How to hijack a repertoire?

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had ever decided to play the same openings as their favorite players and if so, how you went about creating a database of that player's games in such a way that it was useful in learning their lines? 

How did you go about organizing the games? What software, if any did you use?

Thanks,

tyger

ChessBase or Chess Assistant are both excellent for this 

You can also create openings books from the games

I second the Chessbase idea!  Just beware that top level openings usually involve specific preperation against a certain opponent instead of it being considered objectively best by theory.  Also they can make such moves due to understanding so don't forget to buy a good book like Cox's Berlin Wall book (or the equivalent quality for your particular openings) to learn ideas and concepts. Opening study isn't just memorizing lines. 

Basically just play out your opening in a window, filter in big or mega database by name, then go to copy board position and all games with that player and position should appear. 

Cool. Thanks, I will give it a shot! Yeah, I am really wanting to pinpoint major variations to start studying so that I can focus my efforts (such as the Ruy Lopez: Berlin versus the Arkangelsk for someone like Kramnik or Carlsen and such or 4...Nd7  versus 4...Bf5 in the Caro-Kann for someone like Karpov); that way I can get some resources that will help me understand these variations better and it will help me cut down on the crazy amounts of information out there.

Just to give a little example of how ChessBase can do this for you, i simply right-click on MegaDatabase in my database window and click on search...

The search string box appears, i enter Karpov on the black side...

...then go to the position tab, select copy board (i already have the board set up in another window)...

click on ok, and a couple of seconds later i have my search result...

I can do what i like with the search results, copy to a new database, build an openings book, analyse the games etc...

That's Pretty Awesome! I will definintely check that out!

Excellent posts gambit-man and TheGreatOogieBoogie, very instructive. Thanks!

...as is the post by CorfitzUlfeldt... I had a look around SCID fairly recently, and although it's not as advanced as ChessBase or Chess Assistant, it is FREE. ChessBase and Chess Assistant are both a little on the pricey side, SCID would make a reasonable, FREE alternative

+1. Somehow I missed it.

Agreed! Excellent posts by all! I have been debating whether or not to invest in Chessbase, but the initial price point is a little prohibitive...

So it is nice to have the free alternative and the Chessbase alternative as I have something to work with now and will know how to do it in the future when I get around to buying Chessbase.

Thanks All!

The approach the author of the OP is taking is completely the wrong approach.  You are not Kasparov.  You are not Karpov.  You are not Botvinnik.  You are not Tal.  You are You!

You should figure out which openings suit your style of play, and then find GMs that play the same lines as you based on that, NOT the other way around.

Let's say you decide the French is your prefrence.  Korchnoi preferred the MacCutcheon with 8...Kf8.  Glek preferred the MacCutcheon with 8...g6.  Uhlmann preferred the Winawer.  Now, let's say you like the Winawer.  Finding a bunch of Uhlmann's games where he played the Winawer is not a bad idea at all.  But now, Uhlmann played mostly the old classical lines of the open Tarrasch (3...c5 with 5...Nc6).  You might prefer the more modern approach (5...Nf6) or the Closed Tarrasch (3...Nf6) or the lines with 3...c5 and 4...Qxd5.  Just because you play one line he plays doesn't mean you should follow him throughout.  Maybe you need to look at Glek's games against the Tarrasch if he plays the line you prefer.

Then there's what they each do as White and as Black against 1.d4.  Does the fact that Uhlmann played the Winawer while Korchnoi and Glek played the MacCutcheon mean that whatever Uhlmann played as White would suit you better than whatever Korchnoi or Glek played as White?  I don't think so!  Yeah, technically it's possible, but the odds that your brain thinks on the exact same wavelength as any one individual GM is highly doubtful.

What I play as White was played a lot by Lapshun, Tartakower, and Sokolsky.  What I play as Black is more in line with a myriad of players that still take a classical approach as opposed to a hypermodern approach, so I don't force myself to play what the 3 names mentioned play as Black.

Very vague. I can't tell if it sarcastic or not. D:

Thanks Thiller. I also agree that I am me.

Your second statment hits the nail on the head when you say:

You should figure out which openings suit your style of play, and then find GMs that play the same lines as you based on that, NOT the other way around.

I believe I have found very generically which opening I enjoy and the GMs (plural) who play them.  I am looking for the best way in which to organize the data I have collected for studying purposes. 

As for your first comment, "The approach the author of the OP is taking is completely the worng approach," I think you might be climbing the ladder of assumptions in assuming my method, since I do not state my method at any point in my OP, merely that i am trying to find the best method of organizing my favorite players approaches to openings.  Perhaps you thought I meant to copy a single player's entire repetoire? Though, the more I think about it, I don't know how bad that would be either (though that is a different discussion entirely).

Thanks for the response.

Tyger

There are many choices to create, and maintain an opening database.  I use chessDB (its free).  I then import the weekly games from theweekinchess.com.  Then i look for the opening(s)/variations i want to study, and do a search on those games, and import them into my chess opening wizard software. 

I would not suggest learning a certain players games/openings. At the GM level, they play lines that are for certain opponents, and not necessarily the best line(s)

There is a verion of ChessBase which is free, but it is a stripped down version (i dunno to what extent) and does not allow you to save any material you have created...