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Guide: List of 'named' opening theories and game' principles (by skak4)

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chess_king777777
skak4 wrote:

Hello everyone! The following is the knowledge that I have gathered from studying this game for a (not) very long time, to give you an insight of the game principles as well as how to play the opening correctly with red, blue, yellow, and green piece respectively. 

Without further ado, let dive straight into it. And by the way, my mother tongue is not English but I will try my best

I. The principles 

Like in regular chess, to be good at the games first you have to study the endgame, then be good at tactics, then you can study the opening. Why? Because to get the final victory, entering the '2 players' stage is inevitable. So make sure you are done with the endgame before reading all of this (seriously).

- Talking about the endgame, here in 4 ways chess it doesn't have too much difference. Like for example in the Rook endgame you (still) want to cut off the opponent' king with your rook instead of giving meaningless checks and improving their king' position (Yeah I saw that a lot), how to use 1 Queen to outmaneuver 1 King and 2 Pawns (not rare), and especially the King and Pawn endgame (block first then push not vice versa). For short, STUDY THE ENDGAME!!!.

Now the principles:

  • If you are up materials in the '2 players' stage, trade down whenever possible. 
  • How to castle properly: on the safer flank of course. It doesn't matter which side, just lock down one side and castle on that one, if you don't know how to do it then just try to put all your pieces as near at your king as possible. 
  • Don't trade rook for bishop. People keep misunderstanding this. Although they give the same point, but don't have the same value. A rook can support pushing pawn later in the game without having to move back and forth like bishop. I once suggested that rook should be 5 point and bishop 4, but someone (frankly attending the final but shan't not be named) replied: 'Doesn't matter, the earth will still spin' something like that. Anyways, the rook is better than the bishop in regular chess for a reason, and so is it here.
  • Don't avoid trading when it is better to do so. Sure avoid trading early in the game is good and you should do that (until the '3 players' stage). But under some circumstances by doing that you are also unnecessarily weakening your position (for example pushing a pawn to block a diagonal) meanwhile your pieces are being cramped up due to not having enough space in your camp. You may not realize, but trading also means removing threat. So don't afraid of trading bishop, bishop for knight, and of course, bishop for rook. 
  • And I'm telling you, there is a secret of how to trade pieces properly among top players, which is: Only trade with one flank. By that, you can trade without breaking the balance, whereby increasing the chance of surviving as well as giving air for your opposite to deal with your other flank. Sometimes this lead to a situation like: Red vs Green & Yellow vs Blue happening simultaneously, but that is fine. 
  • When you don't need to keep a rook in the corner near your king: When the flank is fully locked, like this: Like in this situation, you should castle instead of moving the king to the right (which didn't happen in the game ). Sure, wasting a few moves to get your king to d13 and get the rook out doesn't do much harm, right?   
      

There are still many more complicated principles to be discussed, like for example Which one to chose: Point advantage or Material advantage, but I'd stop here for now and keep that for later.                 

II. The openings 

The purpose of opening theory (like in every other games) is to achieve an optimal starting setup (for both attacking and defending) without spending much time thinking of the moves. With that, I reject the assertion 'This game has no opening theory because either you win or not is a matter of luck'. In fact, this might be true (for low-rated lever of play only, duh) . In most case, luck and chances only turn up in the middle of the game, which is why you have to defend properly in the opening in order to get those chances when they come. 

Before starting to go into specific openings, I'd say the addition of 'en passant' due to the update doesn't really have any significant impact on these theories, because they are highly emphatic on tempo (you will see what I mean). Maybe it will inspire a new opening (perhaps starting by pushing the rook pawn all the way to queen), but that is another story. 

1. The Clemenz Opening

  • Characteristic: An aggressive opening which focuses on minimizing defense and controlling as much space as possible, seen playing the most and works best (up until now) with Red piece (also Yellow)
  • Featured player: MegaLizardon-X  
  • Setup: Castle right side, king in the corner, knights near center, pawns pushed as far as possible, rooks and queen on 3rd rank (to protect the d12/k3 pawn since it's very weak).
  • Countermeasure: A eyeing at k3/d12 
  • Example games with: - Red piece; Yellow piece (click to follow the link)
  • Comment: Don't play this if you are a defensive (or neutral) player, because it doesn't work like that. This opening is suitable for early queening - late castling - style, because it can only be played after k4/d11 has been pushed, remember that, or you will have to suffer.    

