How Do You Play Safe Chess?

Musikamole,

If you insist on playing ultra sharp openings where you are basically unfamiliar with the theory, and you can't play at G/10 speed or faster for the first 20+ moves, then don't expect to make the USCF C or B Classes (1400-1799) anytime soon.

If you insist on playing e4 ultra sharp openings, at least buy yourself a single book that gives you one line to play against (most) everything that Black can throw against you.  For example, Raymond Keene, "An Opening Repetoire for the Attacking Player," @1980, based on playing the ultra sharp Scotch Gambit.

Oterwise, yes, you get to "practice your tactics."  But you get creamed by everyong on Chess.com whose rating is below 1400.  So how does it benifit you to consistently get chewed up in the openings?  You're lost by the time you reach the middlegame.

Society has had 500 years to decide on the"best first 20 moves" of a chess game.  Make use of this literature, instead of being a the test case for other player's opening preparation.

It might be fun to play the "those tactics", but you learn next to nothing about middlegames and endgames, which is where any "evenly fought game" will be decided. 

Instead, ou're effectively bringing a knife to a gunfight.  It's fun to get creamed?

Listen to Ajedrecito, and start focusing on something other than openings.  If you're a "beginner," openings are really just a "black hole" for your time.  Pick a single limited repetoire, start playing it all the time, and move onto middlegame and endgame study.  This is how you're playing strength will naturally improve.

Unless, of course, you just love playing "sharp tactics" in opening positions that you don't really understand.  If so, keep knocking yourself out, and apparently getting creamed.

Sorry for my curt post, but afer 70+ comments, somebody needs to tell you that "this emporer has no clothes."  Indeed, the only strong player in this blog (Ajedrecito) has told this to you (very diplomatically) about 5 or 6 times.  But you don't seem to be listening.

So feel free to disregard my post (this is my last one).  Because it looks like you just want to chat, and apparently you don't take advice from "authoritative positions" because you're an artist/musician, right?

If you insist on sharp tactics, you can always, study Tal's games, and aspire to be like him.  So knock yourself out doing that, but at least do it systematically and study it sytematically, otherwise you're just pushing wood.  And continually getting creamed by other (highly opinionated) D, C, and B Class players.

Don't listen to anyone below the A Class.  They can't play this game properly.

Regards,

Kborg

Hello kborg,

I think your comments are a bit hard here, because improvement is not the only goal of every chess player, and it's also important to have fun

Everybody goes through many stages of chess development, and I think it's okay to experiment with various things at the start, just to get a feel for what chess is like, and build up some excitement ! Every chess-playing child has the privilege to do it for many years before they start "serious study". Why couldn't an adult do that too ?

Musikamole hasn't even started playing long games yet, nor OTB. When he will get some hands-on experience like this, he can decide for himself what kind of play he is after.

I've noticed that his level of play is already better in quick games than in blitz (which is normal), and I don't think he is getting "creamed" in the opening against opponents of similar strength.

No worries.

I am not searching the internet for knock out blows in the openings, or traps, but when I stumble onto a line from what my opponent did to me, or what I found while reading a book, I give it a spin.

As far as consistency goes, I always open with 1.e4. I used to open with 1.d4, but now, I like the lines that arise from 1.e4. It's just a matter of preference, as in the end, a tactic or two will decide the game, which is why about 95% of my time is spent on chess.com's tactics trainer and chess tempo's tactics trainer. I only saw a change in my rating after working on tactics. Before that time, I only studied openings, and never saw my rating increase.

Many have beat on me since the time I joined chess.com to study tactics first, and it took about the 100th person, Ajedrecito, to get through my thick head that I need to learn tactics and checkmates first, especially one move checkmates, spotting them in 5 seconds.

Heck, the middlegame guru Silman even tells brand new beginners to study checkmates first. He didn't even say tactics, but checkmates!

Back to my repertoire - Ajedrecito has coached my opening play, and it is simple, and it works.

Example: After 1.e4, if Black plays 1...e5, I always play 2.Nf3...always. I don 't mess around with the Vienna (2.Nc3) or the Center Game (2.d4). If my opponent does not place a pawn in the center on move one, then I will play 2.d4, always, getting the ideal center, which Black will need to knock down. Well, there is one exception that I can think of, and that is 1...Nf6 (Alekhine Defense) for which the most sensible move is 2.e5. With 1...Nc6 (The Nimzovich Defense), White can still play 2.d4, and I do.

For the French and Caro Kann, I play 2.d4. It keeps things consistent, and simple.

I used to play d2-d4 often after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (The Scotch), but now I prefer the Italian game with 3.Bc4. I like the idea of attacking the f7 square, and if I see Black play the Two Knights, I always play 4.Ng5, again, going for consistency to get to know the lines that I play better.

I am not at all worried about the complications after 4.Ng5 since I have a lengthy video by an IM who covers all of the possible lines in great detail, and I know them, including the Traxler. So, I will always be testing my opponent on each move in this line, because I know all of it, which usually keeps my opponents on the defensive, and me with the initiative.

I have played the Scotch Gambit against a USCF Expert once in a casual OTB game, and did fine in the opening, but messed up in the middlegame, and as an Expert should be able to do, he punished me on my first mistake.

Well, my violin students just walked in...gotta teach.

For "safe" chess, always wear a condom.

 I assume he explained why 2.Nf3 is the best move after 1...e5, why Black doesn't always play 1...e5, why White wants to establish a perfect pawn center, why Black sometimes lets him etc. etc.? Not doing so is like telling someone to go read something like MCO and hey presto you'll be OK for the first 10-15 moves of the game and can get down to using them tactics.

