Should I be aware of what my opponent's opening is?

I'm a new tournament player with a uscf rating of 1030. I am sticking with the lopez for white and the pirc for black. However, I'm wondering if I should break out my MCO 15 and set up games where my opponent plays things like the French or the Sicialian? I don't know what the intent of these openings are and think that I might be better able to counter when I know what they are trying to accomplish. 

Has anyone done this? Does it make sense to do this? Should I just concentrate on maintaining my opening and development and not worry so much about what my opponent might be up to?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Ok... some thoughts.

1. You are not going to play the Ruy Lopez, unless your opponent cooperates and playes 1. e5, etc. Thus, if you are going to play 1. e4, you need to know a response to 1. c5 (the Sicillian) 1. e6 (the French) etc.

2. Your black opening, the Pirc, is problematic. First of all, you have no response to 1. d4, so you need to learn one. Secondly, the Pirc and the Ruy are very different openings. The Ruy is a classical opening, in which you attempt to control the center by placing pawns on it. The Pirc is a very hypermodern opeing in which you control (or influence) the center through active piece play. The pirc is very difficult, and without accurate play, you will get blown off the board. I think you might be better off playing a classical black response, such as the Ruy for black.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure that I want to devote a lot of my attention to openings right now though. I believe that I should be focusing more on tactics and end games. That's why I chose these two openings. They both get my king castled quickly and I feel that they have done well against most openings that I come across. Of course, this is just meager understanding at the moment.

Should I opening up my openings book and start looking at more openings then? I was thinking of playing against openings in order to better understand what my opponent might be doing.

I would say until you are 200 points stronger - just use general developing principles.

I disagree Flamma. You can easily play a Pirc-like system against 1.d4 on lower levels. That said, I think that the Pirc is a good choice, because you avoid all the different systems after 1...e5 or 1...c5. Imagine studying the Ruy, Scotch, Italian, King's Gambit, etc., etc.

Knightwriter, you are right to not focus on openings that much, right now. Just get a grip of the basics, get your pieces out and castle. You should be fine.

If you happen to face an opponent that responds 1...c5, 1...e6, or anything but 1...e5, just keep developing, I wouldn't worry too much about theory, yet.

You don't need to completely understand an opening to play it at your level. Just memorize the first few moves and learn the opening principals. Chances are your oppoent doesn't know theory very deep and will leave it leaving you with the opening principals to fall back on and still play the opening well.

You are right with what you should be working on now. Tactics and endgames are vital knowlegde if you want to improve. All you need to know is how to come out of the opening in good standing. The 0.1-0.2 advantage that you will get by knowing more theory than your opponent will be passed back and forth almost every move anyway since you and your opponent will be playing far from perfect moves.

Thanks for all the feedback. I will continue on as I'm doing now and stick with the openings that I know. Maybe when I'm around 1200(?) I will start to learn some new openings and theory.

Thanks again and if anyone else has some input please feel free to share.

Apart from that there's an ongoing discussion about whether anyone at your (as well as my) rating level should study openings at all (personally I think it doesn't hurt to know the first few moves of the most well-known lines and have one "pet" opening for White and one for Black which you know in more detail and play in "important" games whenever possible) ... I don't think there are many recorded games of your 1000-1200 opponents where you could study their openings :)

At OTB games I usually play just play my favorite openings when possible and otherwise if I don't know any theory, I just try to make good moves ... it is the exception for me to play an opponent I know well (usually someone from my club whom I had played before in casual games). If this is the case and I still know which opening I used to win against this opponent before, I'll play this again ;)  otherwise my choice of opening could be influenced if I know something of his playing style - e.g. recently I played an opponent against whom I had played a lot of casual games before and I knew he liked reckless and often incorrect attacks, so I played the French with Black which I know is quite solid and incorrect attacks are often punished easily, as opposed to my other favorite black opening 1. ... e5  ... but that's not something which is very important at our level and usually not what decides the game.

It's fine to not know any theory, but it's another thing entirely to play e.g. 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 just because you play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3.

If you don't know the opening, then you just have a chess position and you need to figure out a move that makes sense to you. NOT just play a move that is good in another position entirely.

really, you can ignore openings and just play what you think are good moves.  i met a master once (low 2200s otb) who didn't know a single opening, and he said he wanted to learn lol.  don't create too many weaknesses, get ALL your pieces moved out before you attack, and GET CASTLED.  doing those things alone may improve your rating 300 pts.  :) 

good luck!

I agree that you shouldnt spend much time studying openings... That's why I advocate playing as similar openings as possible. Look at my repetoire for example...

White - I play the English (1. c4 2. Nc3 3. g3 4. Bg2). That setup works pretty much every time, regardless of what black does. There are exceptions of course, but such is life.