2. The Cold System

  • Characteristic: A defensive opening which focuses on locking (or keeping the tension with) the left side and slow play on the right side, seen playing the most and works best (up until now) with Blue piece and Green piece (usually with more defensive lines) 
  • Featured player:   
  • Setup: Castle right side, put left-side pawns on light squares, using dark bishop to control spaces in right flank' camp (at c9 c11 b8 with blue) or trade down with right flank, defensive queen.    
  • Countermeasure: A light square  eyeing at h13/g2 diagonal 
  • Example games with: - Blue piece; Green piece (click to follow the link)  
  • Comment: Every pawn moves in this opening is crucial because you will easily be in a lot of trouble if some of them get pinned (that's why I called it system. a pawn move at not the right moment can break down the whole thing), so be careful. A good 'cold system' player should know when to push his 7-pawn to queen as smoothly as possible. 

3. The Dragon Opening

  • Characteristic: A very defensive opening, can be played by all 4 piece (Easier to set up for Red and Yellow). By 'very defensive' I mean very solid, impenetrable, can not be broken through without at least 2 other players joining the attack. Strong, simple and flexible. The best opening ever existed up until this point.   
  • Featured player: hest1805 (I'd say his dragon is invincible) 
  • Setup: Starting with pushing the right rook-pawn, then slowly put every pieces on the right flank. Both knights are on the right side, the center pawns can be pushed and white bishop are free to roam.     
  • Countermeasure: No countermeasure (from one flank) 
  • Example games with: - Red piece; Yellow piece (click to follow the link)
  • Comment: This is one of the most common opening of this game, and perhaps the easiest to play, but to play it to its full potential you'd need a lot of practice.   

4. The Hippo Opening

  • Characteristic: Somewhat the same as The Dragon, but much slower. It can also be played by all 4 piece (Easier to set up for Blue and Green) You play about ten moves before deciding which flank to castle, sometimes even free the option of both side castling before deciding what to do. 
  • Featured player: Fifth_something 
  • Setup: Like I said, pretty much everything you do that free both-side castling gets the job done. Some of this opening features is: no pawn/piece exceeds the 3rd rank, queen behind bishops, the king walk,...       
  • Countermeasure: Fast play (early queen for example) 
  • Example games with: - Blue piece; Green piece (click to follow the link)
  • Comment: This is the slowest opening. A very slow, defensive and lazy opening (hence the name) to play. Even there are some people being unbelievably lazy that after freeing both-side castling, they start... walking to one of the flanks, which completes the lazy masterpiece of a 20-moves opening. I truly do not recommend that.

(To be continued)


For those of you who may not know me, I am skak4 (also known as loveling129) - a player who once managed to get both accounts into top 20. But since my vice one has been banned (which is reasonable), I am just skak4 now. If you like my work feel free to show it, that would motivate me a lot. 

Thank you! 

 

I'm not trying to say that opening theories are obsolete, but they all involve tactics. When deciding to play a move, check any possible consequences. Even someone who does not study opening theories can play well due to tactical skills. However, opening theories are good for players without strong tactical skills.

chess_king777777
Fifth_something wrote:

 

when i use this setup i always cant stand thinking about this

 

My analysis:

This opening makes you more prone to enter a defensive state, with many potential attacks and locks in positions. It is not that easy to attack with this as side players can flank you or lock the positions.

The only best way to promote is to push the center pawns, after (preferred and mostly played depending on the position) castling, and it is very slow. However this can turn into an advantage after a mass trade of pieces between the other opponents or if your opponents do not cooperate to bring your to-be-queens down.

It is very rare that advanced players will hang their rooks and pawns in the diagonals the bishops are aiming at, but do keep an eye on possible attacks and hanging pieces as they are useful. Just be careful if your opponents also finachietto their bishops as you don't want to trade your powerful bishops early.

Tails204


Tails204's anti-tricks hyperbullet system

Eruner_SK

here are a couple of common named opening in FFA

https://www.chess.com/clubs/forum/view/4pc-openings

Hagibis180

I want to show some of my arguments.

Firstly,protect you A8-h1 diagonal.

Secondly,move king to a locked side and don't move it to an opened line.

Thirdly,let you king go to the same side as your opposite player and it can lead to the anti in the other side

Fourthly,protect your chessmen