I only ask because I know ajedrecito is adamant that beginners stay well clear of opening study, but in my own case a good dose of it (ideas not variations) has helped improve my game from barely knowing how the pieces move to my current level in little over a year. Tactics flow from a superior position, and you can only get (and maintain) a superior position, or prevent your opponent from getting one, if you know what the hell you're doing.

I agree, do not study tons of openings. Study one opening with the White pieces, and one with the Black pieces. Analyse your own games, find the first move where you made a mistake, find a better move, commit it to memory, and play the better move next time.

No. Study ideas and structures...not moves. Studying a limited number of openings teaches you how to play a limited number of positions. Study (and play) as many as possible

I didn't say "study moves". 

But I do think it's a good idea to study a limited number of openings.

 You didn't?

Okay, I stand corrected. Thanks. I need to express myself better. My mistake. What I meant was, don't just study moves. Working to understand the underlying ideas is important too. However, if you analyse your own games, playing the same openings every time, trying to find a better move will require a lot of analysis, and this in turn helps you understand the ideas and structures. 

As an example, I can tell that I played a Latvian Gambit not long ago. In this game there was an exchange. I lost a Rook and a Knight for the White Queen. That was okay. However, when I did post-analysis of my game, I found a move that would trap the White Queen, leading to an exchange of just a Rook for the White Queen. Much better! So, looking for a concrete move, I also gained an understanding of the idea here: namely, to trap the White Queen.

You wont become good in a few months, chess is hard. Just keep playing and studying and it all will come, never think 'i guess i just dont have the talent for chess'.

Its not long ago I had the same problem as you.

I dont like playing against a computer, but that should help with removing blunders. It doesn't have to, and shouldn't be against a strong computer, the strength should at least be enough so that the computer will punish any such mistake (free piece/pin/etc..). You could even just play against your phone (if you have one)! 

It would Botvinnik-y. The point wouldn't be winning, just not blundering!

Getting out ALL of your pieces and castling in the first ten moves can be a very tricky structure to play. I only went through the first five moves and found all sorts of trouble, beginning with 6.d4 (?!). It reminds me of a book I own, Looking for Trouble by Dan Heisman.

 Mr Musikamole, if you have the SCID software (you can download it from chess.com resources) you can create and write your personal digital opening repertoire library  for example one vs e5 where you explore the 2N and especially the Fried Liver with the help of the local engine (in the SCID there's Toga) so you see what happens when you or your opponent deviate from the mainlines. I don't know if Adrjecito concurs, but IMO this approach works really only with  sharp openings especially open games with gambits and sacs and it helps if you're White.

Regards

Thank you. I will check out SCID. I don't know anything about it, but it sounds great for helping me with my opening preparation. Ajedrecito is happy to see me playing 1.e4 and playing sharper lines to improve my tactics. Before chatting with him, I played safe opening systems, like the 1.d4 Colle. I didn't get into near as much trouble in the first few moves, but the downside to this style of play was that it didn't challenge me near as much as 1.e4!

When I think about it, 1.d4 is guarded by the queen, while 1.e4 has no immediate defenders. I've lost too many e-pawns since opening with 1.e4, especially since I don't play d2-d3, defending the e-pawn with the d-pawn. I play d2-d4 as often as possible, to get all of my pieces out as fast as possible, so that I can attack faster than my opponents. At least, that is the idea, the plan.

Musik..., being a beginner myself, I've used SCID for a little while now. It's great for going through your games. However, I think it's better to analyse your games yourself, rather than with an engine, at our level. Just my five cents. 

I always enjoy your five cents. 

I have chess engines and Chessbase, so I am not interested in another software package to store and analyze my games. I would like to have a program that can keep track of the openings that I play, and the ones that need constant tweaking. I’d very much like to have a program that can display this information like chess.com’s Game Explorer,  in a tree. Right now, all of my games are organized by date, and that’s all. It would be nice to also store them by openings.  I have not figured out how to do that in Chessbase yet.

Do you know how to organize games by openings in SCID?

I’m currently smoothing out my repertoire against the French, because I always play 2.d4 after 1.e6, and if my opponent plays the most popular move, 2…d5, I need to have a move that I like. Well, I know that I don’t like the Winawer (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4) because of that annoying pin, and the doubled pawns after (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3 6.bxc3). After some reading I’ve settled on the Tarrasch with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2). The upside to Nd2 is that there is no pin, e4 still gets a defender, with the downside being the temporarily blocked bishop at c1. Sigbert Tarrasch came to hate his own opening, but I don’t care. I think it is brilliant!

As a beginner, am I studying opening theory? Hardly any, really. I’m not even going 10 moves deep, nor 20-25, like GM’s. It’s more just a case of surviving the opening and having a good time playing chess.

Musik..., I use SCID for just that. It has a tree window. I like the Game Explorer better, since it looks nicer, but SCID is more powerful, and can do the same, plus more. 

This might be helpful for you: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/how-can-i-use-scid-to-tell-which-openings-are-played.

...by wearing a condom.

That is just a bit off topic. It is late, but I plan to add more content later from what I learned from Dan Heisman's video series on Saftey - Is it Safe?

It's a very good series for the beginning chess player, and even for the intermediate when more squares in the saftey table are involved. Some positions are so complex that even master chess players find it difficult to find the safe move, according to Heisman.