Hi everyone, so I’ve been using Levy’s Chessly platform to build my opening repertoire, but I’m starting to feel overwhelmed. Right now I have 526 total opening lines to remember.
For White, I’ve learned:
Ruy Lopez – 63 lines
King’s Knight Opening – 35 lines
1.e4 course – 112 lines
Alapin Sicilian – 61 lines
Total: 271 lines
For Black, I’ve learned:
Leningrad Dutch – 64 lines
Dutch sidelines – 69 lines
Four Knights Sicilian – 57 lines
Sicilian sidelines – 65 lines
Total: 255 lines
At first, I tried studying one opening per day (like Monday = Ruy Lopez, Tuesday = Dutch, etc.), but I wasn’t remembering anything. My new plan was to alternate days: White openings on one day, Black the next. But now I’m trying to drill 271 White lines or 255 Black lines in a single day, and it takes me at least 2 hours—and honestly, it’s not productive. I don’t feel like I’m learning effectively anymore.
If anyone has a better system or advice for studying openings efficiently without getting overwhelmed, I’d really appreciate it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDna9eIBM8M here's a chess GM talking about "the more you know the worse it gets" and why studying openings to much can be a waste of time
Everyone goes through a phase of 'learning' opening lines. It's important, but needs to keep pace with your overall progress. What happens when your opponent deviates from your line with a reasonable alternative, can you figure out what to do? Or when they deviate with an inferior move, do you know how to punish them?
I have bunch of lifeitime repotoires files I just prep against my specific opp otb and learn quickly memorize the line that I am supposed to know against their opening. Ofc online I have no stratedgy and just play bs openings I am 2300 blitz on main bc I never play seriously and just play on mobile at school or when im outside and play stupid openings.
Watch the video in #2. Maybe watch it a few times.
"... 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)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627023809/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman50.pdf
“The opening that I study today is the opening that I forget tomorrow.” - kindaspongey
Maybe, you can find something useful at https://lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/how-should-i-study-chess-openings.
I struggle with retaining information too so the best advice I can give is to study a little bit each day, or a few times a week, so you can absorb your prep more effectively without pressuring yourself too much. i'm also a bad procrastinator, like I had a habit of studying only a day or 2 before a tournament and it was always stressful and I felt like my performance suffered during the games later because of anxiety or tiredness. so I will say consistency is key !! not always easy to do but that's the goal
Do not learn lines.
Study whole games.
I usually say to learn deep enough into the openings you play to not fall into a trap by move 5-7 (at least not very often) and then just play chess. I agree with studying games and not openings. And I generally tell people to go look at this web page and look at the table of values. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon_number This only shows possibilities up to Move 8 for white, and already I don't even know how to say that number because I don't know what they call the 22nd digit, but it's a big number. The number of possibilities is so large as to be incomprehensible. Hence, "learning" openings is more or less futile. Sadly, it can help when you're a beginner because you get some cheap wins, and that reinforces the idea that opening study is good. But in the long run, you can see people who get great positions out of the opening only to get crushed after playing on their own for a few moves. Sometimes, even losing on the very first move they didn't 'memorize'. And again, re-watch the video in #2... :D
@Yuki_the_great , just install the LiChess Tools browser extension, then use Explorer Practice. When you get more advanced, play Extended Interactive Lessons.
See https://lichess.org/@/TotalNoob69/blog/are-you-shy-you-can-grow-at-chess-without-actually-playing-anyone/BrzfTmd9 and https://lichess.org/@/TotalNoob69/blog/full-repertoire-using-pgn-editor-explorer-practice-and-bookmarks/IMnry1xG.
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