PS Time available could thus be more focused on tactical training.
low maintenance chess openings
Sort:
May 27, 2009
0
#3
You might want to take a look at the King's Indian Attack for white; it might be just the thing.
And for Black, I personally find the Caro-Kann pretty straightforward, but I've been using it more or less exclusively for a while now, so others may differ. :)
Cheers
My openings are really rusty. I was away from chess for a long while and I've concentrated mostly on the middlegame for the last six months. I've been mostly playing the English as white but only because it avoids the incredible depth of analysis of the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian, not because I know any of its finer details.
For black I've always been a fan of the Caro-Kann. It has at least one more line and some more depth of analysis than when I first learned it 20 some years ago but it's still not really complex.
Greetings,
The KIA looks like an excellent choice for white. Its adaptable and has great potential in terms of positional play. Importantly, it doesn,t require a huge amount of maintenance and permits creative play.
Both the Caro-Kann ( which, I,m finding, many players swear by ) and the English are good choices for black. I will look into them more after I have had a chance to work with the KIA for a while.
Many thanks for the feedback !
Cheers,
I've found starting with d4 as white to be reasonably low maintanenc as it prevents tactics from arising too early.
May 29, 2009
0
#7
As white : King's Indian Attack, London System, Torre Attack, 1.b3
As black : Scandinavian with Qxd5, French Defence with dxe4, Budapest Gambit, Queen's Gambit Lasker variation 
I've been using the Vienna Game as white. It is pretty straightforward, and as it is quite uncommon, you have that going for you. And you don't have to wade through all that theory with the Ruy Lopez or the Giocco Piano.
As black, I play the French to 1. e4. The French, while having a reputation for being complex, doesn't go real deep in theory (usually) as the middle game starts fairly early, so you won't be memorizing lines 20 moves deep.
After getting thrashed with the KID, and the Slav/Semi Slav, neither of which do I really understand properly, I have begun playing the Dutch Stonewall to 1. d4. It is pretty simple, fairly uncommon, and provides good attacking chances on the kingside. I am enjoying it so far.
You could save tons of time choosing Bird's Opening, 1.f4 , as white. Scotch sounds good, but you need to be ready to handle the Petroff. How about the King's Gambit, if you are an aggressive player?
As black, Alekhine's Defence should be low maintenance against 1.e4. Against 1.d4 you could play the Dutch.
Greetings,
It seems like its unanimous that Ruy Lopez is fraught with potential complications and loads of theory... not a good solution for a player that doesn't want an olympian memory and huge amounts of research to be part of the equation for winning at chess.
I am very encouraged when I hear certain prominent GM admit that they are not fond of theory. Their games are often examples of creative chess and the exercise of tactical skills.
There are other suggestions in this thread which I definately want to look into. Examples suggested for white....Birds, the Vienna game, and, of course there are players who win regularly with the King's Gambit...These sound interesting and I will be taking a closer look.
So far I have retained the KIA as a good solid play for white with little maintenance and lots of potential.
Upon looking into the Scotch I found that since Kasparov took it into new directions it has become a subject of much study. Allthough there are simpler versions, it has some potential complications that are being analysed these days. Good opening, but it won't, for my purposes, be a " keeper ''.
The suggestions here for black sound very interesting indeed ! Can't wait to look into them !
Thanks for the feedback,
Cheers!
Following what others have said... Bird's Opening and the King's Indian Attack. Both very low maintenance. There is very little theory on the Bird's, which invites you to come up with your own lines and see how it goes! There's the added advantage of many opponents being unprepared. The KIA, on the other hand, is a simple opening system rather than a set list of moves, which makes it excellent for those who are anti-opening lines. Incidentally, these are the two openings I play as white OTB in tournament play, for the reasons above...
Just one note on Bird's Opening. On chessgames.com you can look up Bent Larsen's games using the Bird's Opening - he used it in 48 games. His record is excellent, mostly against strong masters/grandmasters. Going through the games will give you a feel for the opening.
Greetings,
Well,
For white, I,m going to be concentrating on the KIA...its stood the test of time and after 5 or 6 moves its pretty much all about understanding, strategy and tactics. The Bird I will look into for the reasons suggested here in this thread.
For black, among the others mentioned here, I am quite interested in exploring The Scandinavian with 2....Nf6 in response to the usual 2.exd5 by white. I think this variation has a lot of potential.
Thanks to all for the great feedback.
I think one needs to adapt as one's lifestyle ( and age) changes. Less time is available for study, however, there is all the experience and increased understanding that comes with the years. Why not enjoy it ?
I think to continue the tournament playing, one needs to change focus. There have been some GM who retired from play..it would have been interesting to continue to watch their game evolve, albeit in more accesible openings.
