Should I Know More Than One Opening?

I see this question all the time.

At the beginner levels, it should be opening concepts.  I still find that to be true today!

At the more advanced level, there's always this contraversy of should you know one opening like the back of your hand or every opening under the sun to some mild extent?

The answer is actually somewhere in between.  You should have more than one answer against e4 and d4, and at least a few possibilites for White, whether they be deviations at move 1, or later on, like say, 1.d4/2.c4, the Tromp, and the Veresov, for example.

In addition, another topic you see a lot are these questions about "tactical" players or "positional" players.  A well-rounded knowledge is critical!

Last night, I faced an arch nemisis (one of two that I have).  He has a very wreckless style.  He sacrifices unsoundly and plays very erratically.  Something to cool those jets would be perfect against him because his knowledge of positional play and endgame play is limited.

His Repertoire:

White:  Never plays anything other than 1.e4.  Gambits against the French.  Open Sicilian and Morra Gambit.  Bishop's Opening and will gladly transpose to the Frankenstin/Dracula Variation of the Vienna.

Black:  Grunfeld, 1...e5 (Moller Variation of the Ruy Lopez, an aggressive line, 5...Bg4 against the Exchange Ruy, another aggressive line).

I have White against him, let's see what I have available to me:

1.e4 - Exchange Ruy the likely outcome

1.d4 - I play Torre and Colle, occasionally Tromp

Looking for something slow, boring, positional, etc.  Just the opposite of some other North Carolina players I know that hate being attacked.

Problem solved!  Below was my answer, and he went down like a house of cards knocked over!

And you'd have gotten crushed!

For which time control? For OTB or online? And which players are advanced? For example, online for bullet and blitz openings does not matter i would say up to 1700-1800 chesscom rating. Becouse i climb that far with not studying openings. Only opening principles, develop to safe square , castle, take center and thats it.. Actually i played very unsound opening gambits, sacs that i did not understand but neither most of my opponents. I did lost many games out of openings but still beated most of them. Even now i see beginners talk about opening variations and names and i was like what, no dont ask me i dont know that opening and they cant believe.. They should focus on tactics.

In general i would say that a one might know only 1-2 openings and play only them and be very good, but should also know, even if he does not like or play them, position that might occour after other openings. So to have an idea when sometime his opening transforms or does not work, to have an idea how to play some other positions.

yes you should get a opening

Now i see it's for OTB and they both are almost masters for US , but have 2050~ fide only which is still very strong.

That game was OTB, Game in 75 Minutes with a 15 second increment per move.

such a "typical" chess.com question, I was sure someone had asked it.

Instead  a strong Chess player with an insightful and nuanced answer.  Ty.

Why is he an arch-nemesis of yours?

Dominique Myers came to the Eastern Open near DC in December (a tournament I play in every year) and in the first round his opponent in the Open Section didn't show up. So he got paired in an extra game against Philip Keisler, a very good friend of mine and a 1700-1800 type player, and played his Frankenstein-Dracula against Philip. He made a gross tactical blunder (after accumulating a good position in the opening) which cost him his queen for two minors I think... and my friend Philip went on to win. So to say that it is not possible for a player of fiveofswords' strength to beat Mr. Myers at his own game may not be correct...I've seen it happen right before my eyes

It would definetly be harder to beat him at his own game. This type of easy positional win is much cleaner and one that you have to work less for.

I've faced such players. My main strategy against such "tacticians" is exactly the same as yours. Well played.

He's an arch nemesis (or rival) because every week on Tuesday night, after the USCF rated game, him and I or Sulia Mason (the other nemisis) and I are always talking trash and beating each other to a bloody pulp in 5-minute blitz.

The best time to take these two down is when it really counts!

As for fiveofswords - he's all talk, nothing else.  He's played a whopping 20 tournament games and holds a rating in the 1700s.  I don't buy his talk about how great he is when he sits in his little dungeon and never gets out and plays a real game.  It's like saying you are the greatest ever poker player because you can win some Poker Stars tournament.

