Opening Trainer

Hey everyone! I think it would be helpful to beginners like myself to have an interactive opening trainer. Features could include:

1. An opening is shown and you are asked to name it.

2. An opening is named, part of it is shown, and you are asked to complete it (playing with both color pieces).

3. An opening is named and you are asked to play the entire thing (playing with both color pieces).

4. An opening is named and you are asked to identify the variations.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this everyone...

Sounds good to people who know variations a lot

Yeah. But of course you'd start easy and work your way up to that.

Very true

@Batman565  Interesting suggestion!  

Have you tried the interactive video lessons yet?  If not, check out the link below. 

https://www.chess.com/lessons

I have found them to be quite helpful myself.  Some of the lessons do cover different styles of openings and the suggested counter defenses.  You have access to the lower ranked levels as a regular member.  If you get a membership (depending on which one) you gain access to more advanced levels.

Membership

• Gold = Interactive Lessons (Beginner)
• Platinum = Interactive Lessons (+ Intermediate)
• Diamond = Unlimited Lessons (Advanced and Old Lessons)

Those are ok for the very very very beginning, but it would be nice to have something to practice some different variations with, because in some openings you're supposed to play a4 and then a5 which you can't possibly intuitively play unless you know the lines that are supposed to be played.

So something like why some moves are played, what to do on certain variations, how to transpose, how to get the pawn structure from one opening to the one that is beneficial to whatever you want to play, etc.

@Chessbovine  Makes sense.  It is a good suggestion for more advanced players.

I was thinking if someone is relatively new to chess, completing the lessons would be a solid start.  The opening is only one part of the game.  There's much more to strategy than just your opening.  Also, some players focus too much on the opening and trying to memorize different variations, which could lose focus on other aspects of the game.

Thank you guys! Yes, I think this would be useful especially for the stuff that @Chessbovine suggested - openings where you have to know the line in order to have success with it. Although I do agree with @Jonani - the opening isn't everything. I think the lessons and the Opening Explorer are both useful, and this would be sort of like combining them into a tool that helps you memorize them and have them ready for actual games. A little bit of theory would also be useful to help you understand why you're doing what you're doing.

@Jonani Yes, I agree that it shouldn't be a memory competition, but if you play moves that seem natural to you against someone who knows the main lines and variations up to move 10 or 15 you might not only come out worse out of the opening but completely irredeemably lost.

Maybe a tool to make your own opening book with a nicely overseeable variation tree, as the variations in the analysis are sort of a mess with all the double and tripple parentheses, maybe something more like a tree where you can clearly see the branching lines and what they are unless I missed some option and it's already available

I like the idea. It is true that of all the lessons available, training always seems to focus on games in mostly middle-end game positions. As mentioned by the OP, it would be great to have a trainer geared towards achieving good positions out of the opening.

Thank you guys for your feedback! I like @Chessbovine's idea of a tree diagram. It sounds like an clearer way of seeing the different possibilities and variations of the basic openings.

An alternative to studying openings is to analyze one's games and review the opening moves and see where computer analysis offers improvements. Over time one gets to understand what good development is and can navigate early out of book situations with thoughtful coherent move choices  

Some typical errors (not universally wrong but frequently) :
1. Move a piece twice in the opening
2. Pointless pawn moves in place of piece development
3. Not castling
4. Moving bishops before Knights
5. Not getting castled and rooks connected and on good files before launching an attack 

Also sticking to the same opening will provide knowledge and experience which is more useful than learning a 18 move book line that you may never see over the board.  

Good point @jas0501. It can be useful to know opening lines so you don't spend more time on an opening than necessary, although I agree that memorizing openings you will never play is a waste of time as well.

@Chessbovine  As you and @Batman565 have referred to it as the "tree diagram".  Sounds like a very interesting idea.  I have always been a fan of visual aids, as I find it helps to brainstorm ideas and explore your options.

@jas0501  Thanks for pointing out common errors some players make during their opening game.  It's always good to gain insight from other members.

So after thinking about this some more I realized this idea basically boils down to a more interactive Opening Explorer. Another feature could be:

1. Lessons on how to take advantage when your opponent screws the opening up.

There's a lot of stuff out there on how to play the opening well, but there's less on what to do when your opponent doesn't.

@Batman565 there are at least there lessons series on exploiting opening errors

https://www.chess.com/mentor/course/289

https://www.chess.com/mentor/course/334

https://www.chess.com/mentor/course/337

https://www.chess.com/mentor/course/344

I think chess.com will be able to do this. However, they might think that this is extra.

Thanks for the references @Chessbovine! And thank you as well for your feedback @SansMegalovania! By "extra" do you mean "unnecessary" or "only available with subscription" or what?

Speaking of the lessons, I don't quite understand this one: https://www.chess.com/mentor/course/337 the second one "Draw so soon?"

I don't quite understand, in the description it says black played Nbd7 when a5 is usually played. Analyzing the position, a5 is actually worse and Nbd7 is the second best move, e6 being best. I do understand that engines might not quite "understand" an opening and a book move might be better than what the engine thinks is better but this solution tactic also works with a5 played instead of Nbd7.

Also it would be helpful if it said what opening that actually is.