Questions from a player stuck at 800-900 for over 4 years

Are there some Youtube videos about chess opening principles that are worth watching?

@OctoPinky said in #20:

For instance, you play Ruy López with 4.Bxc6, which is totally fine, and then face 4..dxc6 5. O-O Bg4 6. h3 h5... you could be tempted to take (7.hxg4), a bad idea. But you better know why it is a bad idea to take that Bishop so you could figure it out in different positions. So you should both memorize and understand it.

Understand is the keyword here. One of the last games was a Ruy Lopez with white. After 3. Bb5 the opponent already played a completely stupid move: 3... f6?. And white answered with Bxc6, completely nullifying the advantage - in fact, Black is now already ahead.

It is not mandatory to punish f6 to the fullest, but capturing the knight here is already a serious mistake on move 4. This cannot be fixed by learning more variations. But if you understand why this move is bad, you can apply similar thinking throughout many openings, or the whole game.

That being said, even if you are 2000 Elo, you will just make 50% against then 2000... and will often be disappointed with your games. The level of play increases, but the results (and maybe dissatisfaction) stay basically the same.

Found this on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-principles-of-the-opening

Is that enough to work on?

It's a start. But it doesnt cover non-sequiturs such as one-move blunders.

And these rules have some exceptions. In the Italian two-knight game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 it is legit to attack with 4. Ng5 (moving that piece twice), and it leads to a sharp doubleedged position where black sacrifices a pawn to chase white pieces back into their camp (creating an imbalance material vs. development)
In the Scandinavian 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 it is perfectly fine to play 2.... Qxd5 and respond 3. Nc3 with either Qa5, Qd6 or Qe6. White also wasted a time capturing the pawn and the queen is safe from further attacks on any of these squares.

Castling is surely very important in 95%+ of games but you should pay attention whether the opponent's pieces and pawns are pointing towards your desired castling direction

@Cedur216 said in #24:

It's a start. But it doesnt cover non-sequiturs such as one-move blunders.

And these rules have some exceptions. In the Italian two-knight game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 it is legit to attack with 4. Ng5 (moving that piece twice), and it leads to a sharp doubleedged position where black sacrifices a pawn to chase white pieces back into their camp (creating an imbalance material vs. development)
In the Scandinavian 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 it is perfectly fine to play 2.... Qxd5 and respond 3. Nc3 with either Qa5, Qd6 or Qe6. White also wasted a time capturing the pawn and the queen is safe from further attacks on any of these squares.

Castling is surely very important in 95%+ of games but you should pay attention whether the opponent's pieces and pawns are pointing towards your desired castling direction

That's what makes it so difficult. Because there are principles. But also a lot of exceptions.

Played a bit to quickly again.

@nizzledizzleshizzle said in #1:

People seem to say the opening does not matter. However, versus the lines I play (Often London System, Ruy Lopez, Italian game) there seem to be some moves .. where I just end up losing a piece in the first 10 moves

They really dont. I just know like 5 moves of every single major variation. Yet I have way more rating than you. Its not the openings.

There is perhaps other reasons why you end up losing pieces (will talk about it later)

@nizzledizzleshizzle said in #1:

• People seem to say that hanging pieces is the most important part and that I just need to wait until somebody hangs a piece. Well, It seems they don't do it that often.. and I almost always end up blundering when I am playing bad

No. That is not the most important part. But its quite noticeable at your level. So people abuse that.

@nizzledizzleshizzle said in #1:

• What openings should I stick to at my level? (i do know: London System, Italian game and sometimes Ruy for white. For black I just go with E4/E5 and D4/D4.

None. Play either e4/d4 and apply chess principles. Thats enough. When you know whats going on, learn any opening of your liking, but not before. Its a waste of time and energy.

• Is hanging pieces something to still look out for?

No. Yes. Aim to win with better strategy, but if they give you a piece and you can take it with no harm or impending doom to your position , take it. Sometimes is wise to not take if the consequences of taking it are terrible.

Chess is a strategy game, not a wargame. Its not about mindlessly capturing material and have more than your opponent (Though many times makes the game easier, it depends).

Its about controlling squares. The pieces, thats what they do, they control squares, they just do it via different type of movement, but at the end of the day, they just control squares. The problem is to identify which squares require to be controlled and which ones are more important than others, with the combination of knowing which piece has to control it.

So when you hang out a piece is you losing track of either not recognizing that you need a retreat square for your piece in case your opponent controls the square that attacks it or that a piece can get in an uncontrolled square that threatens 2 or more of your pieces that are not defended, inevitably losing one.

The openings, are just a preset of moves that allow you to place your pieces in the optimal place where they control either the most squares, or the most important squares you have to control at that stage of the game, but all of that comes from knowing which squares have to be controlled.

So if you understand that you have to control squares, and you realize which squares are the most important to control and with which pieces is the most optimal way to control them, the sequence of moves and the train of though is easy to predict, as either or both players are making moves towards getting control of said squares and with which pieces.

