For the under-master level, it doesn't really help directly to have new openings much.
But playing new openings, without knowing too much about them ahead of time, is very good for your general playing strength. Just play something you're not familiar with and learn how those positions work.
I'm actually doing that right now.
"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)
I got to 1800 without knowing any opening in depth. I knew the basic principles (development, Knights before Bishops, don't move the same piece twice, etc) and the general ideas behind most openings. That is, I knew the French defence had pawn chains and Black needed to play c5, and in the Sicilian Black often plays on the half open c-file and generally wants to get in the d5-break, that type of thing.
If you can get a grasp of the ideas and plans of the various openings, that's more than enough for most amateurs. FCO, Fundamental Chess Openings, does a great job at this, and it does it for virtually every major opening. Without exaggeration, that could be your only opening book and you'd be fine.
The best way for me was to play lots of email correspondence games, or on this site, daily games. If you have a book or access to a good games database, just try to work through some of the lines. And when you look at master games in that variation, take a look at what type of middlegames and endgames transpired. What is the "best" move in an opening variation may take you into a position/endgame that does not suit your taste.
Memorizing lines won't help you because 90% of your opponents will leave "book" before you. Also, you may go 50 instances of that opening where you don't face one particular variation. What are the chances you will remember the correct moves if you haven't played that variation in over a year? But if you experiment with different variations in daily games, and look at a lot of master games in that opening, then you will be more likely to "deduce" the correct continuations.
Daily Games ARE more helpful in learning, Uncle_Bent. I don't try to memorize lines. It's just too much information and people tend to detour from book lines pretty quickly. Basically, I feel if I know 5-8 basic moves in most openings, I can at least hold my own against people with knowledge of an opening. For instance, if someone plays the Polish against me (and it has happened), I just play 1. e5. If they play 1. g3, I play 1...g6.
"... [Fundamental Chess Openings] is not particularly suited for players who are just starting out. I would imagine players rated at least 1400-1500 would get the most benefit from this volume. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf
One can get an idea about what it is like to try to read this book by looking at this sample:
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/FCO_Fundamental_Chess_Openings.pdf
"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf
I have been trying to learn queen's pawn openings as white and the Modern as black after playing almost exclusively king's pawn openings and the Nimzo-Bogo repertoire against the Queen's Gambit and the Sicilian Taimanov against 1. e4.
My typical way to try to learn openings is read books on the opening (I like the "Move by Move" books), try to understand the basic schemes of the openings, supplement them with recent master games of the openings, create decision trees, then practice on a board the first five moves, then eight moves, then 13 and then 21. I often look up traps associated with the openings, just so I don't fall into them. Videos are a really nice way to learn, too. I'm trying to narrow down which lines to learn by analyzing my decision trees with Explorer and the computer here. Then I just play, take my lumps while I learn, and analyze my losses to look for where things went wrong.
(By the way, I am not neglecting study of tactics or endgames.)
If anyone has any other suggestions or is willing to share ways they learn new openings, I would appreciate it.
Added note: I've learned just to focus on the main lines in the books and not try to learn every possible move, unless a move is identified as questionable. It's just too much information.
I will teach you all the openings if you offer me a premium membership.I have all quality chess opening and middle game books to help you improve.
My typical way to learn chess openings is to replay many grandmaster games to understand what variations they play and how they work. I try to memorize the main variations and apply them in my next rapid games to test them. If I make a mistake I analyze it with the help of a strong chess engine and poke around to find other variations that the engine suggests. This way I go deeply into diifferent variations and look how they are evalued by the engine and try to understand why some are better than others.
Maybe some give you more active play than others or your knight is placed better than in another one. This all can be understood and you reach a higher level of understanding positional chess which is very important.
Without good positional play you will never reach a superior position where you can launch a favorable tactical combination. Simple logic.
I have been trying to learn queen's pawn openings as white and the Modern as black after playing almost exclusively king's pawn openings and the Nimzo-Bogo repertoire against the Queen's Gambit and the Sicilian Taimanov against 1. e4.
My typical way to try to learn openings is read books on the opening (I like the "Move by Move" books), try to understand the basic schemes of the openings, supplement them with recent master games of the openings, create decision trees, then practice on a board the first five moves, then eight moves, then 13 and then 21. I often look up traps associated with the openings, just so I don't fall into them. Videos are a really nice way to learn, too. I'm trying to narrow down which lines to learn by analyzing my decision trees with Explorer and the computer here. Then I just play, take my lumps while I learn, and analyze my losses to look for where things went wrong.
(By the way, I am not neglecting study of tactics or endgames.)
If anyone has any other suggestions or is willing to share ways they learn new openings, I would appreciate it.
Added note: I've learned just to focus on the main lines in the books and not try to learn every possible move, unless a move is identified as questionable. It's just too much information.