what suits your 'play style' really. for example in the french 1.e4 1...e5 2.d4 2...d5. white has about four main options 3. Nc3 3.Nd2 3.e5 3.exd5 and apart from exd5 they're all around 40% win for white so play them out and see which one's your favourite. do this with other openings as well.
Choosing opening moves
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For someone seeking help with choosing openings, I usually bring up Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014).
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
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
Perhaps IsThisACoolName would also want to look at Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006).
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.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)
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
https://www.chess.com/article/view/learning-an-opening-to-memorize-or-understand
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-perfect-opening-for-the-lazy-student
https://www.chess.com/article/view/3-ways-to-learn-new-openings
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/9035.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627110453/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen169.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/9029.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/7277.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/9033.pdf
Apr 16, 2017
0
#4
The main criterion I use is whether I'm aiming for a tactical position versus a drawish position. If you're aiming for a drawish position, use symmetry, queen trades, fast piece denudation, and database lines with high draw rates as much as possible. For tactical positions, use the opposite: asymmetry, avoidance of queen trades, slow piece denudation, and database lines with low draw rates.
Examples:
(1)
1. e4:
1...e5 {symmetry, drawish}
vs.
1...c5 {asymmetry, tactical}
(2)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
3. exd5 exd5 {symmetry, drawish}
vs.
3. e5 {asymmetry, tactical}
(3)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6:
2. Nc3 Nf6 {symmetry, drawish}
vs.
2. Bb5 a6 {asymmetry, low piece denudation, tactical}
Hi guys, I'm about 1700~ for both blitz and standard on chess.com and I would like to get some opinions on how to build my opening repertoire, specifically about choosing one move over another when there are two or more moves in a database that seem to have similar results and a similar number of games. What sort of criteria should I think about when choosing lines to learn? Should i put everything into an engine, or look at my favoured players' games? etcetera.
Any help is much appreciated!