Keeping up with openings like the Sicilian is hugely time and resource consuming and its my understanding that some younger players are not too eager to dive into all the theory. Reminds me of my student days when the Ruy Lopez was all the rage. I'm glad thats over.
Its interesting that certain players who are knowledgeable in theory and openings nevertheless favor the KIA. For those who might be interested, there are some good games played by a specialist in KIA ...Lev Gutman. Interesting ideas.
Best,
hmm, well I suppose I'm in the minority in thinking the Ruy Lopez would be good. You can get to move 9, without even remembering any moves but just thinking about what the moves 'do'. The ideas are fairly straight forward to start off, and you really dont need to keep up with theory to have a good game against people of around your level. It's all fairly logical, with no moves that I can think of that simply dont work "because they dont" and no moves that look like they should work but don't. You can play it as white and black, safe in the knowledge that you will never outgrow it with either colour, and it can teach you a lot about chess tactics and strategy along the way. Who cares if your opponent points out the book move at move 12 in the post-mortem. You can try to remember it, but it doesn't really matter if you cant, since an inaccuracy in the Ruy Lopez is rarely instantly fatal. Don't worry about all the mass of variations with all the different names. Just work them out over the board until you find one you want to look at deeper, say you decide you want to play the zaitsev as black, or people keep playing the chigorin as black against you as white. To start with it really doesn't matter. You will get far enough to be able to call it a middle game with a clear conscience. Embrace the open games! There's less to learn than people make out. You learn it as you go, and it's usually quite natural.
A foreward - you do not need to know a new opening system. Taking a quick gawk at your games, and looking at your rating, I can say with confidence the best opening system for you are open lines (1. e4. Also 1... e5 in response to 1. e4. I suggest choosing sharp, open lines for all beginners because more then anything else they will help you get strong at chess quickly. And in my experience, every beginner that complained he didn't know opening theroy well enough, he was using a bad opening, so and so on were dead wrong. But some people disagree with this viewpoint, and thus I will answer your origional question.
As black don't choose the pirc. The 150 or argentine attack have quite the learning curve for black to overcome. Furthermore, the classical/austrian attack variations are chock full of counter-intuitive moves. IMO, the caro-kann or scandinavian are much more sensible choices.
As white, choose the KIA, or an unusual opening (solosky, nizmo larsen, birds etc.).
My suggestion for a low maintenance opening as white is the Trompowsky/Pseudo-Trompowsky. Not nearly as much theory as the mainlines, but still plenty of sting and a wide variety of positions to keep you interested. Probably the best book ever written on the subject was "winning with the trompowsky" by Peter Wells.
Scandinavian is what I use as black. Most lines for it end up better for white, but I've come up with a couple changes to black's play and I've managed to end up in nice positions during most games. As for white, I can't help you (I use Queen's Gambit; lots of variations).
Here's my Scandinavian line (all the moves up until the new one I made are considered the main line according to Modern Chess Openings by Nick De Firmian):
Ah yes the scandinavian is an excellent low-maintenance choice for black!
For black, if you're worried about being out-booked in the Ruy Lopez, try the Fishing Pole. Nobody will see it coming.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5 Nf6
4. O-O Ng4
The usual continuation is:
5. h2 h5
At which point your opponent will be completely out of his element. If he takes the night he either gives it back after 6 . . . hg and is way behind positionally or it's an easy checkmate after 7. Ne1 Qh4 8. f3 g3. If he wises up and doesn't take the knight, the game will still continue totally out of book and with lots of potent threats for black.
Check out GM Brian Wall's video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exGSXjvKej0 (Part 1), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgqVkqrNH_4 (Part 2).
Greetings,
More super-interesting ideas here.
5pin, thanks for saving me the time it would require to look into the Pirc. There are better options and the feedback here regarding the Scandinavian has been conclusive. Interestingly, regarding your comment about playing e4.. the Russian school apparently required beginners to use it as part of their training. In addition, there was emphasis on learning the KID because it offered opportunities to exercise tactical skills.
Solid positional advantages for black in your version of the Scandinavian Benedictus. I'm beginning to get a good feel for this opening and it looks bright.
Thanks for the links Eebster. Its good stategy.
Must look into the Trompowsky... I keep hearing about it.
PS. I used to play more.. just getting back to Chess after several years. Its much more fun than it was.
I am told that, these days, in order to play in tournaments you need to be prepared for a long day without breaks. Interesting. On the other hand, if Vicktor Korshnoi at 75 can do it....
All of the Best,
For those of us who don<t have the time to keep up with complex openings.. what would be the best choice for opening with white ? And with black ? (I had Pirc or Scandinavian in mind for black...Scotch for white ?). Goal is to be able to play tournament chess w/o having to do endless hours of research.
Best,