Learning an Opening Repertoire.

Hi,

I have some doubts regarding the opening repertoires (for both white and black).

First off, I know that at my level I should study strategy,tactics and endgame. I am doing it all together, as I believe that studying opening+middle+endgame together makes it a lot easier. But this is not the subject of the thread.

I have bought 3 books for 3 different opening repertoires I like: Queens Gambit (d4), Najdorf, and King's Indian Defense.

Now my question is as follows.

I recently started studying the Queens Gambit (Which I have no idea why, but I like a lot). I am studying the different responses to X defenses (ex. how to respond to the Queen's Gambit Accepted defense) and to the different variations. However, I think that studying 30+ different moves and having them in my memory is not what I'd like after all. I don't want to just play the game by using written ideas and apply them just because I know them, if you get what I mean here.

So I decided I'd only study the main 10 lines until kingcastle for all the possible Black defenses, without the variations.

Should I just play d4 continously, without studying the single opening repertoire (variations etc) movements for all defenses, so I just learn to play it with practice? Or should I study the whole book (single movements etc) so I just know what to do and when?

Please give me your points. I thank you for all your answers!

[PS. I never studied the game in-depth before]

Maybe im not relevant to give you advice, because im not especially strong player. But in my opinion chess is all about tactics and how many moves can you see. Handle the basic rules. Priority is development and king safety. Train tactics, puzzles and so on. Try to calculate as many moves you can. In calculation try to be fastest as you can. You will improve a lot.

I think that if you find guy who doesnt know openings, but if he can calculate 15 moves immediately he will be strong as international master.

I forgot to mention be pacient. Im not strong player because i always want to kill mosquito with nuclear bomb, as a result i burned my own house. If you look at Tal and his sacrifices, he always prepares that. So learn basic strategies. Basic strategies doesnt mean anything if you cant calculate.

The best way to learn an opening repertoire is by playing classical and rapid games here and requesting computer analysts after each game. This feature is very good in telling you what you should have done in the opening instead of what you did and why it is better. You can also try different moves in analysis board to see if your ideas could work. Over time, after many games, you will become stronger.
Calculation can be trained by puzzles. It's important as well.

So, to learn d4, should I just analyze my games well, without mastering all the theory stuff between variations?

For now rather than learning specific lines, learn about opening principles and where your pieces belong. Then when you're stronger and the opening affects the outcome of the game more you can try learning specific lines.

@Checkmatealot the outcome of my (real) bad openings affect the whole middle game, which also affects my end game. I only recently moved to d4 (since I like it more than e4 for unknown reasons), but it's rather difficult to manage and thus the thread...
I know the opening principles, at least at a beginning level (Center, knights, bishops, castle etc) but that is not helping me at all: that's why I bought these books. But in the same time memorizing 30+ lines per single variations sounds pretty annoying to me, because I don't want to be a computer-like player.
Thanks for the reply!

A player should study openings only after he became a grandmaster - Gary Kasparov

Put your opening books away. Train tactics, learn endgames.

Think of the chessboard as a pie.
The crust of the pie is the edge of the chessboard.
The center is what tastes good.
Take the bigger slice of the center.

In the initial position all the pawns are protected by one of the pieces.
Move two pawns to free the bishops.
Move two knights to free the rooks.

In four moves all the pieces are free to move around and all you need to do was move two pawns and two knights.

Move the king bishop to a key square and your ready to castle king side.

If your memorizing openings, but your opponent is not. Your opponent might not even play the best first move.

In the opening avoid direct attacks and symmetrical moves and aim to control the center.
If you do that when your playing black, you played the best first response. Think of castling black before white castles. Think of developing faster than white. White has a half tempo ahead in development. Avoid moving the same pieces twice. If you move a piece twice, it is like you missed a turn and let your opponent play twice.

Look before leaping a piece onto a square and you will avoid most blunders.

You are welcome to master all the theory and variations. The test is whether or not your sacrifices work against standard development by your opponent. Keep testing in your games the techniques you study from books. So far, there is no opening winning recipe for either side.