And so, if you realize which squares have to be controlled and with which pieces, you can really mate while being way below in material, thats why you see sacrifices and whatnot, thats removing/deflecting/blocking defenders of the important squares.

There are several principles of chess. Ill name just a few, so you get idea.

The first one is to control the center. The reason is because most of the pieces have to pass through there. If you control those squares, you are making it difficult for the opponent to land on those controlled squares and making it easy to you to leap into them in a more forward position.

The second one is to avoid moving minor pieces twice in the opening if you can avoid it. The reason is that if you move the same piece twice in the early part of the game , you are wasting a move from another piece that can control other squares that are not controlled yet.

Third one. Knights on the rim are dim. Meaning developing your knights towards the edge of the board is bad. The reason is that if you put the knight on a or h file, instead of it having 8 squares to control, it can only control 4.

Fourth one. Avoid developing your queen early. The reason is that the queen can control a lot of squares, but if you develop it early in the game where there is still a lot of material on the board, the queen will be attacked in a way that you cannot take the attacking piece, you will have to move her again, which will result in the development of another piece of your opponents, often attacking the queen again, which will force the queen to move, and so forth. The result is that you made a lot of moves but gained little to no control of actual important squares, while giving your opponent tempos to either develop their pieces or reposition them to get a better grip of the board by controlling more important squares than when they did when they were on the previous position. And then he is just gonna run over you because you have no board control.

So, instead of focusing on openings, focusing on learning the unlimited list of chess principles (just google it). Also focus on learning which squares are important and understand why they are important. This obviously, is the same in the same opening (if you play the Spanish opening for instance, the important squares early game are the same in both games), but will vary wildly once you get out of the opening and the game progresses, and the important squares will change over time as well.

Learning the openings might help you to not lose pieces early, but when you get out of the opening, you will look like a baboon with a high tech gadget. Not knowing what to do with what you have.

But if you focus on understand the importance of the squares and identifying which ones are important, you will know what to aim for and how to aim for it. The squares will shine in front of you when you know what to control, they will be very evident. The opening moves will make sense and you can reach known positions without knowing anything about the opening because the openings are just the manifestation of knowing which squares have to be controlled, thus the move to control them.

Controlling the right squares will render any enemy strategy useless.

Focus on that.

@nizzledizzleshizzle said in #1:

I am currently playing 800 ELO on chess.com, and 1300 at lichess.com. So let's say I am somewhere between 800-900 overall?

Couple of problems I have.

• People seem to say the opening does not matter. However, versus the lines I play (Often London System, Ruy Lopez, Italian game) there seem to be some moves .. where I just end up losing a piece in the first 10 moves
• People seem to say that hanging pieces is the most important part and that I just need to wait until somebody hangs a piece. Well, It seems they don't do it that often.. and I almost always end up blundering when I am playing bad
• When I play bad, I feel like a 400 ELO player.. it's just terrible. When I play great.. I can beat a 1400 on lichess.

My questions are:

• What openings should I stick to at my level? (i do know: London System, Italian game and sometimes Ruy for white. For black I just go with E4/E5 and D4/D4.
• Is hanging pieces something to still look out for?

In my opinion, you must learn simple openings by heart, two or three per side. I think you are motivated to progress, and that's really good! Another difference is that you need to improve your decision making, because without it you will make tactical choices that will not be the best. you must try to proceed logically, without worrying about the calculation for the moment. if you accept the D.M, I can coach you for free when I have free time, if you accept, I will write you a message!

@Alientcp said in #26:

They really dont. I just know like 5 moves of every single major variation. Yet I have way more rating than you. Its not the openings.

There is perhaps other reasons why you end up losing pieces (will talk about it later)

No. That is not the most important part. But its quite noticeable at your level. So people abuse that.

None. Play either e4/d4 and apply chess principles. Thats enough. When you know whats going on, learn any opening of your liking, but not before. Its a waste of time and energy.

No. Yes. Aim to win with better strategy, but if they give you a piece and you can take it with no harm or impending doom to your position , take it. Sometimes is wise to not take if the consequences of taking it are terrible.

Chess is a strategy game, not a wargame. Its not about mindlessly capturing material and have more than your opponent (Though many times makes the game easier, it depends).

Its about controlling squares. The pieces, thats what they do, they control squares, they just do it via different type of movement, but at the end of the day, they just control squares. The problem is to identify which squares require to be controlled and which ones are more important than others, with the combination of knowing which piece has to control it.

So when you hang out a piece is you losing track of either not recognizing that you need a retreat square for your piece in case your opponent controls the square that attacks it or that a piece can get in an uncontrolled square that threatens 2 or more of your pieces that are not defended, inevitably losing one.

The openings, are just a preset of moves that allow you to place your pieces in the optimal place where they control either the most squares, or the most important squares you have to control at that stage of the game, but all of that comes from knowing which squares have to be controlled.

