Thanks,
Yes QGD and Ruy Lopez have that reputation for long-term learning and exposure to many structures, and is what I’d like to start playing even though I’d be out of book by move 6 most of the time.
There seems to be plenty of introductory resources that target the amateur for the QGD, both conceptually and repertoire-wise.
Ruy Lopez and Open Sicilian are more challenging to find such material … some intro books out there, but nothing that is a club player repertoire that isn’t advanced (though I see the Caruana book seems targeted to club players, though expresses its goal to aim for similar structures). Guess I will have to dive into the Ruy and Open Sicilian for “fun” and aim for blunder prevention until I learn how to assess a position and calculate better.
Okay, so there are that many pawn structures in total, fine … Why is it impossible to get a straight answer as to what the simplest opening choices would be for an amateur to adopt to get exposure to all or as many of these structures as possible?
(Are there any chess coaches out there who want my $$$ ?!?)
@Optimissed,
Nothing wrong with someone using their lifelong skillset to earn a living. I am willing to exchange my hard-earned $$$ for these coaches’ expertise if they provide the service I am asking for, which also seems to be considered the proper way to play and learn chess. Yet it is insanely shocking to me that ZERO chess authors seemed to have approach publishing an amateur opening repertoire with the goal of exposure to a wide variety of structures in spite of frequently hearing how such an approach is the best for long-term learning.
QGD will expose you to a lot (e.g. isolated queen pawn, hanging pawns, and the orthodox structure)
Spanish / Ruy Lopez has a variety of structures as well.
These are often recommended as long term openings that grow with the student, can be understood largely via pawn structure, and expose the student to a variety of fundamental structures.