How To Use The Opening Explorer

On move 9 of game 8 in the world championship match, Ding Liren ventured a highly unusual rook maneuver, nudging the rook up one square. It soon became clear that his idea was to involve the rook in the game by shuttling across the second rank, perhaps to the d-file, but developing the rook in this way is highly unorthodox, especially with most of the minor pieces undeveloped and the king still in the center. So unorthodox in fact that it had never been seen in a master game. Out of the billions of games in the Lichess database, only one followed this path. It was contested between two players rated close to 1500 with the screen names FVitelli and opqrstuv.

https://lichess.org/broadcast/fide-world-chess-championship-2023/round-8/tPoWnKSg

At first it seemed that the move was so weird that only an inexperienced player could come up with it, but the moves of the world championship contenders continued to follow the game between the unknown 1500s up to a spectacular bishop sacrifice on move 12 with h4.

When curious spectators dug further into the game histories of the two mystery accounts, they found that they were created on the same day and had only played against each other in rated games, and that several of their games followed other games previously played in the world championship match, including Ding’s surprising 4. h3 from game 1. It appeared they had stumbled onto the secret accounts Ding used to prepare for the world championship match. The two anonymous accounts were almost certainly Ding and a training partner, probably his second Richard Rapport.

There is no harm for Ding in revealing the training game with Ra2 and h4, since as far as that goes, the cat is already out of the bag. The problem is that the two accounts have played various other games in openings that haven’t yet been seen in the world championship match, presumably revealing other openings Ding prepared. That gives his opponent, Ian Nepomniachtchi, a lot of information about what to expect in the remainder of the match.

A lot more could be said about the world championship match, but I know most of you are here to improve your own chess, so let’s talk about a tool that this bizarre turn of events has thrust into the spotlight: the Lichess opening explorer. This is a really powerful tool to prepare for your next world championship match – or weekend tournament.

The opening explorer has three tabs, each of which contain a different kind of information. There’s the Player tab, which shows the games of a specific account on Lichess; the Lichess database tab, which shows statistics from games played on Lichess; and the Masters tab for games played in over-the-board master tournaments. Each tab has its own uses, but they’re especially powerful when combined together. Let’s go through how to use each of them one by one.

Player

If you happen to know the Lichess screen name of an opponent you’ll be facing, you can use this tab to research their tendencies, much as Nepomniachtchi will now be researching Ding’s preparation by playing through the games of the FVitelli account. But most of the time you won’t have this information, and in any case you should spend most of your opening prep time focusing on your own repertoire. Targeted prep for a single opponent is only good for one game, but developing a strong repertoire will help you in all of your games.

To accomplish that you can “self-scout” by using the Player tab with your own screen name. This will let you see how you perform in each of your openings. As always, opening stats should be taken with a grain of salt, because you’re unlikely to have a large sample size in a given opening, and both your own game and your opponents are always changing. Nonetheless, this can give you clues as to where to dig deeper. For example, if you’ve played a certain line three times and lost all three games, there’s probably something going on there. It could be a problem with your opening preparation, not knowing how to play the resulting middlegame, or something else, but there’s most likely some kind of issue that you want to address.

Another great use for the Player tab is to find a “hero” in your opening that you can follow. For example, I was recently preparing the Kalashnikov Sicilian for a student. I liked the lines so I wanted to try it out myself in blitz, but I needed something to do if White avoids the open Sicilian with 3. Bb5. I happened to know that the strong grandmaster and prolific Lichess player Sergei Zhigalko plays this with Black, so I entered his account in the player tab.

As you can see, he has almost 500 games from this position. I can use the opening explorer to see what his opponents tried against him and how he reacted. I can even open the games to see how he followed up in the middlegame. I could try to figure all of this out for myself, but it’s much easier to let my buddy Sergei show me what to do.

Lichess Database

The Lichess database gives you information about what moves you’re most likely to face at your level and which variations tend to perform well. You can adjust the setting to filter for time control and rating range. You should set these filters to reflect the player pool that is most relevant for you.

In general, I’d suggest devoting the most effort to the moves that are most common at your level, not necessarily the “book” moves according to courses or master games. These are, after all, the moves you’re most likely to face.

It’s also quite interesting to look at the stats of different variations at your level. At the grandmaster level, it’s unlikely to see a variation score exceptionally well for very long, since players at that level are well-rounded and prepared for most of what you can throw at them. But at the club level it’s not uncommon to see lines scoring over 60% or even 70%. Incorporating these lines in your repertoire can give you a practical edge. In fact, this is one reason I chose to build a repertoire around 1. Nf3 for my upcoming Chessable course: it scores very well in the stats at the club level.

Masters Database

Given that this database features high stakes games between strong players, it tends to feature the best moves. While I recommend focusing more on the most common moves at your level, you should also check the Masters tab to make sure you’re ready for the most challenging moves.

The Masters tab is especially powerful when combined with the Lichess database tab. You can use the Lichess database to see what your opponents are likely to play against you, and the Masters tab (plus the engine) to see how to beat it. Essentially, you get to bring a gun to a knife fight.

Until next time... may your openings be solid and your prep secret.

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