So if you understand that you have to control squares, and you realize which squares are the most important to control and with which pieces is the most optimal way to control them, the sequence of moves and the train of though is easy to predict, as either or both players are making moves towards getting control of said squares and with which pieces.

And so, if you realize which squares have to be controlled and with which pieces, you can really mate while being way below in material, thats why you see sacrifices and whatnot, thats removing/deflecting/blocking defenders of the important squares.

There are several principles of chess. Ill name just a few, so you get idea.

The first one is to control the center. The reason is because most of the pieces have to pass through there. If you control those squares, you are making it difficult for the opponent to land on those controlled squares and making it easy to you to leap into them in a more forward position.

The second one is to avoid moving minor pieces twice in the opening if you can avoid it. The reason is that if you move the same piece twice in the early part of the game , you are wasting a move from another piece that can control other squares that are not controlled yet.

Third one. Knights on the rim are dim. Meaning developing your knights towards the edge of the board is bad. The reason is that if you put the knight on a or h file, instead of it having 8 squares to control, it can only control 4.

Fourth one. Avoid developing your queen early. The reason is that the queen can control a lot of squares, but if you develop it early in the game where there is still a lot of material on the board, the queen will be attacked in a way that you cannot take the attacking piece, you will have to move her again, which will result in the development of another piece of your opponents, often attacking the queen again, which will force the queen to move, and so forth. The result is that you made a lot of moves but gained little to no control of actual important squares, while giving your opponent tempos to either develop their pieces or reposition them to get a better grip of the board by controlling more important squares than when they did when they were on the previous position. And then he is just gonna run over you because you have no board control.

So, instead of focusing on openings, focusing on learning the unlimited list of chess principles (just google it). Also focus on learning which squares are important and understand why they are important. This obviously, is the same in the same opening (if you play the Spanish opening for instance, the important squares early game are the same in both games), but will vary wildly once you get out of the opening and the game progresses, and the important squares will change over time as well.

Learning the openings might help you to not lose pieces early, but when you get out of the opening, you will look like a baboon with a high tech gadget. Not knowing what to do with what you have.

But if you focus on understand the importance of the squares and identifying which ones are important, you will know what to aim for and how to aim for it. The squares will shine in front of you when you know what to control, they will be very evident. The opening moves will make sense and you can reach known positions without knowing anything about the opening because the openings are just the manifestation of knowing which squares have to be controlled, thus the move to control them.

Controlling the right squares will render any enemy strategy useless.

Focus on that.

Will need to read this a couple of times. Very cool and grateful.

Seems like I could pick a board, place an opening and see what squares they control?

Opening principles are very important, but not the whole story. Whatever material you look at, it will give pretty similar advice: develop your pieces, control the center, bring your king into safety.

Looking at the game posted in #25, you would never play 9...d5 if you followed the principles. Opening the e-file against your uncastled king, and blundering pawns away. You would simply castle instead. The computer doesn't care and says your advantage is big enough and doesn't even mark it as a mistake...

But tactics still trump opening principles every time. If you think of the other game posted (with 10 blunders per side)... it doesn't matter how you come out of the opening, if the game swings around and around and around. Serious questions arise:

• On move 10, you could just grab a pawn in front of the opponent's king absolutely for free, but you retreated with the bishop. Why?
• On move 20, you moved your rook away (Rfd8). Before, it was defending a massively attacked f7 pawn, now it just stares into its own pawn on d6. Why?
• On move 34 you attack their queen with your bishop, and the queen moves one square along that diagonal. You do not capture it. Why?

Those were not even tactics where you would need to see 1 move ahead. You just pick up the pieces!

On move 38 you gave a check (h6+), which gives your opponent two legal moves, one of them is just capturing the pawn with the queen and checking you, in fact it would have been check mate. You absolutely need to consider moves by the opponent!

Instead, on move 38 you could have used the alignment of king and queen and played Bd8+, winning their queen.

One of the big rules is "CCT", checks, captures, threats. Looking for any of those would have prevented every mistakes.

You can only find what you are looking for. If you attack their queen but then don't capture it, no amount of chess theory ever will solve this. While reading on opening principles is fine, it won't yield significant results unless you address those most basic blunders.

TLDR:

1. After each move by your opponent, consider ALL your possible moves, and look at ALL their current threats.
2. Before you make your move, consider ALL their possible responses.

If you are doing this just one move deep, you are way ahead of the game at your level.

• People seem to say the opening does not matter. However, versus the lines I play (Often London System, Ruy Lopez, Italian game) there seem to be some moves .. where I just end up losing a piece in the first 10 moves

Every time you make a serious mistake in an opening, go over the game with stockfish and try to figure out why the move was bad and what are some better alternatives (I suggest turning multiple lines to 5 in the settings). There are only so many possible blunders in the opening, and eventually you will run out :D