Hello chess folks,

With so many different openings to choose from, it can be difficult and confusing for the average novice chess player to find and learn an appropriate opening.

I know my method is not perfect by any means and if anyone has any ideas on how to improve it, the advice would be greatly appreciated!

The way I am learning openings now is by putting my games one by one into an engine, in this case, fritz 15 using stockfish 8 and the "let's check feature". I check each of my opening moves individually and when I stray from the main line,  the computer will find the recommended move, I then put the move into "chess position trainer" and that moves becomes part the repertoire.

I have found both advantage and disadvantage to the method.

Pro -  And I think this is a big pro- The lines that get played against you most naturally get developed much quicker than more unpopular lines. for instance, at my level, the Sicilian does not get played very often in live chess, so you don't learn it until you improve and people start playing against you. You don’t waste time in learning repertoire that you will never use.

Con – It can be very hard understanding the ideas behind what the computer recommends.

At least with this method, you don’t waste time hours deciding then learning repertoire that you will seldom use.