What's the best way to learning opening theory?

( I'm not clueless about openings, as I have been playing chess for about 6 years. )

After procrastinating all my life, I'm falling behind. 

Should I go over certain lines with an engine? Do I use a specific chess opening website? Do I read books? If so, what kind? I have many of these 'guide' type books and while they're useful to understand key concepts, there are many variations which they say 'you need to learn the full theory' (or something along those lines). What counts as too old for an opening book? 

Thanks

If you want to, sure.

Just realize that their evals are not very accurate in the opening. I'll look at my opening lines with an engine but very rarely do I use the engine to outright reject (or accept) lines. You have to be careful.

Mostly I like to do it because my opponents might be doing it also, and I don't want to be surprised if they deviate using an engine suggestion.

Ultimately at your level (and my level too) it's probably not a good use of time though.

I don't know what's out there. Maybe there's something good... but openings are low effort high reward. Even if it's a repertoire put together by a strong GM, they can easily do a database dump, or give terrible suggestions, and then sell it for $20, and they can be sure amateurs will buy it, because low rated players are obsessed with openings.

In general I'd be suspicious of websites.

Personally I don't prefer repertoire books. I like to use databases and do it myself, this has its own drawbacks, but anyway...

As with any chess book read reviews. Ask around. Try to get something well regarded by the community. Like my comment about websites, opening books can be a quick pay day for a titled player. 

If you're playing teenage IMs and GMs you shouldn't waste time with anything but the latest books.

But since you're 1400...

The goal should be to have 5 to 10 moves memorized plus (and this is important) know the basic middlegame idea. What area of the board do white and black typically play on (kingside, center queenside) and how (broadly speaking pawns or pieces) and know the main pawn breaks.

Outdated theory tends to get you into trouble later in the game, where players are still in their preparation on move 15, 20, 30. Even if you bothered memorizing that much (please don't) none of your opponents will know enough for you to ever reach those positions.

Indeed. When I started out, my idol was RJF. Soo, yeah I emulated his opening repertoire to a point. But as I played in some tourneys, bought chess books, engaged in chess clubs and gained more experience... I noticed that, I liked playing 1. d4 systems more (namely, the QGD, Torre, Colle, Stonewall etc) as opposed to "1. e4, best by test". And that was one... defensively, I was enamored by Karpov's use of the CK. Pragmatic, flexible and realistic. Soo okay. I refined my openings centered around d4 ultimately as a mainstay. I still use the Najdorf as my #1 D, but I regularly use the Caro-Kann as my 'casual' defence.

Basically, if you're interested, KID is still my main d4 defense, but I've been versed in QGD Tartakower, Lasker as "on a whim" basis, obviously depending on my opponent's play.

Soo I've sort of strayed away from Bobby Fischer's repertoire over my 30 years of playing. My recommendation for you is to figuring out your playing style and developing an opening repertoire based in real time. Then say, you can tweak it as you gain experience. (like how I mentioned I did over time)

Indeed. I am a staunch advocate of learning as much openings as you possibly can. Especially in this day and age of databases & opening explorer (none of which I never would of dreamed of even 10 years ago). True. Some lines have become archaic, nostalgic but hey... it's not like you're going to play Magnus Carlson or Fabiano! I encourage you to set up your opening repertoire ASAP. It is my firm belief that it will be your "identity" for the rest of your playing life. Best wishes😉

@llamonade  @najdorf96  @PawnstormPossie

thanks for the responses! I started off doing tactics mostly and some basic opening stuff like the giuoco piano. I think I then went through some books like 'sharpen your chess in 7 days' and 'logical chess'. Since a few years ago, have become less active in chess and motivation dropped quite a bit too. Right now, am going through a few strategy books (quite casually though at night), taking online chess lessons focusing on different openings and playing more frequently online and in real life too. The only openings I've learnt some theory to would be the giuoco piano and one variation of the marshall attack in the ruy lopez. My chess goals are probably to generally become more confident, be familiar with most openings and to improve tactics. 

How do I use databases (never done so before) and how should I pick openings for my repertoire? I really have no idea what my play style is.

At our level, the only purpose the opening phase serves is to get you to a middle-game position in which you feel comfortable and confident.

