When I was a beginer, I was always told "Just play your best, don't worry about your opponents rating."
But here I see many of the strongest players pay much attention to the other guy's rating!
Most interesting.
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Does your opening vary, based on your opponents rating?
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I'm a beginner but I play mostly the same things. With even or lower rated opponents I like to do some creative openings.
As a beginner most of the times you play the board but sometimes you make a stupid mistake and if your opponent doesn't see it it becomes more playing the person because it gives me a daring feeling of pulling off a risky attack and sacrificing pieces to open up.
No :).
Once I played the Danish Gambit against an opponent who looked easy. He responded with the Schlechter defense...
Vs garndmasters if it is correspondence I play the best most sound openings I can find. Vs a grandmaster over-the-board I try to play something he has not experienced before.
Masters on down play the most sound openings possible.
against novices (rated 999 or lower) I play for the scholars mate or any opening trap I can think of agaisnt everyone else I play the same stuff but what does impact what I play is (3min games or lower). Also if its a tournament of any kind where theres any benefit what so ever of winning (rating,cash,bigger tourney invite etc...) I play all familier stuff in my openings but if its a friendly game or on website I try to experiment as much as possible with my main openings (im usually 1st to steer into new grounds in friendly or/and online games)
when I see master analysis of a game its intresting that most seem to NOT play famailier stuff against higher rated opponents like most here but instead play more creative or less ventured stuff and stick to there main stuff against other opposition but once your talking about SMs and up (2400+) the only thing they look at to impact there opening choice is there tournament standing and whether or not they studied or played there opponent before Espically so with the world champions and top 10 players in the world.
Yes, especially when playing Black. That is, I will play a more risky opening against a lower player, but not a higher rated one. For instance, against e4, a Nimzovich against A players and below, Sicilian against Experts and above. But against d4, its the Tarrasch against all. When playing White, if I am learning an opening I play the same against all.
If you are playing in a tournament such as the US Open or World Open the thing to do [if possible] is to get hold of the score sheets of your next opponent and look for a weakness in his openings.
This happened to me in 1973. I was doing very well but had previously played this system as Black 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 5. c3 f5.
I had discovered a hole in the system but played it anyway as I often got very good games. In that tournament my opponent, Lawrence Day, master from Canada, found what I played and figured out the hole and I lost horribly. Of course he had the advantage of staying at the tournament hotel.
Kinda hard to believe lol who finds a whole at that level and plays it anyway.
Oct 12, 2014
0
#32
when im white and im facing a 1700 in the nationals, they simply play a scandinavian and get it down to a boring game and a difficult to win position
I wouldn't say my opening varies according to my opponent's rating, it's the other way round: my opponent's rating varies according to my opening. If I play a successful opening, my opponent's rating goes down. If not, it goes up. 
iamdeafzed wrote:
Yes. I'll be more likely to use something that I don't know as well/experiment against a player I figure I have a decent chance of beating anyway.
Against opponents that I figure are at or above my level, I'm more likely to stick to more familiar territory.
I do the same thing. I sometimes experiment with an unusual opening when the opponent is someone I can beat pretty easily.
I usually stick to solid openings when playing someone around my level or better.
there's nobody i can beat "easily" yet, so i try to stick to what usually works for me.
I have always felt that I should "play the board" and not pay much attention to ratings.
Ratings here, in my opinion, are deceptive. I have played 1300 players that are very strong and 1600 players that were not. While I will experiment with different openings or variations I prefer to stick to what I know, though I probably am more willing to take chances with a lower rated player without actually thinking about it.
No. It based on every situation and your opponent playing style.
I'm not fluent in enough openings to cycle through them willy nilly. I have one repertoire that I'm comfortable using OTB and I use that for 95% of my games. Occasionally I'll try something very different in blitz against a much weaker opponent (or against an opponent so much stronger they crush me every time, and it doesn't matter much).
Occasionally I become disatisfied with the positions I get from an opening I use and replace it, but otherwise I play the same things and try to master them.
There are some openings in my regular repertoire which I stay away from against lower rated players due to a relatively lack of winning chances, for example, the Breyer Variation of the Closed Ruy, the QGD and 1 d4 d6 2 c4 e5 (because of 3 de de 4 Qxd8+ etc.)
Against lower rated players online I sometimes like to get creative with openings and "turn off" opening book around move 3 and try moves that look reasonable but I've never seen or tried before.
Sometimes it means the opening is a bit passive but as long as you have an idea of what you're aiming for it tends to work really well.