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I need a good opening!!!

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CmanBst

I've been playing around and can't quite find an opening I like.  Anybody who wants to give some ideas on openings for white or black that they like is welcome to it.

baronspam

Always open h5, and if your Opponent objects, upset the board.  Unless he is bigger than you, in which case upset the board and run, unless he is faster than you as well as bigger, in which case I usually play 1d4. 

DrizztD

What is your style? Do you like positional and calm games? Or sharp and tactical games?

benedictus

Lol; those questions are kind of pointless in this situation. Look at his games, and you'll see what I mean.

I suggest that you play 1. e4, develop your knights and one bishop, castle, play d3 or d4, and develop your other bishop.

DrizztD

I see. A good opening for you might be the guioco piano:

jerry2468

yes

Shivsky

Looking at a few of your online games reveals the following budding repertoire:

White:

1. e4 e5 2.Bc4 or Qh5

1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 or c3

Black.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 or Bc5

1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Bc5

A few thoughts:

 

  • If you're thinking that the opening is the reason you're not winning as much as you like, you would be  horribly mistaken. Pick up a good book on good opening guidelines. Learn THIS first. Everything else can wait. 
  • So it seems you are quiet fond of Bc4/Bc5 regardless of what you want to play. You may not want to keep playing that on auto-pilot  ... pieces belong on certain squares for very specific reasons ... you can't wing it like that...chess isn't so easy!
  • As white, keep playing 1.e4. You need to learn to play open positions first and then as you grow stronger, worry about more positional ideas. 
  • 1.e4 vs e5, play systems like the Italian game/Scotch/Scotch gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 with d4 ideas if the position warrants it.)
  • 1.e4 vs. c5, explore more of the 2.c3/Alapin Sicilian system. Good ideas and a decent way to play against the Sicilian.
  • as Black, vs. 1.e4 consider playing the French (1...e6) or even consider the Scandinavian (1...d5), both Qxd5 as well as the Nf6 systems. 
  • as Black, vs 1.d4, consider learning the Queen's Gambit Declined, but play something easier to understand (like the Lasker Defense, which IMHO was the nicest way to learn what happens in the QGD)
Aguiluz14

Ows?

Apachimous
[COMMENT DELETED]
CmanBst
DrizztD wrote:

What is your style? Do you like positional and calm games? Or sharp and tactical games?


 I'm new to the tactical games so i guess I would be better off if i could put myself in and open less tactical game.

CmanBst

Shivsky so you think the opening isn't my problem do you have any suggestions as to improvements elsewhere?

collinsdanielp

Cutting out blunders is the best way to get better.  Take the extra few seconds to look at a possible move from your opponents point of view (flipping the board if necessary).  You'll instantly become a better chess player when you stop blundering away pieces for free.

 

From briefly looking at a few of your games, you seem to need to get better at recognizing your opponents threats.  If you don't see what your opponent is trying to do, you'll almost never be able to win.  Don't merely chase pieces around the board, try to look to where they want to go on the next move and see if you need to stop them from getting there. If you start to see and understand your opponents threats, you can then attempt to implement similar tactics yourself.  Learn from your mistakes, don't repeat them.

 

On offense, you can start by trying to attack the f pawns.  They are the weakest pawns, only being gaurded by the king at the beginning of the game.  This is the pawn you would be attacking in any of the four move checkmates (1e4,e5 2 Bc4 (Qf3, Qh5)..., 3 Qf3 (Bc4, Bc4 or Qxe5 if e5 isn't covered by blacks second move)... 4 Qxf7# if possible).  If your opponent blocks your quick strike offense by putting a knight on f6 than you can try to attack the knight to force it to move and expose the weak f7 pawn.

Hope this helps.  Good luck.

ManoWar1934

Two suggestions: (1) Always play opponents with higher ratings than yours. Have the computer analyze all your games. You'll learn that way. (2) Play the English Opening. No matter what your opponent does, you can't lose in four or five moves! It gives you time to make plans.

Shivsky
CmanBst wrote:

Shivsky so you think the opening isn't my problem do you have any suggestions as to improvements elsewhere?


