opening trouble
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I've come to the conclusion that my main problem is the opening stage. I say this because on my tactics puzzle phone app, I'm rated 1700.. But when I play guys on chess.com I can't even get to 1600 and struggle to maintain in the 1500s. I can kill tactic puzzles but in a real game I'm never able to execute tactics because I'm already with a disadvantage after move 10. Understanding openings isn't as easy as it looks. it's actually the hardest part of chess in my opinion. I don't even understand why we make some of the moves we do in the opening. Like, in the ruy Lopez for example when we run away with our bishop after a6. That means we moved a piece twice in the opening and allowed black to develop on his next move. So why is this considered a sound opening ? It breaks the principle. I play the bishops opening or the bird as white. Against e4 I play the nimzovich nc6 and God help me if I end up in the scotch game. If my opponent plays D4 I might as well just resign, seriously.. There's just so many ways I can go wrong . If I can get a solid, playable position I'm happy but I'm already frustrated after move 5. Can anyone point me in the right direction ?
OK so there's a lot here. First of all, 3...a6 against the Ruy Lopez is a non-developing move, that's why White can retreat 4.Ba4. So what Black moves next, let's say 4...Nf6. As far as development, the only difference between this and if Black had played the developing ...Nf6 a move earlier (on move 3, the "Berlin Defense"), is that 3...a6 and 4.Ba4 have been interpolated. It's now White's move in either case.
I looked at one game of yours, you played Bird's as White, 1.f4. This does NOT contribute to you development, and weakens a diagonal toward your king, which your opponent took advantage of. I recommend you play something different as White. Also, don't abandon your games and instead have the courtesy to resign. You come here to the forums looking for help, but you treat your opponents discourteously
If you want something solid as White, play 1.d4 and 2.Nf3, there's almost nothing your opponent can do to prevent this, and then you will have your choice of 3rd moves to continue your development: 3.e3 or 3.g3. Then on move 4 develop your bishop with either 4.Be2 or 4.Bd3, or in the case of 3.g3 then 4.Bg2, and in either case you can castle on move 5, and are rock solid and ready for the middle game.
As for your Nimzovich defense, you may be playing it slightly wrong if you are ending up in the Black side of the Scotch. You must be playing 2...e5 the "Kevitz defense" if White plays 2.d4 -- the Nimzovich way of responding to 2.d4 is 2...d5, but White can prevent this on move 2 with 2.Nc3, and also has 2.Nf3. I don't know if I recommend the Nimzovich though.
1.d4 is easier: just play 1...d5 and 2...e6. This will be the Queens Gambit Declined if your opponent played 2.c4. It's very solid, and as in the line I recommended to you as White you will play ...Nf6, ...Be7 and ...O-O and will be ready for the middle game.
I agree with everything GEOJEM_1963 said. I want to say that there is no correlation between tactics puzzles and actual chess games, in actual games you do not know when to look for tactics. Also, a simple question, why do you abandon games? That is a really stupid and disrespectful
Ditto to GEOJEM_1963's comments.
For one thing, your opening repertoire does not sound particularly good to me. The Ruy Lopez is one of the most complicated openings, it's very tactical, and you have to fight for a draw as Black with it, so it's not very good for beginners for those reasons. If your goal is to draw, play Petrov's Defense instead. The same for the Nimzovich Defense (1. e4 Nc6): play 1...e5, 1...c5, 1...c6, 1...e6 or something more common instead. The same for Bird's Opening: it's too offbeat to learn important, common principles like getting a central pawn duo. The same for the Bishop's Opening (1. e4 e5 2. Bc4): it's somewhat offbeat and suboptimal. Play a normal move, especially a move that keeps the initiative like the most common follow-up 2. Nf3, instead. In general I recommend looking at a database or opening book to see what the most common moves are for each side, and stick with those until you find a good reason to abandon them (other than the reason "I lose all the time.").
The Ruy Lopez theory is too much to get into here. That's a topic for a different thread in the Openings subforum.
Yea I never understood the ruy lopez. GMs say that you play Bb5 to "pressure the knight" so that you can indirectly control e5. That makes sense, but then immediately after a6 they just give up and then allow b5 with tempo. So I really don't get why they are bothering to pressure the knight if they are not actually willing to take. Here's an idea: Play Bc4 and then Bb3 and then you only give black one tempo instead of two.
