How To Build A Repertoire

I would like to hear how other people build a playing repertoire for white or black. I already have my major openings as Ruy Lopez and French Defence.

try everything, and see which one you feel most comfortable with?

Yes very true.That is the best way.Or ask players above 2200+ how to.I became by using the method 12knaves wrote.It is a great method.

Just grow your repertoire as needed. Whenever someone plays a move (or move order) that you can't handle, go find a line that handles whatever they did. Voila, you you just grew your repertoire.

Once you've done that enough, you'll be prepared for just about anything. 

I recommend first selecting an overarching philosophy: classical school versus hypermodern school (etc.), sharp versus drawish, amount of counterplay, etc., and more. From there, the applicable openings will fall into place naturally. For example, if you want to survive at all costs, I'd recommend going for drawish openings, which means Petrov's Defense would be better than the Ruy Lopez, for example. If you value a favorable endgame over an aggressive attack, and if you want decent counterplay along the way, then the French Defense would be better than the Caro-Kann Defense, for example. It all depends on what you want, especially as your top level philosophical goals.

yes

"Each player should choose an opening that attracts him. Some players are looking for a gambit as White, others for Black gambits. Many players that are starting out (or have bad memories) want to avoid mainstream systems, others want dynamic openings, and others want calm positional pathways. It’s all about personal taste and personal need.

For example, if you feel you’re poor at tactics you can choose a quiet positional opening (trying to hide from your weakness and just play chess), or seek more dynamic openings that engender lots of tactics and sacrifices (this might lead to more losses but, over time, will improve your tactical skills and make you stronger)." - IM Jeremy Silman (January 28, 2016)

Also, perhaps look at:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/picking-the-correct-opening-repertoire

http://chess-teacher.com/best-chess-openings/

https://www.chess.com/blog/TigerLilov/build-your-opening-repertoire

https://www.chess.com/blog/CraiggoryC/how-to-build-an-opening-repertoire

Most important thing to know is that it's a long process : even if you buy a ready-made repertoire and start learning it by heart, you'll need to experiment a lot before making it your own. In my experience, becoming comfortable with an opening repertoire usually takes 18-24 months of practice.

As a starting point, you should probably ask yourself a couple of questions :

- what is my motivation in choosing an opening and what kind of opening do I like ? (education, efficiency, pride - "I play like Fischer", offbeat/signature, classical, offensive, solid...)

- how much time am I ready to devote to opening study ? That's a key point because the more complex the openings are, the more time you'll need to feel comfortable with them.

- do I prefer to explore and learn by myself or would I feel more secure adopting something with the seal of approval of a pro player ?

Depending on your answers to those questions, you can start looking for ideas and methods. I invite you to prolong the discussion in our group :

https://www.chess.com/groups/forumview/repertoire-choices?page=1

read books and use programs

which books and programs? what's the best technical approach to doing this? chessable feels like table stakes...but what are more elaborate setups for analysis, saving positions, and studying?

My repertiore depends on the faults of my playstyle: I prefer to avoid exchanges, because my endgame is weak. I prefer asymmetric and often locked pawn structures, because winning with a small, mobility-based advantage is hard for me. I am not too young and in an intellectually demanding job, so memorisation is out of the question. Result: as White I play either 1.Nf3 or 1.c4 (which for example allows me to enter the white side of King's Indian Defence, while avoiding Grunfeld). As Black I vary: 1.e4 e5 or 2...e6 Sicilians, Nimzo-and Bogo-Indians, sometimes less demanding King's Indian lines.

Go chess tempo, literally build infinite repertiores there. Also an underrated platform

Free

Go to lichess select your openings study them with the database.

Paid Go to Chessbase buy the program us it with the online database or the mega db. and prepare your openings.

Hey there! Building a repertoire can be a fun journey. Since you already have Ruy Lopez and French Defense down, you might want to check out ChessMood. They offer a structured approach to expanding your openings with video lessons and a supportive community. It’s a great way to learn new lines and get deeper into your existing ones. Plus, their recommendations can help you adapt and refine your repertoire, making it more versatile. Give it a shot! Happy playing!

Link to ChessMood: https://chessmood.com/?r=NationalChessBlasters

Good Luck,

Trokly34

I recommend the Family Tree Method.

I absolutely agree with Trokly34! I tried it and it worked wonders for me in terms of gaining a better understanding of various opening repertoires to use in my chess games, as seen by my impressive rating increase in blitz and rapid! Come try ChessMood out! You won't regret this!

(Subscribing to follow the links later.)

My basic repertoire is what openings I learned as a kid, which were selected haphazardly. I picked d4 as my opening because I was less comfortable with highly tactical and fast e4 openings. I looked at some openings just because I thought the names were cool, who doesn't want to play the Sicilian Dragon? I'm generally pretty comfortable with low-risk gambits like the QGD/QGA, and have looked at my losses to pick up on new lines.

Nowadays, I don't have a lot of study time, so about once a month I randomly look up a few lines in the Explorer and see if I come across anything interesting. And I add things that are adjacent to my current repertoire--the English was easy to add because I'm so used to the Queen's Gambit and the Sicilian, and the positions felt comfortable.