Learning An Opening Is Frying My Brain.

I’m trying to improve my game but am finding myself going around in circles. My rating is only hovering around the 700 mark on Chess.com, (I don’t think I’ve played enough games yet here on Lichess to get an accurate figure.) I’m doing plenty of Lichess puzzles to try and help my progress which I hope will help me improve . I’m also trying to learn an opening and have chosen the London System as my starter. My problem is that when I’m watching instructional videos which teach the opening, there are so many variations of moves for me depending on what the opponent plays, that after the first ten minutes my brain is totally overloaded and I just switch off.

My question is, do I need to learn all of the various alternative moves in order to play the opening effectively or should I just learn the first few moves as far as my memory will allow and then keep adding more moves and variations as I become more accustomed to the beginning moves. I’m currently finding that I can play the first few opening moves and then my opponent does something which screws up my pattern and I end up just doing something completely different to my initial plan. I feel as though, in many cases, I’m too late in starting an attack of my own and I end up ‘firefighting’ before I reach the point where I’m causing any issues for my opponent.

Do I even need to learn an opening at my level or should I just ‘dive in’ and play lots of games to develop my board observation skills and try to reduce my blundering?

I recommend you start minimizing your blunders. An opening wouldn't be much use if you keep making blunders. I advise that AFTER you minimize blunders, you should learn a system (a fixed set of opening moves which remain constant most of the time). I know the London is a system, BUT it is one of the few which involve a LOT of theory. Try the Czech Pirc Defense. It doesn't need a lot of theory, and safely gets you into the middle game (a TUTORIAL: www.youtube.com/watch?v=soHgoqfsh8Q).
On the other hand, the first opening I learned as White was the Fried Liver Trap. A lot of beginners will surely fall into the trap, and a couple intermediate players too! TUTORIAL: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLFSufXxtuI.
Lastly, watch videos of people playing actual games with the defense. I personally like the 'rating climb videos' where a person starts from 1500 rating and goes to a > 2000 rating ONLY using the defense.
Good Luck!

I think that this quote gives the basic idea for learning about a specific opening:
"... The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. 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)
In a nutshell, pick up what you can from quickly playing over some games (skipping a lot of the details). Then use your own games as a guide for where to learn more. I once wasted a lot of time, reading about the position after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 dxc4 5 a4 Bf5 6 e3 e6 7 Bxc4 Bb4 8 O-O O-O 9 Qe2, only to realize (eventually) that the position never arose in any of my games.
Here are some more quotes on learning about openings:
"... For beginning players, [the book, Discovering Chess Openings by GM Emms,] will offer an opportunity to start out on the right foot and really get a feel for what is happening on the board. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)
web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/https://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
www.amazon.com/Discovering-Chess-Openings-Building-Principles/dp/1857444191?asin=1857444191&revisionId=&format=4&depth=1
"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... Read many annotated game collections ... By looking at entire games, the aspiring player learns about openings, middlegames, and endgames all at one fell swoop. Playing through annotated games spurs improvement as the reader learns how good players consistently handle common positions and problems. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2007)
web.archive.org/web/20140627062646/https://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman81.pdf
"... As is the wont with modern opening works, these books usually centre their recommended variations around an instructive and/or entertaining game, without great depth but with sufficient detail to show the main branches and explain basic ideas. This is absolutely legitimate ..." - IM John Watson (2012)
web.archive.org/web/20140627015516/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen163.pdf
"... I am not a big fan of weaker players memorizing lots of opening lines they will never play. However, it is quite a different issue to spend a small amount of time learning how to play your openings a little better each time they occur. A long journey begins with a single step. ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2005)
web.archive.org/web/20140627023809/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman50.pdf

@Dave_Simmo said in #1:
> My question is, do I need to learn all of the various alternative moves in order to play the opening effectively or should I just learn the first few moves as far as my memory will allow and then keep adding more moves and variations as I become more accustomed to the beginning moves.

The trick is not to memorise the moves, but to understand your strategic goals in the opening. It's not the what, but the why.

I'm sure you're familiar with basic opening principles - control the center, maxmise your piece activity (and minimise your opponent's), and get your king to safety. With every move that you consider you have to ask i) what possible moves reinforce my goals, ii) what moves would my opponent like to play, iii) what squares do I need to control and what squares am I willing to give up control over, and iv) how can my opponent reply to my moves.

Let's take the Nimzo Indian, for example:
1. d4 Nf3 2. c4 e6 3. Nc6 Bb4

Many beginners believe that the point of the opening is to inflict a structural weakness on white's pawn structure. This represents only a partial understanding. While the weakness does provide something to play against, White does not have to accept it, nor is White worse off for accepting it. The main strategic point on the board is the e4-square (and the d5 square), which the pin is intended to reinforce for Black. If Black exchanges the bishop (losing the pair) for the knight to double White's pawns, this is merely a strategic concession that Black makes for the e4 square. If White is able to play the pawn to e4, they get a wonderful pawn center and will likely overrun Black's position.

