learning openings without memorization?

DavidForthoffer wrote:

International Master Julio Kaplan told me the best way to learn an opening is to quickly play over thousands of games of that opening, without analysis.

After you absorb the typical themes, moves, and tactics of an opening, you can start to better understand why some variations are better than others.

I think it works only if you're already quite a strong player.

mrector wrote:

Let me preface this with a disclaimer. I'm new at asking for other people's opinions and new at chess too. I play for fun, and I completed the lessons in my Chessmaster 9000 a few years ago, but I've never competed in anything or been coached. So here goes.

My chess.com greeter said it was permissible to use the game explorer as a resource during online chess games, and I've been doing that. A lot the moves I get from it would not have come to me naturally, and my understanding of them is not so deep. In one game I was playing white and the opening was something called an "old Sicilian." I don't usually open with e4 precisely because I'm afraid to play against the Sicilian, but with the game explorer to help me into the middle game, my courage was bolstered. After about 10 moves I started to get really sick of the book, so I did something silly and traded away my d4 Knight. Then the beauty and resilience of the defense really struck me, and the clouds parted and a light from heaven shone on the d6 and e6 pawns (and the bishops were somewhat illuminated as well).

My old way of playing the opening was to memorize 3 or 4 moves and then just try to play something that would require a less-than-automatic response from my opponent (brain engaged? mission accomplished!), but the complexity and tension of these positions that I'm arriving at is, like, bottling my mind, and I would really like to have the strategic sense that could derive them.

So for all you better players than me out there, is there a way of studying the opening from a strategic point-of-view? I would much rather work on tactics than memorize lines, and isn't the opening just a way to improve your tactical chances later on anyway? I mean, I know the 'rules' about how to develop, but the idea of playing a "dark square game" (for example) is a little too abstract for me to appreciate until it happens and somebody's well-placed and well-supported knight in the center or whatever gives me a headache.

Anyway, any advice you guys have would be appreciated. I know from my own profession that nobody gets very far without being taught...

I'm afraid there's no easy shortcut to either a good specialized book on the opening, or a chess teacher...

hicetnunc

Actually you don't have to be such a strong player. When I began chess (after I knew all the way the pieces move) one of the first books I bought was one on the Ruy Lopez with 100 unannotated games. I don't think I ever looked at all 100, but after the first 50 I did understand some of the common moves and themes. However, I didn't understand why some of the moves were played. For instance, in the Breyer, it took me quite a while to understand the knight moves Nb8 - Nc6 - Nb8 - Nd7 and the resulting play. It would have helped a great deal if there was some prose explaining what was going on. I still like the positions but would never play the Ruy, way too complicated to play correctly against top notch players. But I digress, I feel that Kaplan was somewhat correct.

Mike

i learned some openings not by memorising them, but by certain logic.

with each move i make i take into considering the moves that i know, example:

1. i know: e4,d4,Nf3,c4,f4,b4,g3. and i chose 1. e4

1... if i'm black i know the moves: c5,e5,d5,Nf6,e6,c6,d6. and i play 1...-e5

2. i consider now: Nf3,f4,Nc3, and chose 2.Nf3

2... i consider: Nc6,Nf6,d6. i chose 2...-Nc6

3. i consider: Bb5,d4,Bc4,Nc3. and chose 3.Bb5

and so on and on...

another thing i noticed while playing openings.

most of the d4 - d5/Nf6/c5 openings make somewhat resembling positions (not meaning the final position is the same, but the moves that white makes are mostly natural and normal, as black it's a bit different, but still very natural, at least in the openings i play...)

in the sicilian i mostly play a few lines and have to face only a few... (even though it's very risky not to know lines in the sicilian by heart at high levels, not mine...)

anyway, i don't normaly memorise everything of a single line, but memorise certain moves and then chose what to play each time.

Studying openings requires work there is no shortcut. Memorizing lines is a necessity. The only way you can use  the opening is to  memorize, understand and practice the lines. See how strong players use the variation, see how the theories develop as innovations are discovered and played. Study and employ the opening that  fit your style and temperament. Develop the sense of loyalty and ownership to the chosen opening . Adopt, assimilate, and innovate and soon your opening will become a force to reckon with.

Unless youre making chess as a career, it is advisable to study only 1 or 2 opening at a start. But master them deep.

I find that the key to mToy remembering openings is not memorising openings but understanding why moves are played!

To start off with perhaps study a system instead of an opening. Maybe something like the Colle/Colle Zukertort plus something like a docile version of the semi slav (i.e. like keep clear of the Botvinnik variation lol) and perhaps something like the scandinavian or Caro Kann where the pawn structures can be similar.

Or perhaps a Kings Indian attack/defence/Pirc/Modern type of system (which can get a little hairy at times...)

be the weirdo that plays dutch defence to d4, sicilian to e4,

and play English (c5) as white. you'll have a leg up on your competition since people usually stay away from 2 of the 3

...but the complexity and tension of these positions that I'm arriving at is, like, bottling my mind...

 i'm sorry, but this almost made me spit beer all over my computer screen.

TATICAL LINES