I’m a 1000-1300 rated player. What’s a solid opening to learn?

Sort:
xzaksis
I play the London for white and the French for black. What’s the next opening I should learn for both? I was thinking the KID and the Catalan. the caro kann maybe…
ShuckleSquad13

Queen's gambit for white. Caro-kann against e4 and Indian game against d4.

ShuckleSquad13

btw if you look at my profile I'm the same rating as you pretty much but I mostly study openings. Hope this helped!

sunstonexbox
I’m have the same rating, I’m learning different openings one per side per week.
So week one kings indian and london, week two cara kahn and italian, etc.

Just getting familiar with a bunch of systems so I don’t become like Andrea Botez 😂
ninjaswat

Study the opening called the endgame 😁

No but seriously you don't need to be learning the latest theory. I'd say to stick with what you've got.

Solmyr1234

Against 1.d4 - The Budapest Gambit. - easy, aggressive, fun. your opponent needs to know Exactly what to do, or else.

You're going in a correct path - great choice. The French is aggressive, solid, and is hard for White to face, and above all - the middlegame plans are crystal-clear. The London, while not the most challenging, you play One opening as White, so you'll be an expert on it - practically, that's an advantage.

Against 1.c4, I like a "Grand Prix Attack" setup - e5, Nc3, f5. etc. (grabbing space). I think you may play a London against That as well - 1...e6, etc.

Against 1.Nf3. I like 1...d5 - no wrong in grabbing some space, right? oh, and you may play a London.

If you play a London as Black too, then I Think you don't need another opening - French and London - The less openings you play, the better you become in each of them, and therefore the more fun you have playing chess.

Solmyr1234

"I’m a 1000-1300 rated player. What’s a solid opening to learn?"

Your current openings, are extremely solid. More solid would be the Caro Kann - The best defense. okay, you defend, and...? very unclear what to do after the opening stage, I tried that opening. But since you play a London, you probably want your bishop outside the pawn chain, so yes, for you the Caro Kann is good.

DasBurner

Given that you already play the London, I believe you would be very comfortable in both the Colle System and Torre Attacks after 1. d4 and 2. nf3 move order (Which is also what i play happy.png)

Learning how to play both the traditional Colle and Colle-Zukertort will teach you important attacking ideas with the Light Square bishop on d3 and the knight on e5, that you would also be able to apply in the London. Unexperienced players call it passive but the Dark squared bishop is often more useful on c1 aiming at the kingside in the Colle, or on b2 in the Colle-Zukertort than it is on f4 in the London, acting as an overrated pawn

Torre can be used as a weapon vs a 1. d4 nf6 2. nf3 e6 move order, with a similar game after 3. Bg5 (Except the Bishop is on g5 as opposed to f4 in the london and c1 in the Colle). Bd3, c3, e3, all normal 'London' moves but with a lightly more active position

The Tarrasch defenses in the Queen's gambit declined can be decently similar to the French with pawns on d5 c5 and e6 (Unless white opts to exchange in the center, in which case you'll have to learn to play with an isolated pawn). 

 

FrogCDE

The real reason it's a waste of time to study openings at your level is that you will never encounter a mainline. Why spend hours learning the correct responses to moves you'll never face? I'm around 1600 and I see a few mainlines, but not many. I've just taken up the Caro-Kann, and in my first few games with it I've yet to see one of the standard White approaches. Either my opponents haven't studied it or, more likely, they know a little about it and are worried that I may know more, so they deliberately play unorthodox moves to throw me off my prep. The lines they play are inferior, but the only way to deal with them is to work out the best moves over the board.

texel245

Stick with what you got and perfect the craft. Learn how to respond to openings you find difficult to play against, or learn how to avoid them all together. It's of no use to play the first 10 moves like a book if you blunder on 11.

I got to 1900 on a repertoire of Italian and Old Indian Defence. If you outplay your opponents in the middle and endgame, you only need to get out of the opening without a blunder or mistake.

But if you absolutely want to learn new openings, who can stop you.

I've checked a couple of your games, and I feel you got a pretty aggressive playing style (correct me if I'm wrong, I only touched the surface). I recommend:

Vienna Gambit

 

I found this game from GM Bobby Fischer in the d6 variation Vienna Gambit:

diagram-placeholder.png

 

Bobby's opponent played a bit subpar, but it was all logical moves, and he did play Bobby Fischer, so he's forgiven. We wouldn't do any better either way.

Grand Prix Attack

diagram-placeholder.png
 

Here is a game from GM Alex Bachmann:

diagram-placeholder.png

 

Sicilian Dragon

 

diagram-placeholder.png

 

I'd love to explain the moves in the Sicilian Dragon, but I'm not that familiar with it except it being an aggressive option for Sicilian players. I did however find a game by GM Magnus Carlsen:

 

diagram-placeholder.png

 

Edit:

If the games didn't load, I'm terribly sorry. I haven't commented or posted games on the forums before

DasBurner

yes because "stick to what you know" totally means going from quiet d4 lines to the Dragon and Vienna gambit (no offense)

EKAFC

Love the French and you should stick with it. But despite being a French player, I also play a little Sicilian if they play Nf3 or Nc3. It's good to have a backup in your repertoire.

 

If you want to improve, play something other than London. Sure it gets you a solid position but you aren't learning as much as a Queen's Gambit for example. I personally hate the London but if you can learn a different opening, you will learn different pawn structures and middle game ideas. Even try playing e4 with a Ruy Lopez or Open Sicilian. 

 

If you are worried about losing rating points from not knowing an opening, I recommend you use Lichess, go to lobby, and filter by casual games. It's what I do to experiment with new openings

Toad1258

the kings pawn openings(Il

Toad1258

I like the Italian game ec

Toad1258

because you can do gambits

Toad1258

but if you don't like attacking you can do the Ruy Lopez

EKAFC
Toad1258 wrote:

but if you don't like attacking you can do the Ruy Lopez

Just use one comment. No one likes spamming.

ninjaswat
EKAFC wrote:
Toad1258 wrote:

but if you don't like attacking you can do the Ruy Lopez

Just use one comment. No one likes spamming.

On a phone it's quite hard to do this with some os I think...