A limited repertoire has served him well. He regularly wins open tournaments against opposition he out grades. The lesson might be not to adopt his opening repertoire as such, but arrives at one's own. Hebden knows his openings to a fantastic depth.
Mark Hebden's repertoire - A good model ?
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Thank you for your answers, it's hard to get a conclusion, but indeed it's HIS repertoire, that he knows more than anyone.
There are different definitions of 'off-beat.' Playing 1.d4 and 2.Nc3 doesn't seen off-beat to me. It's not the absolute main line QG, but it develops a piece to its best square. It certainly can't be bad. Compare that to 1.Na3 or 1.g4, which are 100% off-beat and not to be recommended as a repertoire staple.
For us amateurs, if an opening follows basic principles (develops, controls / fights for the center, etc), it's likely fine. It doesn't matter if it isn't popular, or if GMs consider it gives no advantage. If an opening gets us to a comfortable middlegame, that's all that matters. GM Hebden shows us that.
GM Mark Hebden's opening repertoire is sound and aggressive, they aren't main line and that means he can be more creative. Yes, anyone can adopt his opening repertoire and its sound but avoid main lines that require a lot theory. When we talk about understanding there is misconception one needs to search and analyze deeply to acquire understanding; better is getting a opening repertoire book with decent annotation and playing your repertoire often and you gain experience and understanding.
The is a (defunct) group here you can join to discuss his opening repertoire (well, at least the Barry and 150 Attacks):
https://www.chess.com/club/summerscales-killer-opening-repertoire-group
See also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haULRgCC5I4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KpOx-mFm0Q
Looking at Hebden's rep and games it appears that those openings are mostly aimed at a slight but safe advantage into the middle game with white. Also generally with standard themes and manageable opening theory.
His big plus looks to be either outplay his opponent in the middle game or quickly take advantage of an opponent's middle game mistake. So versus equal or weaker opponent there's a great likelihood of win or draw. Given his ability, a good formula for most of the tournaments he plays. Though winning against tougher opponents is much less likely.
Could be a strategy a bit like Carlsen sometimes uses. Though Carlsen obviously employs it against a higher class opponent.
Mark is an English GM that make a living out of winning tournaments in england since mid 80's
His repertoire has some offbeat weapons like the barry attack and the torre attack.
Even close to 60 years old he still won or got second in several tournaments.
Is he a good model to follow ? Since he lives entirely of chess and faces all level of opposition, his repertoire were designed for that.
But using some offbeat lines is not recommended to ambitious players (steve giddins and other specialists tell us).
Here in my local chess situation the highest fide rating is around 2300, the kind of opposition Hebden beat so much.
What do you think ?
Hebden only use the barry attack, 150 attack, torre and colle, sticking to main lines (QGD, Slav, King indian and e5) in the remaining part of his repertoire.