There is no definitive answer for that. You get 3 pieces of information out of the opening explorer 1.The frequency of the moves - 2.The winning rate of the moves - 3.If you turn the engine on - the best computer move. I usually look at the three most played moves and compare their win rate and the computer evaluation. Is the computer quite happy with all the varations and they all have a good win rate for my side, I pick the one I like the best/fits best to my style/gives me the biggest chances to win on my playing level. Is there a sideline which hasn't been played often but with a high win rate for my side, I look also at the computer evaluation. But at the end I often end up not playing this moves because the look somewhat strange to me.
What I also do is, when I like a certain varation, I go four or five moves ahead in different variaitons to check if the computer eval and the win rate remain stable. If they do, then I do this process with the other moves I considered to play and again, decide which one I like the best/fits my style the best/gives me the biggest chances to win at my level.
@AngelPiret said in #1:
Or should I use it in another way entirely?
-> I use it to prepare openings I can't avoid that are not in my main repertoire (although they should be) I don't know how you used it before but there are many ways to use it (repertoire building, correspondence, looking out for completly new openings, analysis of own or master games etc.) Use it how it's useful to you :)
@AngelPiret said in #1:
Also, when do I consider an opening ended?
->In general, the opening is finished when the piece development is completed. But there can be exceptions(not even so few) where you leave pieces on there initial squares for the whole middlegame and develop them very late.
@AngelPiret said in #1:
When the next most played variation was only played in 100 games? 1000?
->The theory in books, video courses and also in the opening explorer goes way further than the opening part of the game. Grandmasters often have "opening" preparation for 30+ moves into the endgame. As I said, in general, the opening phase is finished when the pieces are developed.
And, finally, I know that many players say this but at your playing level, openings don't matter so much because the result of the game is mostly decided by tactics and piece/mate blunders. But if you like studying openings, as I did when I was at your level, feel free to do it! It might have been easier for me to progress if I had concentrated on other things first but now I'm happy that I did invest the time study openings.
It got very long now but I hope this answered your questions :)