Black (v. 1. e4) I play the Accelerated Dragon (1. e4 c5 2. ___ Nc6 3. ____ g6 4. ___ Bg7). You will notice that this opening is virtually identical to what I play as white. Therefore, the same prinicples and objectives (in this case, a queenside attack generally) apply to both.

Black (v. 1 d4) I play the classical Dutch (1. d4 f5). I fianchetto on the queenside. This is similar to the English or the Siciallian, just reversed. Basically, in all three openings, I am attempting to imbalance the position to generate an attack, assisted by a fianchetto.

My point is, you are better off playing similar styles as white and black, as the lessons you learn the hard way will then be applicable to all of your game.

The Pirc is the gateway defence. From an understanding of the Pirc, you can understand the Caro-Kann and King's Indian. You can transpose to Sicilian, and Gruenfeld. It's very dynamic! I've been playing it for over two years, and I suspect it will take me a few more years to use it competently against the higher ranked players. You can use it against e4, d4, c4, Nf3 and b3. I believe, since I've started playing the Pirc, I understand chess more than I ever have(not much of course, but for me, I'll take it).

It is different, obviously, as you are imbalancing on the kingside with a queenside fianchetto, as opposed to the opposite in the English. But it is the most "natural" feeling thing I've found to respond to 1. d4. Of course, you will also need to be ready for the "anti dutch" lines like the From's Gambit.

Concentrate on playing the best moves, not focusing on opening theory.

I disagree with people who say that you shouldn't learn opening theory before such and such a rating. Opening (and more importantly ideas in those openings) illustrate principles and helps you become familiar with a variety of pawn structures and chess positions. It helps you be prepared in the opening, so that on the 3rd move in the game (or 5th or the 8th) your not scratching your head wondering what to do. Opening advantages are more than a fraction of a pawn. Being in a position where you are comfortable and know what you are doing can make all the difference in a game.

I have a varied opening repetoire, but this is what I like to sick to:

For Black:

Against e4-Accelerated Dragon- Easy to learn. The general set-up works against all those weird things people play at the lower levels. Lots of pitfalls for the unwary (which incidentally teach you some useful tactical themes). May not be as good as other Sicilians at master level, but I don't mind

Against d4 I play Semi-slav, but I am working on the KID. Semi-slav is not that hard to learn either. The center is strong. The games can get pretty tactical.

As White I can play a few openings:

e4- I play Ruy Lopez against e5 generally. Against the French I use the Reti Gambit. Sicilians it really depends on my mood.

d4- I play the catalan, which I think is better than the English. You have a better pawn center, more pressure on your opponent's center and queenside. It is a little more complicated and you need to be prepared for some gambit play in the Open variation.

Surprise Weapons (always good to have)- Nimzo-larsen and Evans Gambit

Hope this helps.

 I'm a bit confused here,  you said you don't know a lot of openings ,  and indicated you play the classical dutch with a queenside fianchetto . 

note:  in classical dutch,  a queenside fianchetto is rarely seen,  but more often as it is used in a modern fashion.  yet, the classical dutch relies on the white bishop on c8 to stay there,  guard b7 and look at f5,  you may want to move it around, to h5 , but be very carefull using the fianchetto in this manner of bishop b7 , as it leaves many weaknesses on the for a queenside attack from white.  If white does not respond to the classical dutch King attack ( pawnstorm) and uses queenside play  than then fianchetto is a losing move...

The Ruy Lopez is good, but you can't just expect your opponent to play 1. e5. Here are some examples of things which you must be prepared for:

1. The Scandinavian Defence

2. The French Defence

3. The caro-kann defence:

4. The sicilian defence:

5. The sicilian defence (another variation):

6. Fianchetto or passive play.

7. e5 or Active play:

If you learn these 7 concepts of openings, not specifically the moves, but understanding the reasons behind the moves, then you should have enough opening theory to get you to at least 1500 rating.

NOTE: These are only for white. You need to learn concepts for black as well.

With the rating of the OP being what it is I dont think he should be concerned much with openings at this time/level. Playing a lot of chess is more important right now.

I second that. No need to "learn openings " at 1000 R -level.  I was wondering actually , since you are interest in opening theory, why you have this level.   1000 is just about a bit more than basic piece movement knowledge.

Almost every game is going to begin with either 1. d4 or 1. e4.  Messing around with different openings will give you a sense as to what you can begin to be comfortable with. Start there.

From that, pick the one you feel you did best with and stick with it (one against a d4 opening and one against e4). In time someone will vary off from what you are used to in which case you will begin to learn what works and doesnt.

For awhile i struggled using the sicilian against e4. Luckily someone suggested caro-kann, which has upped my winning significantly. What does it mean? It means I have found something I can work with (CK) and something that i should give more practice with (the sicilian). Work with two (one for d4 and e4), and THEN begin to learn others.