Chess Openings

I am going to learn the Vienna! It will be my first actual opening I ever learned, getting to 1400 was only form tactics, but now that I’m higher rated, I need to not just focus on tactics but also focus on the opening.

damn i learned openings way before 1400. vienna is good

Vienna doesn't teach you anything (in my opinion) unless you learn it in the right way. Don't learn the Vienna gambit, I recommend the Stanley variation and the Copycat variation is still good as a lot of those positions are not quick wins.

This is only if you really wanna learn the vienna of course all of this is my opinion you do not need to take it for granted.

uhhhh disagree i think the vienna is fine

Thought I'd share this interesting concept in the London with a slight move order difference between Be2 and Bd3. This caught me out in the game last week, below are the boards for the two slight variations.

In my head it surely can't make much of a difference as Black is playing for e5 in these positions and nothing has changed for Black here. There is the option for Bxg6 exchange but I usually don't play that to not allow White to create some space for the King.

This usually would result in this.

Black opens up room for the light square Bishop and we play a game of chess. Although with the Bishop on e2 an interesting idea appears.

With the White Bishop on d3 though the Bh4 ideas are no longer as strong.

It's the slight nuances that make the studying of opening ideas rather enjoyable for me and this seemly innocuous difference here making such an impact here on what should be the main objective of the opening shows the wealth of ideas hidden away. Hopefully this concept is as interesting/useful for someone else as it has been for myself

woah Bh4 is wild

I highly recommend the blog and YouTube channel of my friend @vitualis. You can find him online as Adventures of a Chess Noob. He has an excellent intro to the Vienna that explores a few of the lines and why. I hope this helps!

Keep Chessing & Be Brilliant!

Hi guys, it’s me again. I have a problem with transpositions after 1.c4. Usually, when I’m playing Black and my opponent starts with 1.d4, I end up in either a Nimzo-Indian or a Queen’s Indian, which is my repertoire.

But when my opponent plays 1.c4 first, I struggle to transpose into those lines. Here’s an example: 

See, here I can’t really go for my usual lines with Bb4 or b6. I don’t want to learn dozens of new lines against the English (1.c4). So if anyone has any advice, I’ll gladly take it.

You can only transpose so much againt 1. c4. If your opponent doesn't play d4 then you'll never get back into a 1 d4 line.

The way to think about this is that you only have to learn against lines that avoid d4.

Just be careful to not transpose yourself into a line you don't know, so here you should be avoiding playing d5 else you will be risking getting yourself into a QGD.

Where as I want to be a QGD so I'm always looking to play d5 to give white the chance to transpose into what I know.

I don't know these lines well enough but I'd imagine that you'd find some lines for white let you get into a nimzo Indian type setup and others let you get into a QID easier so just play for what white leaves the most open.

exactly. learn the english with lines that exclude ever playing d4

Here's some Vienna analysis I did. I don't play this opening, so those who do, feel free to correct me or add your thoughts on the lines I share here. Beginners looking for a weapon against 1...e5 may find this useful.

@KiriyamaKazuo this is really nice. I think that it's always just as important to understand how the common mistakes give you an advantage alongside learning the mainline moves, particularly at our level. This in depth look at exf4 really does show that, with some fireworks to finish!

Added benefit is that often these lines teach us some fundamental ideas about how to take advantage of the weak moves our opponents play, taking these ideas into a general middlegame position is very rewarding when done right!

As a Vienna player, this line is in my opening prep for exf4. I believe there are actually other king moves black can make that lead to a nasty checkmate.

Unexperienced players can easily reach venomous positions when playing against the Vienna (especially through the Copycat Variation lines). Here black has 5 points of material but is completely losing.

Why on move 4 would black undevelop the knight, rather than moving the queen in front of the king and pinning the pawn?

@Chavoux I showed that as an alternative line. White can unpin and renew the threat, and it's not clear what Black has achieved by moving the queen. Notice that 3...exf4 is already bad for Black in that line.

Hi guys, i've been playing the sveshnikov sicilian for about a year now, im wondering whether or not to switch to a Najdorf or something else, im also happy help others learn the sicilian, it's one of my favourite weapons, it's not really that suitable for beginners, but if youre intermediate or above, i'm happy to help you learn it. Thanks in advance!

I don't think there's any need to switch openings unless you're feeling uncomfortable with what you're currently playing.

do not play the najdorf. its ridiculous for a non titled player. the sheer number of lines is just not practical to learn and your opponents will be uncomfortable but so will you

There's always a few questions you have to ask myself when looking for a new opening to try:

1. How much time do you have to study a new opening?
2. What do you want to get out of a new opening?

The second question to this can have a wide range of answers, a few examples that came straight to mind (but this won't be a complete list)

1. Do you want more variety in the positions played?
2. Do you want a surprise weapon against people who know what you play?
3. Do you want a secondary opening that compliments your current opening, can help you understand it better or transpose to when it's better?
4. Do you want a secondary opening that is a completely different, help understand different pawn structures or have different concepts (weapons or defences) that you'll get to learn that are rarely seen in your main line?
5. Do you want to target a particular player whom you're having difficulty facing?

I'm sure there's more considerations than this but if you let us know what you want from a new opening that would help answer the question.

On a secondary note I would never say its bad to learn any particular opening even if its just for the enjoyment of studying, but if your goals are rating focused (especially short term rather than long term goals) and time is limited there might be things to focus on that are a better use of that time.