Okay, so it's not a serious thing. I thought you were saying you actually had some personal beef with him or something

Nah, nothing personal against Dominique.  Just locals constantly trying to one-up the other player in friendly competition.

Though I will say, you mentioned about his losing his Queen.  He dropped a Rook against me the last time we faced, was dead, and I got in time trouble and starting making one mistake after another and lost.  That time I had Black in a c3-Sicilian (via declining the Morra Gambit with 3...Nf6).

Two Saturdays ago he dropped his Queen for a Bishop and managed to pull off more schenanigans and got another miracle win against someone in the mid-1800s.

I jokingly told him before the game that I was changing his name to Oscar because Oscar "Myers" has a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A, and that his "Baloney" wasn't going to work against me that night - little pre-game trash talk - and you see above in the original post what happened!  LOL!  

My .02 on this issue...I made it to USCF A class not knowing a single opening.  I played a few openings, and learned the ideas behind those openings.  

Should you know - and play - more than one opening?

Here's what I think Bobby Fischer would say about that. http://www.bookup.com/bobby-fischers-chess-opening-secret/

Possible but... he's beaten some pretty strong players. OTB is different from Chess.com correspondence. OTB blitz is also very different. I think people put less effort into their games since they don't matter here. Easier to catch a titled player slipping online. Endurance also factors into it. Easier to play your best chess when you're in a comfy chair in your pajamas drinking tea, rather than half-awake at 8 am in a depressing hotel in Burlington after an hour drive or something... facing a 12 year old kid who's already 2100 or some bullshit.

As for openings. I wouldn't know really. I've broken every rule pretty much and I don't claim to be "king shit of fuck mountain" at chess. I'd say it's probably a good idea to have not just multiple openings up your sleeve for when you face a small group of the same players, but more importantly... multiple variations WITHIN those openings. I always answer 1.e4 with d5 but I have 2 very different variations committed pretty deep for it, and in each of those I have 2 sub-variations against each of the critical lines. So... in a sense it's like having multiple openings.

That's really not something you have to worry about until you're facing the same masters over and over OTB though--people who know what you play and prepare for it. This is big kid stuff really. Get to 2000 before you worry about it, imo.

One bit of wisdom Thrillerfan has here though is... that learning other openings will make you a better midgame player in general. Playing a different opening for a bit will make you see your old opening with new eyes when you go back to it. So... I do think there's some instructive value to it. And I think if you do learn a second opening, it should be something totally different in style from your first.

@BEES I'm not quite following. You say to remember that OTB is very different from correspondence or online, and this is true, but the game I was describing where Mr. Myers lost to my 1800 friend was an OTB rated tournament game in a standard time control. 

I don't know enough about fiveofswords to assess his true skill level. If I had to guess, I'd say close to 1900 but he doesn't play OTB for some reason so I have no idea. 

I think he's strong enough to do it. FoS clearly has some new powers that he hasn't had a chance to execute yet in tournament. It's more the probability that I'm commenting on. The odds are lower OTB.

These are the kinds of players Myers is beating though:

http://www.ncchess.org/wordpress/2012/10/dominique-myers-gets-a-gm-scalp/

He's inconsistent, but on a good day he is good.

Sure. Not saying it's likely to happen. But on any given day, a 2200 could beat a GM (to be fair, Larry Kaufman is a very poor player for a GM...his FIDE rating was never over 2500 and he only won the title due to winning the World Senior event, which comes with automatic GM status) or lose to a 1700. Neither of those things is likely, but certainly possible and I've seen both. 

If you think you are that good, prove it and win the Under 1900 section of the Chicago Open.  I'll be there to witness as I'll be playing in the Under 2300 section of the same event!

If Chicago doesn't work for you, I'll be in Vegas at the National Open, you can prove it there in the Under 1900.  Should be a cakewalk for you the way you talk.