Openings don't matter till Rank 2000

I've been playing chess for a year now, with a 2 or 3 month break in that time.  I've made it to 1100 rapid.  I'm writing this topic because I think some of the things people parrot regarding chess are just kind of dumb.  There is one main one, however I'm sure there are more.

1. Openings don't matter untill rank 2000.

I can't tell you how frustrated I get when I hear people say this.  First it's incorrect, second this is not the person's own thought, this is something they heard someeone else say who heard someone else say it.  Below are the reasons this is absolutely false.

It's 2023, and this may have been true years ago, before the popularity of the internet, youtube, and the wealth of chess knowledge freely available.  People know openings very early.  I started learning my opehnings as a struggling 400 rank player, who was struggling to reach rank 500 in rapid.  As soon as I purchased a couple chess opening courses and studied them, just a little.  I shot up to 800 within a couple months. 

Openings allows you to get better at chess much faster.  The reason you can get better faster is based on two main factors.  It helps you not to keep making the same mistakes over and over, because when a game goes poorly, you can go back to your chess course, and see what went wrong.  Next having an opening even if you just memorise the first 2 or 3 moves as a rank 500, allows you to get consistent positions.  It's amazing how consistently people play at certain ranks.  Therefore if you are playing the same openings you will get the same positions the majority of the time, which helps you build quicker reaction time and confidence far quicker then without an opening. 

Next thing is when you have a chess course and are following an opening system it allows you to have an understanding of the general ideas of your openings, and the positions you get.  Without that you may get a bit better, and may start to play better moves, but you don't really have an understanding of the main ideas of what you are playing, or where you want the position to go, and the deeper ideas behind it. 

Having an opening course, allows you to build on the moves you memorize with confidence, as you know the opening prep you have memorized are the best moves to play.  This combined with getting consistent positions allows you to progress so much faster, then without it, and just playing whatever you think is good at the time.

One last thing is people are just better at chess now, and they get better earlier.  A 1500 ranked player 10 or 15 years ago, is probably not as good as an equivilent ranked player today.  This is because of the availability of content, and instructions online.  So if you are one of those parrots squawking about how openings don't matter till 2000, you should think about what you are saying, and the fact you are likely just parroting something you heard that is false. 

Ye

Depends on what you mean by openings.  Some mean to memorize long lines of moves.  That is stupid for most people 

Basic idea of an opening everyone should have.

People like openings and playing an opening you enjoy can be part of the fun of chess. In some sense, it's true that openings aren't the most important thing, as there are other skills that must be developed, like tactics and positional play. Particularly, memorising an opening line without knowing why you play the moves is bad. Overly depending on an opening can be bad as you can play worse out of your comfort zone.

There is nothing wrong with learning openings either though. It can actually be helpful. Learning certain lines can teach you about positional play. Learning traps and common mistakes can teach you about tactics. The most important thing is learning why you play the moves.

how is memorizing long lines stupid its literally so easy youre not memorizing dna sequences

It is stupid because nobody will play that line. Total waste of time.

Hi

What is the name of that opening that starts e4...e5 2. N f 3...N. f 6, attacking your pawn instead of protecting his own ?

Simple, memorizing long lines is useless at novice level. Here is one proof, your latest win:

Of course, this doesn't mean that you should completely disregard openings. Learning first 3-5 moves, basically choosing a variation is recommended. Along with that, when you see in the analysis that you were worse in the opening phase, it is fine to look at the opening explorer to expand your knowledge a little.

Of course, it is completely fine to learn what are some ideas of the opening one is playing, which pawn breaks are typical, and perhaps some known piece maneuvers, etc, but memorizing longer sequences is rarely beneficial. 

For instance a few weeks ago, I had main line Najdorf with 6. Bg5 for white, we went on to play 13-15 main moves (as the variation is sharp, it is not recommended to deviate too much). My point is that it is the first time I got somewhat longer variation of this Najdorf main line where some moves are forced, after playing almost 1 000 games here and being 1600+ rated.

Imagine if I was trying to memorize this many moves since I started playing in every opening variation I play. That would by hundreds of hours wasted after a few years. Instead, I got to that variation by learning first 5 moves, then playing and analyzing my games, with occasional look in opening explorer as a part of my analysis of games.

On top of it all, some 2 000 rated person will memorize stuff more easily compared to someone who is 500 rated, because they will understand the purpose of the moves they want to play, while 500 will understand it less. And because 2 000 rated player will get those long sequences in their games, it will stick, while 500 rated person might memorize it and forgot it because they will get it once every few hundred games, if they are lucky.

It is called Petrov's defense. The alternative name is Russian game, but it is more commonly known as Petrov's defense.

It's not stupid. Learning chess openings and lines is good as long as you understand why the moves are played instead of only memorising them. It's just that there should be more focus on developing general chess skills.

As said, you can't guarantee that a line you've learned will appear on the board so you need to be able to improvise in these situations.

There are many viable deviations in the Bg5 Najdorf. It is sharp but not so strict.

The 2nd paragraph I totally agree with. I think it's best to start by learning the tabia position and then play it out, analyse and learn from experience rather than rigid memorisation.

Not all moves are forced of course, but there are some that should be played, for instance that Qc7 move to prevent Bc4 for white because letting it develop there could mean trouble because of some thematic sacrifices. In any case, yeah that was just an example I wanted to use how there is no reason to overdo with memorization. On lower levels, sidelines are probable to face, some will play 1. e4 c5 and then 2. e5... That is more probable to face than an opponent who will play 10-15 moves of some main line.

ay YOO

I somehow expect that the OP will turn out to be a commercial spambot for some online opening course. The setup is just perfect.

Knowing general ideas and the first 5 moves or so is fine. "Studying" an opening till move 20 when your rating is 500 is just a waste of time. For one thing you will never get that far as your opponents will not know the lines, apart from that it won't help if you blunder your horsie at move 21.

Regardless of your antidotal evidence (yourself), the reasons beginners are not encouraged to focus on opening theory (not opening principles, everyone worth listening to recommends learning this) is because opening theory is a rabbit hole that leaves many with a specific knowledge not applicable to most anything else related to chess. Beginners need to focus more on knowledge with wide applications to chess so they have a better working understanding of the game and more tools to help them figure out the position in front of them as a game progresses, not just the first several moves. I’ve seen countless beginners spam out 6-7 moves of opening theory then immediately begin making bad moves, blunders, and overall destroying their position immediately after they run out of their theory moves. If you play abnormal opening moves they get immediately lost as well. It’s always going to help a player more to learn how to think through each position and use general principles and tools early on in their chess journey- I’m actually more an advocate that beginners need to focus mostly on their thought processes before anything else, and certainly not going to suggest they learn opening theory before understanding tactical motifs, basic opening principles, and other elementary chess knowledge. 

-Jordan

Yeah true, there are some moves which are important for specific reasons. I always much preferred Bg5 to the English Attack as Bg5 is more aggressive as well as having a lot more variety and interesting deviations.

I love pretty much all Najdorf variations but tbh I'm not super keen on the main line English Attack compared to the others. I feel like people who don't know the Najdorf and just say "it's all super theory heavy, forcing lines" must just think every single game is like that 1 forcing line.

There are some interesting ways of avoiding it. Transposing into the Scheveningen being one way. At first, I was put off by the Anti-English as it seems like such a weird move. I saw some of Judit Polgar's games against Kasparov with it though and can lead to some interesting positions totally unlike the main line.

There was this line with Nf6 instead of Ne5:

And omg yeah 1. e4 c5 2. e5, that sucks. "Oh boy, I can't wait to play the Najdorf!..."

Things brings up an important point: Beginners should focus instead on learning tactics not only because opening theory is too situational but also because other areas (e.g., tactics and endgames) are clearly and extremely beneficial. As such, studying opening theory has way too high of an opportunity cost. 

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