„learning openings“

Hello there,

I am not a very good player, since I haven’t played chess for almost 30
years. And in when I used to, I didn’t play very often. It is more that I had to, because my mother wanted to play with me…. So I am quite „rusty“ and not that experienced or advanced.

But for a few months now, I am
Very interested in chess (I had to teach it my daughter, who wanted to learn it). I can manage to play in between a break or when I don’t have to work, also when my kids are around or while doing other stuff (which of course isn’t very helpful). But I don’t have resources to do theory.

I have never learned openings and I can not memorise openings very well. I don’t know why, because actually I have a quite good memorization in RL, also when I play over the board, in real life? I memorize moves MUCH better.

I often play theory moves without knowing. And I play quite intuitively. Especially, when I am too tired or to lazy 😬, to do deeper calculations. Because of this, I sometimes play really good (in comparison to my experience/practice level) sometimes I play like an idiot 😅.

I am not that good in learning theory by books, at least when it is something like chess. Is it possible to advance without ever „learning“ some theory?

I am not in a rush and I give a sh*t on my rating, as for me it doesn’t count, if it is just online. So I am just interested in playing, having fun and slowly getting better without too much, theory…

Any tipps?

1. Play slow games.
2. If they are not online always write down the moves.
3. Go over every game afterwards.
4. Try to learn just one better move somewhere in the opening.
   (You should look at all the moves though, don't miss the chance to improve your middlegame and endgame.)
5. Play around with the pieces until you understand why the new move is better than the one you played. Don't just take the engine's word for it. (As in olden days I didn't just take the book's word for it.)

That's how I learned the openings. It works well because you learn in the context of games you have already played, instead of studying openings that you don't get on the chess board until long after you have forgotten your studies.

1. Play slow games.
2. ---I mostly play 15/10, which is meanwhile enough time to think about the next 2 moves...If I play 10 minutes, I sometimes run still out of time. So: good advice, already doing this
3. If they are not online always write down the moves.---This is a good advice, I get it. So I have the opportunity to also analyze my games on board afterwards. But I don't know if I will do that, as it would probably distract me, to write moves down. Maybe this is just practice and you get used to it.
4. Go over every game afterwards. --- I do, at least online....I often review my lost games more than once.
5. Try to learn just one better move somewhere in the opening.---this is a very smart idea, which I will try out! Thanks
   (You should look at all the moves though, don't miss the chance to improve your middlegame and endgame.) My middlegame is okay, as long I am not tired distracted or something else which causes loosing focus. My endgame is also okay, I think, often I find it easier to find good moves, as there isn't so much going on on the board anymore. But sometimes I still have trouble to see/to avoid possible stalemates or to see checkmates. I think this is just part of the learning process and is going to be better...
6. Play around with the pieces until you understand why the new move is better than the one you played. Don't just take the engine's word for it. (As in olden days I didn't just take the book's word for it.)---This is how I learn! I try out, I try new things and if I fail I try to understand why. I often doubt the game review. For example a so called "brilliant" or great move, was just the only thing that made sense, so I don't see, why this should be brilliant.On the other hand sometimes I really have a hard time to see the "easy" and simple good moves. Since school I have been told, I shouldn't think so complicated .Thanks for your helpful advices...

You will definitely get used to writing the moves. It becomes second nature.

The game review is correct in its approach, but if you do a similar analysis with an engine on your own computer, it becomes clear the online game review is simply too shallow. As for ! and !! moves, those are subjective human values and can't be decided by an algorithm. The ? and ??marks would make sense though, provided the engine search is deep enough, which online it is not.

Make a PGN of your openings. Each time you play it, you check if you remembered the right moves. If your opponent make other moves than the ones in your notes, you can expand the PGN file. This way, the PGN project will always be growing with your opening knowledge.

You shouldn't worry about openings at all. Your openings look fine. The only thing that matters is middlegame blunders.

Example game:

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/141276089684/analysis?move=8

On move 6, you won a piece with a fork. Your opponent moved one of the pieces away, then you thought for 24 seconds, and decided to not take the free piece. Why?

The next move, your opponent blundered the knight again (7. - Ne5??), and you ignored it again. Why?

A few moves later your opponent blundered a piece again (16. - Nxd5??), and now you're up a piece. Then you played 20. Nb6+??, throwing away the piece for no reason. Why?

These are the things you should think about. You must stop throwing away pieces. Use your time and think. If you need more time, play even longer games. Nothing else matters. Openings matter the least.