Thus Black is always considering moves to prevent that - d5 or f5, fianchettoing the queen's bishop to control that long diagonal, outposting the knight on e4 to blockade the pawn, etc. (in addition to playing against any weaknesses in White's structure). If you can keep your goals in mind, in addition to paying attention to tactical opportunities and threats, you stand a very good chance of being able to "wing it" through the opening by playing by principle.

If your opponent makes a move that you don't recognise, ask those questions about what threats and weaknesses their move creates. If you can't find anything obvious, then continue with your goals to develop and control the board. You can't always immediately punish a subpar move, but often you'll find your pieces and pawns better coordinated down the road and more ready to take advantage of the position.

Again, with every move you make and your opponent makes, right from the very fist move, ask "why, what will I accomplish, what will I cede, and what changes on the board".

Solving a lot of puzzles can definitely help you improve in chess. Keep up the good work!

With the London System, you only have to memorize the main move sequence. What's appealing about this opening is that the most common line works against every opening black can throw at you. However, the downside is that it hinders your overall progress in chess. You will get the same type of positions again and again, which means you will likely struggle whenever you get out of your comfort zone. My suggestion would be to learn either the Ruy Lopez, the Scotch Opening, or the Italian Opening as White, as these openings strictly adhere to opening principles and could teach you how to play open and closed positions.

Learning a lot of theory does more harm than good. Many beginners fall into the trap of rote learning a ton of opening theory without understanding the objectives behind the moves, meaning that whenever they are out of book, their position crumbles.When you are out of book, don't panic. Spend some time to assess the position to see if any of your opponent's pieces are hanging, what threats your opponent's pieces are posing, and whether any of your pieces could be centralized. Until you reach 1800, it's unlikely that you will come across many opponents who have memorized opening lines in depth.

The best way to eliminate blunders is to play slow games (rapid/classical) and analyse them afterward with Stockfish to see where you went wrong. Solving puzzles will enhance your pattern recognition abilities and allow you to spot tactics and counter threats more effectively.

Here are some websites and YouTube channels that you may find helpful:
- STL Chess Club (youtube.com/@STLChessClub)
- Daniel Naroditsky GM (youtube.com/@DanielNaroditskyGM)
- Chess Coach Andras (youtube.com/@ChessCoachAndras)
- Chessable.com
- Chesstempo.com

Don't try to memorize everything, just understand some goals broadly. These goals are mostly in terms of developing pieces and castling. If he does something you haven't seen, you don't need to know the move, you need to know which is your next goal (e.g. activating a bishop). You will memorize and understand more stuff with time, but for now understand the opening principles and rely on them.

Lots of good advice above.
You need to know a few moves of the main openings that you play, and that you often see from opponents. But at this early stage, memorizing long lines of openings will not serve you well.
Analyzing the position before each move is critical to improvement.
As a great writer (Znosko-Borovsky) said (among much other great advice): Don't create weaknesses; exploit opponent's weaknesses. You need think about the most effective locations for your pieces, which varies with what opponent has done. By the same token, think about which of opponent's pieces are poorly placed.
Just a trivial example: In games in which White plays e4, I sometimes see beginners (at some point) play Nf6 **when the e4 pawn can still forward** and boot that knight into a worse location. That's the kind of positional mistake you should easily see, and never fall into yourself.

Hello Dave, nice to meet.

> My question is, do I need to learn all of the various alternative moves in order to play the opening effectively

Yes, that's what makes openings hard, and that's why systems are a good idea.

Stonewall and London are excellent systems - you can to a certain extent ignore the opponent's moves. French Defense gives relatively small options for White.
The only drawback of these openings and systems is that they are d4 / d5 based and are therefore excruciatingly boring.

If you want to be more advanturous but not fall into these whole endless vars of an opening, then 1.b3 is pretty good. But that's if you're willing to give away some space usually, for piece activity.

---

"Do I even need to learn an opening at my level or should I just ‘dive in’ and play lots of games to develop my board observation skills and try to reduce my blundering?"

I don't know. I think it's people being snobby to beginners rather than advice, but whatever.

---

My rules of attack:
Rooks and knights are potatoes - you use them to block or sac. them: the knights on pawns, and the rooks on bishops or knights.
If your attack fails, resign. - Be a pirate! aarrghh.

Can I play some games with you? Let's see how you play.

>My problem is that when I’m watching instructional videos which teach the opening, there are so many variations of moves for me depending on what the opponent plays

Well, that's the good thing about the 'triangle' - d4, c3, e3 - you can ignore the opponent somewhat. I think in the videos they teach you the very best move to each of your opponent's ideas, you don't have to play best moves, let alone if you play triangle style (Semi-Slav, QGD Campbridge Springs, Noteboom, Stonewall, London, and what's not.).

When you're bored with the triangle, there's a nice system called King's Indian Defense setup - g3, Bg2, Nf3, 0-0, d3 - it has its merits, the major one being that it's not boring. But you need to know too much for it - the more popular an opening is, the more people have tried to refute it.

Thanks everyone for your helpful replies. It will give me something to work on as I continue on my chess journey.

learn the opening ideas instead of specific variations