How do you study an opening? Should I learn coordinates first?
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I thought I might learn some openings. One for white, one or two for black. But I don't get how I'm supposed to study them. Do I just memorize them like a formula? Or do I try to copy the finished opening during a game without blundering a piece?
Or should I learn coordinates first, because a lot of the guides I saw have a bunch of coordinates written down but nothing more.
Watch the lessons on opening principles here and after that you might pick an opening and watch lessons on that or get a book about the opening.
Try not to just memorize the moves, but understand the ideas behind those moves.
I recommend sticking to something that is not too complicated. So I would not recommend the Sicilian or the King's Indian Defense. Instead go with something like the Scotch game, the 4 Knights or the Queen's Gambit. For black you can pick the Caro-Kann or the French defence or simply play e5 or d5.
And yes, you should know how the coordinates work, but it is not very complicated. It is just files from A to H and ranks from 1 to 8. A1 on the bottom left and H8 on the top right.
I also would not go too deep into opening theory, just try to form some kind of an idea about what the opening is supposed to do. You will not likely stay "in the book" for too many moves anyway, because your opponent plays something out of theory.
Jun 22, 2022
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#3
You play London System with white and Scandinavian against e4 right? Yes, you need to understand the notation (coordinates) to go deeper. Books as well as YouTube or chess.com lessen use them all the time.
Memorizing lines is not advised. Better to try to understand the moves.
Memorizing lines is not advised. Better to try to understand the moves.
@AtaChess68 You are right about these two. I saw them in a video tutorial about chess and kinda remembered the pattern. But I never really thought much about the why. I will look up some videos and lessons here. And will start to learn the notation. Is there a good exercise for that? Or is vision training here on chess.com enough?
Learning chess notation (the thing that you called coordinates) is probably the best thing that you can do right now. Learning it is super easy, barely an inconvenience. And it's totally worth it.
On the other hand, I recommend that you don't learn openings. What you need is opening principles. A source for example: https://www.chessstrategyonline.com/content/tutorials/how-to-start-a-game-of-chess-opening-principles
#1
"I might learn some openings" ++ You do not need to
"But I don't get how I'm supposed to study them."
++ Just play and if you want look it up after the game.
"Do I just memorize them like a formula?" ++ No.
"Or do I try to copy the finished opening during a game without blundering a piece?"
++ Play what worked before and do not repeat your errors.
"should I learn coordinates"
++ You do not need to learn coordinates, you get that automatically.
Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
As good as books often are, go with videos or chessable imo. Get ideas and a general sense of whatever you play in less time.
Go for a deeper study of openings (much) later.
Problem5826 hat geschrieben:
As good as books often are, go with videos or chessable imo. Get ideas and a general sense of whatever you play in less time.
Go for a deeper study of openings (much) later.
So, first the basics, later openings, okay. Will do. Maybe I'm just becoming impatient.
Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond