@LAEG
Some of the reasons I can pick up some of the openings is I see many of these in Blitz/Coffeehouse games OTB. For example, getting away from the first 3 moves if Black plays 1. ... e6 to 1. d4, there are four lines this can go into and a fifth that does not happen often. Those are the Orthodox QGD, the Tarrasch Defense in the QGD, the Grunfeld Defense, and the Nimzo-Indian Defense. Other games that can come from this later are the Dutch Defense, King's Indian and any type of Hedgehog formation, including the Pirc or Modern Defense. These are just some of the openings. The problem is that a lot of openings that come about, really solidify after about the 5th to 7th moves. I do not study alot of opening theory as i smply don't have the time. Instead, I try to get a feel for which openings I play best and then get an idea of why the pieces move to where they do and then make mental notes of certain lines I need to watch out for and which are just plain bad for me.
@Irfox: I would suggest the Yasser Serawain book, "winning chess openings" as a good study guide as it is written at a beginning level and once you find an opening in there that fits your playing style, seek out some beginning level books on that opening and read through them with a board beside you. Read through the books 3 times. The first time, just go as fast as possible through the material making the moves to see the opening in action. The second time, go slower and look at what it says for why things are happening the way they are, noting the different traps you can set or avoid and the tactics involved with them. The final time, go over the book meticulously and try to find the other sides moves in the position before they are made. This method of reading information is taught to college students in speed reading courses and helps also to retain larger amounts of information. Expect lots of losses at first but once you begin to grasp the concepts of the opening, you will see your play improve.
Finally, I can offer you some ideas on openings you might like to play by looking over your games and seeing how you play. Feel free to send me a message antime with links to games or questions and I will try to help you out with them.
V
I'm getting worse and worse, can someone give me tips to improve?
Look closely at you positions once you leave the opening. White had a good position in What turned out to be a tricky opening (Nimzo-Indian Defense: Moller AttackVariation). This is very sharp line and you played it well up to move 12. Once the Queen retreated to e7, you needed to look for weak sqaures and pieces. How could you defend the h6 pawn on White playing 13. Qe2 here? The threat was 14. Qxh6 so only the King can protect here, given White has a light Bishop, defending on h7 is bad so Why not move to g7? This protects the hanging h pawn and gives you a solid defensive position to play from. From Qxh6 on, Black has no real initiative to speak on and so loses very fast here.
i also think that though moves 10 and 11 were playable for you, you needed to develop your final pieces and get you Rooks connected. 10. ... a6 did not substantially help the position while 11. ... g6? seems to be a mistake unless you thought having pawns on the light squares helps interfere with the Bishop and Queen. ANY TIME A PAWN MOVES FORWARD, IT CREATES A HOLE BEHIND IT THAT OTHER PIECES MUST GUARD AND COVER!!!!Unless you are sorming an attack or getting ready to develop a Bishop or major piece, focus on making as few pawn moves as possible, especially around your castled position. Playing g6 weakened your ability to control the dark squares as evidenced by the capture at h6 and f8 here.
I would say you played really well the first 9 moves, a bit inaccurate the next 2, and the 12 move was a mistake that forced you to be on the defense. Kg7 would have given you a nice position and a way to attack the center.
Again, alway look at the board closely, especially once you retreat or a piece moves to a new open diagonal, file or rank.
Good playing
looks like vengence knows more opening than I do lol :D
If you ask me before this game shows up what nimzo indian is, I will say "No idea !"
I am more playing with the feel of the board, so even though I didn't know opening's much, I can "somewhat" understand what the board will look like.
Well what you need, is to keep playing, identify your mistakes, brush it off, and play ! Choose your fav opening / def, and study it ! Most people (like me) don't know much about it until they get zapped by it :D