Often repeated, though very seldom practiced advice is to look at all your opponent's checks/captures/threats (CCTs) before you make a move. If you are sure you can play the move you had intended AND still deal with ALL (not 99%, but ALL) of the CCTs of your opponent, you're playing real chess and you'll become a decent player, even with zero opening knowledge.

Stronger players do this more consistently and accurately, the really natural players do this instinctively! It sounds easy, but it really isn't ... chances are, in every one of your played games,  there was atleast ONE point where you missed a CCT and got into trouble. 

Improving players need to make this a routine part of their thought process.  Missing a CCT (What NM Dan Heisman calls Hope Chess) is how 95% of games (or maybe more!?) are lost at the Class E/D/C (1000-1600) levels.

I'm definitely not saying this "CCT Detection" is all there is to chess,  nor am I saying you should stop doing what is fun for you (trying out openings etc.), just that gently adjusting your "on each move" thought process to do something this simple has extremely good returns for people who want to get serious about their chess.

benedictus

Schachgeek: that just wastes developing time. And there's no point in taking your opponent out of the book when you're giving him a better position (he doesn't need to follow the book to get an advantage now). For the opening, play what I and DrizztD suggested earlier.

Shivsky and collinsdanielp are right; your main area of focus should be reducing your makes. Just take the extra time each move to make sure that your opponent isn't threatening anything. I recommend you play games with a good amount of time and avoid blitz games, so that you have time to really analyze the board. Eventually, you'll get good at this and be able to play blitz games well.

JG27Pyth
benedictus wrote:

Schachgeek: that just wastes developing time. And there's no point in taking your opponent out of the book when you're giving him a better position (he doesn't need to follow the book to get an advantage now). For the opening, play what I and DrizztD suggested earlier.

Shivsky and collinsdanielp are right; your main area of focus should be reducing your makes. Just take the extra time each move to make sure that your opponent isn't threatening anything. I recommend you play games with a good amount of time and avoid blitz games, so that you have time to really analyze the board. Eventually, you'll get good at this and be able to play blitz games well.


Here, Benedictus, explain to this 2500+ his opening sucks:

The Alapin isn't being played at the 2600+ level... (but give Nakamura time and he'll get around to it) but for surprise value I can't think of a sounder move your opponent is likely to NOT have a booked up response for. Suggesting that it's some kind of patzer opening that just hands the game to Black is crap.

benedictus

Sure, the opening is playable and it doesn't give black and easy win, but you can't seriously think that this opening is better than the Ruy Lopez, or pretty much any other common white opening.

If your playing style is to do weird things just so that your opponent has higher chances of making a mistake because he doesn't know what to do, go ahead and use the Alapin. But if you're a low rated player who's just starting to learn openings and still has a lot to improve in the rest of his game (like CmanBst, who is the person we should focus on, since he asked the initial question), it's a good idea to play an opening that will simply get him to a good middle game without any struggle. Also, it's a much better learning experience if you try to win against someone who knows what he's doing by using tactics and strategy, than if all you ever do is try to confuse your opponent by playing something inferior.

ItalianGame-inactive

Contact me for free chess lessons on openings

JG27Pyth
Zer0velocity wrote:

You have lots of options--

Petroff is always nice. Try lots of them, Caro-Kann, Guico Piano...Never do this, though.


It's called the Polerio Gambit, it has (misleadingly IMHO) good statistics for White and was the opening of the day on chess.com -- As so often in the King's gambit, it leads to a hair-raising game for both sides. It is definitely not "fail" at the club level or lower.

At the expert and ordinary master level the Polerio's statistics are shockingly good. The only big time player to take up this opening in recent years (keeping in mind that King's Gambit _at all_ is very rare in elite chess) is errr um, IM Kamran Shirazi (yes, I know, he's Mr. Crazy-Opening-Guy) who made the Polerio opening his personal property from 2001-2004 and scored a blistering 88% percent with it in 12 games. (Admittedly, against lower rated opponents.)

ManoWar1934

Kamran Shirazi used to play at the Santa Monica Chess Club when I joined it in 1979. He was a slim, young elite player we were all terrified of. As for the Petroff, that "dull, drawish" opening can result in a blood bath right in the center of the board!