What is the best way to learn the Openings
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Oct 12, 2007
0
#2
Best way is to play an opening you want to experiment with or research first that feels comfortable to you (1.e4 or 1.d4 for example - which one do you like). Play the opening with any opponent, write down the moves, then after the game, go over the opening with your reference book or a strong computer or database. See where you varied from the book and how might you improve. Study two openings as White and two openings as Black. Find all the traps and short games (under 20 moves) associated with that opening and study those games. Soon, you will survive or be better at the opening than your opponent, which should lead to more won games.
Thousands of variations on Opening books seems to be so impossible to be memorized by begginners and intermediate players.
Beginners and intermediate players will not reap much benefit from studying opening variations deeply.
Even trying to understand the core of each opening line is already an extreme task.
For a beginner it's good to know opening principles. Mastering this knowledge is one of the keys to getting much better at chess. 
For an intermediate player it's good to know a few lines and the main ideas behind them. Eg, in the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3 Bxb4 the idea is White has lost a tempo and doubled his pawns in exchange for the bishop pair. Playing a few example games shows how to exploit this edge.
See where you varied from the book and how might you improve.Find all the traps and short games (under 20 moves) associated with that opening and study those games.
This is good advice. I have a small database of all the traps in my opening which I study periodically to make sure I stay sharp.
Oct 12, 2007
0
#4
Play through many master games in the openings you wish to know. Then you will get a feel for where the pieces belong and the typical plans and ideas that the +2200 players come up with.
I use www.chesslab.com for my game database, very easy for searching opening positions.
play correspondence chess.
You're allowed to use books and databases during your games. Play the openings you usually do and when you dont know what to do look up your opening. Best way to learn new variations and get practical experience.
Sawasdee khrap
You can study opening books geared towards intermediate players. There're the everyman serie "Starting out " and gambit's one "Chess explained". You'll get only the principal variations with plans and ideas.
Then play rapid and blitz games and try all variations to see which ones fit your style better. Once your choice is done, play correspondence chess like recommended upon.
If you want to play blitz with real persons, I highly recommend you to go there : www.bangkokchess.com
You'll meet players of all level up to IM and Kai is a nice guy.
Chok dee
Thank's for the info I'll try that.
Frankly you should probably start with 1.e4, and in particular 1.e4 e5 openings. I consider myself a beginner too, and the way I have learned is by learning the basics of one opening, but not out to move 25! Behind every opening is a theory, a purpose. Ask yourself "why is this piece placed here?". If you don't, it will just be like memorizing a string of numbers. After a while, patterns emerge, and you will be able to tell the difference between classical openings and modern openings. Try picking one or two openings at first, and playing them with your friends, the computer, or on chess.com! Eventually you will get comfortable with it and you can move on. Hope this helps.
What I'd like to see is a book which has 20 or so main openings with their strategies briefly explained, but not too briefly. In searching for a chess book on openings I'm finding volumous encyclopedias with little to no explanations on strategies or very expensive DVD's which only dig into a single opening.
go to thechesswebsite.com there are lots of opening videos with the main line and a few more variations for each opening. it makes learning openings much easier in my opinion
Keep on playing openings.It's good to have a chessboard which you can analyze all the opening varations you learned during the day before going to bed.Do resonable moves as a response to your opening.When you feel attracted to an opening,play a couple games with it on live chess.Identify the weaknesses in the opening and try to find a soulution to the weakness.Then you can use it online chess.
Ralph6145 wrote:
What I'd like to see is a book which has 20 or so main openings with their strategies briefly explained, but not too briefly. In searching for a chess book on openings I'm finding volumous encyclopedias with little to no explanations on strategies or very expensive DVD's which only dig into a single opening.
I hear you there. I wish there was an interactive (not chess mentor, sorry but that isn't a good interactive format) program that went through openings, explaining the moves and even telling you why not to do a given move when you try it.