At least, that's why I don't understand the ruy lopez. I know it must be good, but I'm surprised its the oldest chess opening when I have access to computers and the advice of the best players in the world and I don't understand why it's played. Bc4 seems better.
I understand that Bc4 runs into problems with Na5 ideas later in the opening, (hence why people sometimes play 3: d3 or 3: Nc3), but Bb5 and retreating the bishop seems to run into even more Na5 ideas.
I know I said that I don't understand why GMs don't take, but some GMs do and truth be told, I don't understand why you play Bb5 with the intention of taking the knight either. It's been shown that white can't put any pressure on e5 if white takes, and that's never a strategic idea of white's. Therefore, white's plan is to have an endgame with a 4 vs. 3 majority that counts more than black's because black's pawns are double.
That is about the least ambitious play by white I have ever seen, worthy of an engine. But people play Bb5 and then Bxc6 content with white's doubled pawn advantage. It's not even an advantage if you value the two bishops that black has highly enough, you're basically letting black equalize for free.
At least, that's what it seems like to me.
I don't understand the ruy lopez.
(p. 10)
A Little Strategy, A Little History
The Exchange Variation is not particularly complex
from a strategic point of view. But to start out, it's worth
comparing it with the main line of the Lopez.
With the moves 1 e4, e5 2 Nf3, Nc6 3 Bb5 White
makes an indirect threat to the e-pawn. He knows that
even if he had a free move he could not win a pawn di-
rectly (3... "pass" 4 Bxc6, dxc6 5 Nxe5, Qd4!). But he real-
izes that at some point he will have protected his own e-
pawn and at that point the threat of Bxc6 followed by
Nxe5 will become very real.
In the early days of the Ruy Lopez, Black tried a
variety of third moves, but had some difficulty dealing
with this indirect threat to his center pawn. As soon as
White defended his own pawn with d2-d3 or Nc3, they be-
gan to flounder. Even some of the best players in the
world would meet 1 e4, e5 2 Nf3, Nc6 3 Bb5, Nf6 4 d3, for
example, with 4...Bd6?. That move does meet the 5 Bxc6
threat--but delays his development horribly.
Enter Paul Morphy. In his celebrated match with
Adolph Anderssen in 1858, Morphy popularized the move
3...a6 as a means of dealing with the threat to the e-pawn.
The move had been tried in the previous decade by players
who didn't understand it and who met 4 Ba4 with 4...b5,
thereby driving the bishop from one good diagonal to a
better one--weakening the Black position in the process
and getting nothing in return.
But Morphy had a better idea. After Anderssen re-
sponded to his 3...a6 with 4 Ba4, Morphy continued 4...Nf6!
5 d3, Bc5 (the pawn is still safe because 6 Bxc6, dxc6 7
Nxe5, Qd4 threatens mate as well as the knight). Anderssen
appreciated this last point and replied 6 c3, reviving the
threat of Bxc6.
(p. 11)
r1bqk2r/1ppp1ppp/p1n2n2/2b1p3/B3P3/2PP1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 6
But Morphy illustrated the usefulness of his third
move by now inserting 6...b5!. He then castles quickly and
can even play ...d7-d5, after which Morphy had solved his
more serious opening problem. (After two unsatisfactory
Lopezes, Anderssen switched to 1 a3!? for the rest of their
match.) And as a result of the American's success, the
"Morphy Defense" became the basis of the main Lopez
lines, which to this day are characterized by 1 e4, e5 2
Nf3, Nc6 3 Bb5, a6 4 Ba4, Nf6 5 O-O, Be7 and if 6 Re1 (or
6 d3, 6 Nc3, etc), then 6...b5!.
The Exchange Variation alters the sequence of
events slightly. White exchanges on c6 before he defends
his e-pawn. And, since most Black defenders now use 3...a6
instead of developing moves such as 3...Nf6 or 3...Bc5,
White can accomplish this with a gain of time. After 3...a6
4 Bxc6, dxc6 5 O-O White is well ahead in development. In
fact, Black has no pieces off his first rank.
Soltis, Andrew. 1992. Winning with the Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation. Dallas, Texas: Chess Digest, Inc.
xman720 wrote:
"Yea I never understood the ruy lopez. ..."
Perhaps it would be helpful to look at the book, Chess From Morphy to Botvinnik.
