White has to learn different lines for different balck responses.
what if white's opening not = to black's opening?
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The opening is like a tree - it branches out at every move.
It is controlled by both players.
For example, white can decide to go for 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3, etc.
After white plays 1.e4, black can play 1... e5, 1... c5, 1... Nf6, 1... e6, 1... c6, 1... Nf6, etc.
Both players by turn contribute something to shape up the opening. Normally you cannot decide on playing a particular opening (however, in chess.com, you have the option to invite a player instead of "standard" to play a particular opening).
Oct 26, 2008
0
#4
Ok... both comments make sense but then now I realize that when beginning the opening studies (I'm not there yet) you should learn several openings at the same time so that you can transform from one line to another as you progress thru the tree, correct?
thanks for the help
Learning the opening is not that easy! You do not go about just memorising opening moves! You will be overwhelmed and disheartened within a short time!There are several approaches:
1) get hold of opening books like Basic Chess Openings (king pawn openings) and More Basic Chess Openings (queen pawn openings) by Gabor Kallai (- they are very cheap if bought online second hand). They talk about the principles behind each major opening - try to grasp the principle rather than trying to memorise the moves. When you cover both the sub-200-page books, you will be in a much better position to tackle the openings. This is the preferred method. You can also get hold of similar books recommended by others. Warning: unless your conception is clear, books like MCO, NCO, ECO will be useless to you except as reference only!
2) Have someone guide you through the openings.
Hello all,
I have not studied openings other than to try to understand general principals but when I do start to look at a specific opening (from white's perspective) I always wonder how does white proceed if black makes a move that doesn't follow white's intended opening? So for example if I am white looking to play the Ruy Lopez, then for my e4 I expect e5 in response... suppose black plays c6 instead? Then if white plays Nf3 and black plays d5 now white has nothing that resembles the Ruy Lopez. So who controls the opening and how?
Thanks