Yeah, but you still didn't address my point:
How do you narrow down the many variations to the exact variation you are going to choose to play?
For instance, if you wanted to learn how to play the White side of the Slav or Semi-Slav, how would you wade through the tons of material on that opening and find something to focus on?
I think there are over 400 hours of videos on just that one opening alone...
"Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe."
400 hours isn't very much. That's only a little more than a couple of weeks.
Some people believe it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill.
I'm not trying to master the opening though.
At my rating, spending 400 hours studying the Slav would be a very stupid waste of time. I'm not Anand preparing for a theoretical showdown at the 2800 level.
And 400 hours is not a couple of weeks. If you studied chess 2 hours a day, that would be almost 200 days, JUST on the opening.
What I'm trying to do is pick something to focus on...
i say just pick up some openings with scope, dont study them too hard, maybe find a video or two then just gradually learn ideas and whatnot, eventually over a period of time youll have it under your belt
As IM pfren told, focus on tactics, basic endgames and strategy instead of opening.
I study the openings with Capablanca's principle in mind. That is studying endgame in relation to the opening i use. When i started studying for example the caro-kann by schiller i was being given the "feel" of the opening. Soon i found it appealing and started playing it. I think the opening we chose should fit our taste. Try to have the "feel" of the opening say for example playing 10 or 20 games with alternating results on a particular opening so as to see how some phase should be played. Then pick someone who uses it most of the time. Say Gligoric and the Nimzoindian as an example.I dont go for the latest trends in a particular opening cause it changes all the time classical lines appeal to me more. There. I hope this helps.
Exactly, the entire point is NOT to focus on openings.
That is why I'm trying to narrow it down to a few simple ideas in the opening.
What is the best way to learn some variations that you like?
Exactly, the entire point is NOT to focus on openings.
That is why I'm trying to narrow it down to a few simple ideas in the opening.
What is the best way to learn some variations that you like?
Study the idea behind the variations that you like. Try to look at many master games on the specific opening that you like, always play that opening. You can look for master games at chessgames.com
Dont study openings and variations and lines get focus on positions, same positions can be reached from diferents openings. Try to understand the ideas and plans of an specific position. I just use the 3 basic principles : development of the pieces,control of the center and king safety.
If i want to lern some opening i'm firstly look what is it about, then i'm going to see some games from this opening, during watching i like to discover ideas by myself. Next step is to see few variations and try them against human. That's all.
As many before me had experienced its allmost an endless see too swim across... speaking about openingtheory! I´ve stooped playing when I was 16 and began again at the age of 35. Very soon I realised that my oponent where overpowered in openingtheory and many games where allmost lost after 10-15 moves.
Then I desided to explore odd openings that fast went into unclear positions which ment that my understanding in the positional aspects became important. 1. e4 and d4 answered with 1.-,b6 did puzzle my oponents a while. After this odd way of playing I searched for moore complete openings that I keeped controll of the way the game went.... and the hunt goes on ;)
It's a trade-off. Opening study is one of the most inefficient uses of study time for the average player. But...it can also be a lot of fun, which is why I still find myself doing it every now and again.
If you want to find yourself in a familiar middlegame position most of the time, you're going to have to play less theory-intensive openings. They may not be the most theoretically acceptable lines, but it should not be hard to find openings that will get you to a middlegame with some chances for both sides.
Ever since I created my 'fairly comprehensive' repertoire, I have found that most of the time, I either get the middlegame position I want. But sometimes, my opponent deviates early, and I find myself having to think on my own. My point is that no matter how hard you try, you can't avoid deviations, but if you're well-grounded in the other aspects of chess, you should be fine. Openings are fun to study, but I also realize that I get almost zero benefit from them, because even if an opponent plays into a pet line, at some point, I still have to play chess.
Lets say your goal was to develop an opening repertoire that was comprehensive and could get your through to the middle game in any tournament you played.
This task seems somewhat overwhelming. Seems that if you rely on some of the chess.com videos, that would take too long and be inefficient. You'd also be forced to be spoon-fed whatever lines are picked out for you.
If you go through a database, you will just find an overwhelming number of variations, and you won't be sure what the plans are, or what the ideas are behind some of the moves. Also will be hard to narrow down these choices, there are simply too many.
So that would leave just buying a book, but that also has its shortcomings as well. Again, you're just stuck playing whatever lines the book chooses for you, and you can't buy a book on every single opening you're interested in.
So in general, how would you go about creating this opening repertoire?
It would help to have the following inormation in order to share info. on How to study openings:
Have you played in any USCF or FIDE rated (OTB) Over The Board rated tournaments. DO NOT count online tournaments.
If you have, what is your present rating?
If there is an opening you want to study, find a few GMs whose play you admire who play that opening and filter the database for their games in the opening. Play through all their games in it, wins, losses and draws.
The object is not to deeply analyze each game, but to spend enough time to get a good idea of what is going on, maybe 15-20 minutes per game, not blitz speed. Over time, you will begin to see the common themes that recur in game after game, for both sides. The strategies and tactics that work - and don't.
That way you learn the positions, not "variations," and you know what the ideas are. And you learn not just how to play the opening moves, but the middlegames and even the most common endings which arise from it.
