On the off chance that you haven't seen the chess.com study plans....
1. Extend your base knowledge of "tournament openings."
An intermediate player should be able to recognize most "main line" chess openings, even if he/she hasn't yet mastered them.
Use our Game Explorer and Openings Book features to learn the first 7-10 moves of the following list of openings, commonly played by master-level chess players. This should also help guide you if you are still unsure of a consistent approach for your own games (see Task #2).
Learn 1.e4 openings:
- The Ruy Lopez/"Closed" Spanish Main Lines: Chigorin Defense
- The Ruy Lopez -- Marshall Attack
- The Scotch Game
- The Scotch - Mieses Variation
- The Classical Scotch
- The Scotch - Steinitz Variation
- French Defense
- French Defense -- Exchange Variation
- French Defense -- Winawer Variation
- French Defense -- Classical Main Line
- French Defense -- Tarrasch Variation
- The Caro Kann
- The Caro Kann -- Classical/Main Line
- The Caro Kann -- Advanced
- The Caro Kann -- Panov-Botvinnik Attack
- The Sicilian -- Open Sicilian
- The Sicilian -- Closed Sicilian
- The Smith-Morra Gambit
- The Alekhine's Defense
- The Scandinavian
- The Pirc/Modern Defense
- King's Gambit
Learn 1.d4 openings:
- The Nimzo-Indian Defense
- The Queen's Indian Defense
- The King's Indian Defense
- The Grunfeld Defense
- The Benko Gambit
- The Benoni Defense
- Main Line Slav Variations
- Botvinnik Semi-Slav
Learn 1.c4 and/or 1.Nf3 openings:
2. Aim for consistency.
After learning and applying the basic principles to the opening you learned in the Study Plan for Beginners in your own games (and extending your knowledge of main line openings by completing Task #1), intermediate players should be ready to take some significant steps in the first stage of chess. This is not to say you should be studying hours of opening theory just yet, or even fully developing an opening repertoire, but choosing to play a consistent set of openings is now key.
As white, you need to decide to play only 1.e4 or 1.d4. We do not recommend players of this level choose to play 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 as the "mainstays" in their opening repertoire. This is because masterful play of the openings reached after 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 tends to require knowledge of many different transpositions (see Task #3) into both 1.e4 and 1.d4 openings.
For players who have already committed to 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 -- we recommend taking extra time for Task #3, as it directly pertains to playing your openings successfully. As black, you need to choose a consistent defense against both 1.e4 and 1.d4. See Task #2 for more information on the opening choices at your disposal. Get started with your new consistent approach right away!
Hello There Please guide me to prepare opening repertoire.