GingerGM's 8 move opening

I have been thinking of purchasing a chess course as I am a rank (no pun) beginner.  I started the intro and I came up against this wrinkle:

In the intro on YouTube to GingerGM's chess course, GingerGM states that the following 8 white moves will get you safely into the mid game almost every time without much resistance from black:

C4, black's move, NC3, black's move, G3, black's move, Bg2, black's move, D4, black's move, Ke2, black's move, Castle,  black's move, D3

I must say that almost every time that I play this opening against the computer on Chess.com I get clobbered.

Several games I get the bishop and the queen all up in my face.  One game a pawn actually got down to check my king.  So, rather than being a safe opening "almost every time," it seems to be a dangerous opening almost every time.

Has anyone had any experience with this 8 move opening?

Barry

I think he's talking about the Botvinnik system of the English Opening. d4 should be e4 and Ke2 should be Ne2.

You can't just play your first eight moves blind to what your opponent does. You need to understand what the ideas are behind your opening and adjust based on what the opponent plays.

I have the course you're talking about, GingerGM's Master Method, and he does talk about the Botvinnik system. He never says you should play it blindly. He even goes through an example game. The point he makes is that you need to learn the plans and ideas behind an opening and try to go for a set-up where you become familiar with the middlegame that arises. When you reach similar positions in each game, you can improve and get better, instead of jumping around changing your opening every time.

GingerGM DOES imply that you could play these 8 moves and "it doesn't really matter much what your opponent does. . ."

Thank you all for your replies.  I am, obviously, a beginner.  Can anyone of you recommend a good video chess cours?  I have seen one by Gasparov and others, but you never know if it's really going to be a good course.

I think you’re taking the comment far too literally. Of course you still need to pay attention, BUT, it’s not the sort of set-up the opponent can easily disrupt. It’s akin to the London System in that respect, where the basic piece placement is very similar from fame to game.

This is in contrast to some very sharp openings where you might need to re-adapt move by move based on the set-up your opponent goes for. 

It's MUCH more important to understand Opening Principles than to memorize a list of moves.  The opening does NOT usually win the game for you. It's the middlegame it leads you to that does most of the job.  In the middlegame, especially a beginning levels, tactics and more tactics are what wins - and being able to recognize patterns is very important.  Endgame principles like The Opposition and the Pawn Square Rule need to be learned eventually.

Since you have a platinum membership, you have unlimited access to the lessons and videos on chess.com. like IM Danny Rentch's "Patterns You Must Know" series. For developing, go to Videos and click on "Study Plan" which should start you off in the right direction.

On YouTube, there's a good Chess Fundamentals series and a good,  more advanced, Chess Cognition series both by IM John Bartholomew.

I agree that the Botvinnik English is far from being a universal system. Whenever I try it, Black comes up with some move that makes the planned configuration impossible (an early Bb4 and exchanging the knight on c3, for example). These moves are not refutations, but they undermine the plan of just playing the same formation against everything. I've found two opportunities to play the formation consistently. One is after 1.e4 c5 2.c4, which has now become my favourite anti-Sicilian variation, The other is to play it with Black, when White plays the English opening, either after 1...e5 or 1...c5.

Just memorizing and playing the same 8 moves wont help you improve.  You need to have sort of understanding of the "why" behind those 8 moves, and where the pawn breaks are. 

What is the idea behind whites opening moves?

Control of the d5 square.

Control of the h1-a8 diagonal.

Limiting the scope of blacks light square bishop.

Prepare to open the position with either b4, or f4 pawn break.