In the long run, you will be a far better player doing it that way than trying to choose variations out of the trees of possibilities because you will actually know something.
That said, don't devote any extra time to openings, as IM pfren said. But you can structure your study of master games around the openings you wish to learn and accomplish two study goals at once. Then put those plans you learn into practice in your own games.
Thanks, I like this piece of advice a lot.
3) Study the openings you play and get good at those and you will have a repertoire. After the game, you will look it up and see that you were book 7 moves after your book ended. That's satisfying.
What do you mean, "you were book 7 moves after book ended".
How can you be in book after the book already ended?
Confused!
Good advice,.. a few points.
1. Yeah, I agree with the people who said that too much time spent on opening is not good study time for the players below a certain rating.
2. However, I also must say that most of my tournament losses have been because I was not fully prepared in the opening. It wasn't because I missed some deep tactic, it was often because my opponent understood the basic structures and ideas and strategies of that opening, and I was inexperienced.
3. Even one mis-placement of a piece in the opening against a strong player can lose you the game. For instance, putting your queen on the wrong developing square can lead to havoc against a strong opponent.
4. People always tell people "its bad for lower-rated players to study openings", and yet as you get stronger and stronger in rating, they STILL tell you that!!! At some point, its gotta switch, and you NEED to be well prepared.
5. You don't need to know 30 moves deep in a novelty to be "well prepared" in my opinion.
Ok, what do u think?
reply:
2. Learn how to develop wisely by making misstakes in blitzgames before you make thoose fatal errors at a tournamentgame. To knew all is an illusion but to make sure that you choose right openings that fits the gamestile you have is possible. There´s a few good books that provides an reportoir for you both as white and black. Maybe an glance or two at such a book makes life easier? An understanding in your weakness and your strenghts as chessplayer is also an important knowledge. A mentor maybe can analyse games that you have played. To knowing weakness and learn how to avoid or how to overcome them isn´t an bad idea! That should anyway lead u to openings that fits ya stile better than a randome choise of opening!?
3. How to develop right or how to evaluate an position before moving right piece to right square is a question of learning positional aspects of the game better. A book or dvd that lets you train positional gameplaning in a opening or in a middlegame would be nice!
4. Its not bad to study openingtheory! But it´s hard to study the ones that fits you. See moore that I had wrote on "2.".
5. I try to understand the goal with the opening. Is it to counter at right moment? Is it to lure oponent to go to far with pawns and then attack the position? Is it just to put pressure and go for the emmidiate attack at the king? Study a book that talks about strategy of each opening... I started with Rueben Fine but nowdays there´s other moore recent books that covers openingtheory from a-z!
good luck and keep the faith
Remeber...it´s better to play a fun game and learn something than a booring game wich you win but doesn´t learn a thing!
KarlPilkington wrote:
Good advice,.. a few points.
1. Yeah, I agree with the people who said that too much time spent on opening is not good study time for the players below a certain rating.
2. However, I also must say that most of my tournament losses have been because I was not fully prepared in the opening. It wasn't because I missed some deep tactic, it was often because my opponent understood the basic structures and ideas and strategies of that opening, and I was inexperienced.
3. Even one mis-placement of a piece in the opening against a strong player can lose you the game. For instance, putting your queen on the wrong developing square can lead to havoc against a strong opponent.
4. People always tell people "its bad for lower-rated players to study openings", and yet as you get stronger and stronger in rating, they STILL tell you that!!! At some point, its gotta switch, and you NEED to be well prepared.
5. You don't need to know 30 moves deep in a novelty to be "well prepared" in my opinion.
A.
Ok, what do u think?
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KarlPilkington wrote:
Good advice,.. a few points.
1. Yeah, I agree with the people who said that too much time spent on opening is not good study time for the players below a certain rating.
2. However, I also must say that most of my tournament losses have been because I was not fully prepared in the opening. It wasn't because I missed some deep tactic, it was often because my opponent understood the basic structures and ideas and strategies of that opening, and I was inexperienced.
3. Even one mis-placement of a piece in the opening against a strong player can lose you the game. For instance, putting your queen on the wrong developing square can lead to havoc against a strong opponent.
4. People always tell people "its bad for lower-rated players to study openings", and yet as you get stronger and stronger in rating, they STILL tell you that!!! At some point, its gotta switch, and you NEED to be well prepared.
5. You don't need to know 30 moves deep in a novelty to be "well prepared" in my opinion.
A.
Ok, what do u think?
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Have you played any USCF rated over the board tournaments?
Depending on your answer to this question I might be able to help you
Lets say your goal was to develop an opening repertoire that was comprehensive and could get your through to the middle game in any tournament you played.
This task seems somewhat overwhelming. Seems that if you rely on some of the chess.com videos, that would take too long and be inefficient. You'd also be forced to be spoon-fed whatever lines are picked out for you.
If you go through a database, you will just find an overwhelming number of variations, and you won't be sure what the plans are, or what the ideas are behind some of the moves. Also will be hard to narrow down these choices, there are simply too many.
So that would leave just buying a book, but that also has its shortcomings as well. Again, you're just stuck playing whatever lines the book chooses for you, and you can't buy a book on every single opening you're interested in.
So in general, how would you go about creating this opening repertoire?