All this from opening theory in a random line.

Scandinavian to me feels like you want to have a main plan for each of the Queen moves (as well as Nf6 in response to exd5). These are often different and it takes time. For a while the Scandinavian was my worst win rate playing 1 e4. It's now perfectly fine, my preferred line is this.

Nice and solid with plenty of ideas from the Knight jumps and a fine position to build from.

Thank you, I haven’t seen that setup before.

Hi guys ! I'm trying to find resources on the Scandinavian with 2...Nf6, especially after
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 - looking at both ...Nxd5 and ...Bg4.
I'm building a White repertoire, but most videos are for Black and show bad White play, so it's not super helpful.

Anyone know a good White-focused repertoire covering this line?

I don't think there is a particularly killer line against this (perhaps someone else knows one) but it does tend to give up some development and space so you're best off playing for that and having a nice middlegame.

Looking to play Nf3, Be2/d3, 0-0 and c4 for just a pleasant positional edge. It's also rare enough that there isn't a significant amount to gain by studying in depth unless you are filling in the final gaps of an extremely in depth opening repertoire or there's someone who you regularly play that goes for this.

Fairly relaxed, without too much thought, example below:

Thank you for your answer ! I'll stick with this line