Is it possible to become a titled player with unsound opening ?

Say you know it very very well and practiced it for a couple of years.

1. Bird's opening

2. Sokolsky opening

3. Richter-veresov attack

What would practicing a bad opening have to do with it?

You could be a GM and play crap openings just like Rapport... but not because you studied the opening, but because the other areas in your game make up for it.

Yeah of course you have to be strong in all areas to become titled player say CM , FM or IM , but in order to do this you have to travel and participate in a various tournaments with classical time controls most likely so you HAVE to play some opening there and what if you always play unsound line like anything out of this 3 lines I gave.

Say everytime you white you will play veresov all the time or, sokolsky all the time or birds all the time

No problem. Like I said, you could even be a GM and do this... you just have to be good enough to do it.

The problem for, lets say, 1500 trying to do this going to FM level is that a very narrow repertoire doesn't give you as much experience with various positions, so you're a bit handicapped in your learning.

But for example didn't that Parham guy (matrix chess) play 2.Qh5 every game or something? He was an FM IIRC.

I once heard that Sokolsky opening only good up to 2200 level and after that it won't work as they can easily get an advantage from black.

I haven't heard about other two, that's why I'm asking it's not very strong say sokolsky after 2200 but what if you master it really good and played it all the time maybe you can crush 2200+ opponents ? Up to 2400or 2500

AFAIK definitely nothing wrong with 1.f4 or the Veresov, but isn't 1.b4 a forced lost in ICCF play?

What does "mastering" the opening have to do with it? A 1500 could master the opening by memorizing lines for a year straight... they'd still be 1500.

If you want to beat strong players from an inferior position you have out outplay them in the middlegame and endgame. Yes, it's possible. Is it practical? No, I don't think so. If you want to show off your middle and endgame superiority just go with Italians and Londons like top players seem to be doing a lot these days.

Yes good question chin of quin .

IM pfren can you tell us more about each one in more open answer to make it clear

Are you serious? Sokolsky's opening and Bird's opening are not sound. You can see the results from databases and black is having more wins. Plus in all of these 3 openings the problem is that black has too much freedom to prepare what he wants. I would be careful to even try Richter-Veresov.

Better alternatives for white is english or some sidelines of 1.c4 that are even, Reti, b3 etc...You can do well with these and not much study of theory is needed.

Thank you FM Nfork

I knew it , that our IM is just a troll , he's using his status as IM to troll so people trust him easily

Maybe next post he will claim that Grob's Attack also very sound and you can win every game with it 😂

1.f4 is fine. At worst it's like playing black i.e. your opponent might get a small edge.

In practical play 1.b4 is probably close to the same.

An unsound opening would be something like the Latvian gambit.

All tho FM Nfork I disagree with you on C4 English opening it certainly gives ALOT of freedom for black , even tho it's sound one.

Now we have IM vs FM battle who's right !? We need one more titled player here to come to a conclusion although I'm with the FM on this one.

Seems you're just trolling.

GM Julio Granda can easily play Sokolsky's and Bird's opening and beat the heck out every CM to IM level. What makes sound an opening its not only the knowledge of theory but the knowledge how to play chess out of it. For some chess players it's much easier doing so...

Djobava's/ Nabaty Veresov with Bf4 is a modern example. The author of the Polar Bear system claim the reverse Leningrad is 100% sound , so why not...

Under 2000 every opening is possible for a win ofcourse if you are stronger at middlegame/endgame etc. other areas of the game.

Saw 1850 beating 1950 with Grob and Orangutan (1.b4) in classic fide rated. And on world open 2000 uscf beating 1900 with 2..f6 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3 Nxe5 etc.) Those openings are not that common and even if you know some ideas, unless you know perfect lines refutation.. is still a game you have to prove to win later on and giving the fact you are no master or expert its likely you will blunder somewhere.

Also you can win or lose a game with drawish opening like french exchange or Russian.