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Expanding opening knowledge

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  kindaspongey
  #41 Mar 22, 2018

  "... This book is the first volume in a series of manuals designed for players who are building the foundations of their chess knowledge. The reader will receive the necessary basic knowledge in six areas of the game - tactcs, positional play, strategy, the calculation of variations, the opening and the endgame. ... To make the book entertaining and varied, I have mixed up these different areas, ..." - GM Artur Yusupov

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  aaronprince
  #42 Mar 22, 2018

  For the record, what I meant by saying all players should study openings is that all players should study the major openings and get a general grasp of what each opening is trying to accomplish. General theory about what each major opening is trying to accomplish and what the weaknesses are. Memorizing lines and going more than a few moves deep into analysis is not what I was talking about.

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  ckesel
  #43 Mar 26, 2018
  I don’t know why anybody would tell you not to study openings. Especially at our level, when everyone plays like one of five openings every game, knowing a handful inside and out makes for quick wins— especially since most people know like the first three moves and then they start guessing. If you know the mainline and a few variations five or ten moves past that then you’re gonna bury them, obviously. Unfortunately, as mentioned in this thread already, opening study doesn’t pay much when you still can’t notice hanging pieces and cheap tactics. John Bartholomew says it pretty well in his sub-1000 video, “you’re liable to implode any second.”