So I would suggest the following method for choosing and studying openings: 

Play over lots of Master games, and decide which middle-game positions you like. Select the openings that lead to those types of middle-games. Start collecting more Master games based on those opening criteria. Then you can hit the data-bases.

This method ensures that you will have some reasonable idea of which strategic and tactical themes your chosen opening gives rise to.

That should suffice up to at least 2000 rating.

Many opening books are mostly collections of games together with explanations.

Analyze your games after you play them, and make note of when you left book (check with a database, MCO, or some other reputable source). Try to understand why your move is inferior to the correct one!

If you stick to the same openings, you'll slowly start building your opening knowledge in the openings and lines that you actually play. 

Good Chess Openings Books For Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

"... [Modern Chess Openings (15th ed.)] pretends to be everything for everybody, but it isn’t; it pretends to be up-to-date and relevant in all chapters, but it isn’t; it should be a good book, but it isn’t. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2008)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626165820/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen110.pdf

You seem to be assuming that a non-book move will automatically be inferior to the book move.

Try this for a laugh... a book line in the Petroff.

This line had been played thousands of times, over several decades. The three book moves were Bd2, Bf4 or Re5, and Black typically gained the advantage against any of the three moves. The statistics for this position were : 35.7% White wins, 21.4% Draws, 42.9% Black wins. 

Advantage: Black.

Except that after the non-Book move 14. Bh6!! Black can resign.

@blueemu 

cool factoid! But isn't this the exceedingly rare exception to the rule? In general the theoretical move will be better than what you can come up with. Even if that weren't the case, if you can construct an argument for why your move is better (and can support it with analysis), you should play it! I would consider this to be "learning opening theory" too.

I used to play something like 10 blitz games a day, and after every game I'd compare the opening vs a database. That way you see the main options at each move.

If you didn't like your position (or are curious) you can click one of the other moves and explore where it leads. If you find something interesting then remember it for next game.

Also briefly look at GM games to get a feel for the middlegame. Chessbase makes that easy, but of course it's expensive. Chessgames.com is a free website though.

Spend very little time per game. No more than 5-10 minutes I'd say, and just ask the most basic middlegame questions:

 - Which area of the board did each player seek play on (kingside, center, queenside)
 - Broadly speaking how did they do it? (pawn or pieces)
 - What were the main pawn breaks

---

If you only memorize you'll never be comfortable in the opening. You need a middlegame idea to go along with it, that's why I include this as part of opening study.

Indeed. I firmly denounce "memorization " as a bad thing in learning openings insomuch as memorizing patterns is praised in certain circles! There are lines within lines or variations that MUST be ingrained, assimilated, man. True, understanding the overall strategy of the opening you're playing is common sense.. but also true is playing through certain lines where one inaccuracy can ruin what is an optimally winning line at a critical juncture is where you have to be well scripted or having memorized the key moves. It is certainly not bad practice to commit a line 20 moves in to memory IMO. I feel its downright negligent not to do so! nuff said man😎

"... Once you identify an opening you really like and wish to learn in more depth, then should you pick up a book on a particular opening or variation. Start with ones that explain the opening variations and are not just meant for advanced players. ..." - Dan Heisman (2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf

"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)

"... one simply cannot play the [Najdorf Sicilian] safely without studying the complications and remembering a lot of concrete variations. If you are averse to doing this, or you have a poor memory, you are better off avoiding such lines." - FM Steve Giddins (2003)

As a crude indication:

"The Small Encyclopaedia [of Chess Openings] ... is now in its third edition, the previous ones, dating back to 2000 and 2003 respectively. Thus, a revised edition was undoubtedly overdue, because theory has been changing incredibly fast in the intervening years. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2011)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627063241/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen145.pdf

"Building a repertoire ... we will take the idealized situation of someone starting from square one ... The first step is to think about your personal style. Do you prefer open, tactical positions or closed, strategic positions? Does an attack on your king make you nervous, or are you happy so long as you have a counter-attack? Do you prefer main lines, or something slightly offbeat? Next, look at the various openings available, and see which ones fit in with your personal style. ..." - GM John Nunn (1998)

If you were happy with that, you might want to look at the games in My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White.

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/vincent-moret/