I was happy to see the Classic Nimzo Indian line videos recently on here. Finally someone did videos in a manner that I found very helpful and I feel chess.com should do all of their opening videos in that manner. That author was very informative, went over the what moves and why and why not other moves.
Too often the videos on here just say "If you want to use that move research it" or "this is just theory" and doesn't say what the theory is. So I hope they have that Nimzo guy do many other opening videos of the same quality.
Okay.
What 'smartass' revived this thread!
ChessSponge wrote:
Ralph6145 wrote:
What I'd like to see is a book which has 20 or so main openings with their strategies briefly explained, but not too briefly. In searching for a chess book on openings I'm finding volumous encyclopedias with little to no explanations on strategies or very expensive DVD's which only dig into a single opening.
I hear you there. I wish there was an interactive (not chess mentor, sorry but that isn't a good interactive format) program that went through openings, explaining the moves and even telling you why not to do a given move when you try it.
I was happy to see the Classic Nimzo Indian line videos recently on here. Finally someone did videos in a manner that I found very helpful and I feel chess.com should do all of their opening videos in that manner. That author was very informative, went over the what moves and why and why not other moves.
Too often the videos on here just say "If you want to use that move research it" or "this is just theory" and doesn't say what the theory is. So I hope they have that Nimzo guy do many other opening videos of the same quality.
Chess mentor really does not improve your learning greatly.
i love how this thread is 6 years old and just started getting new comments
Oct 28, 2016
0
#16
SilentKnight1 wrote:
i love how this thread is 6 years old and just started getting new comments
Yep, still getting new comments.
One possible place to start is with the book, Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms.
"If you find an opening here that appeals to you and you wish to find out more about it, the next step would be to obtain an introductory text devoted entirely to that subject." - GM John Emms (2006)
"Throughout the book Emms uses excellently chosen examples to expand the readers understanding of both openings and chess in general. Thus equipped the student can carry this knowledge forward to study individual openings and build an opening repertoire. ... For beginning players, this book will offer an opportunity to start out on the right foot and really get a feel for what is happening on the board." - FM Carsten Hansen, reviewing the 2006 Emms book
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Another possibility is Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014).
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
I believe that it is possible to see a fair portion of the beginning of Tamburro's book by going to the Mongoose Press site.
https://www.mongoosepress.com/excerpts/OpeningsForAmateurs%20sample.pdf
"Each player should choose an opening that attracts him. Some players are looking for a gambit as White, others for Black gambits. Many players that are starting out (or have bad memories) want to avoid mainstream systems, others want dynamic openings, and others want calm positional pathways. It’s all about personal taste and personal need.
For example, if you feel you’re poor at tactics you can choose a quiet positional opening (trying to hide from your weakness and just play chess), or seek more dynamic openings that engender lots of tactics and sacrifices (this might lead to more losses but, over time, will improve your tactical skills and make you stronger)." - IM Jeremy Silman (January 28, 2016)
Also, perhaps look at:
https://www.chess.com/article/view/picking-the-correct-opening-repertoire
http://chess-teacher.com/best-chess-openings/
https://www.chess.com/blog/TigerLilov/build-your-opening-repertoire
https://www.chess.com/blog/CraiggoryC/how-to-build-an-opening-repertoire
In a 2006 GM John Nunn book, in connection with opening study, it is stated that, if a "book contains illustrative games, it is worth playing these over first", and the reader was also advised, "To begin with, only study the main lines - that will cope with 90% of your games, and you can easily fill in the unusual lines later."
"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
In one of his books about an opening, GM Nigel Davies wrote (2005), "The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line."
chessme.io is something that worked for me, they have all ECO openings, you can create your variations as well and train it in the same way you do with chessable for free.
Thousands of variations on Opening books seems to be so impossible to be memorized by begginners and intermediate players. Even trying to understand the core of each opening line is already an extreme task.
What is the best way to learn and understand deeply (or sufficiently) on each book... in order to be able to decide and choose well which line and which variations to follow in the real-life games???