Hi ,
Ive been playing chess for 2 years now and I know these openings as white
1.ruy lopez
2.scotch
3.phillidor defence
4.scandanavian ( not too much)
As black
1.sicilian
2.kings indian
3.nimzo indian
Apart from these I suck at any other opening my opponent throws me at .
Is there any opening its a must know as white or black nowadays when I play higher rated players they play both caro kann or French as black and I don't know how to take advantage of it .
Suggestions welcome.
Good news: it really doesn't matter which openings
Bad news: you have to be expert for what you choose eventually, i.e. what you employ in your games.
So it's up to you what you can do.
You must know nothing at all.
You only must know general principles and apply them.
Games generally are not decided on moves 2-3, but on moves 20-30.
Mayby should know the english opening or at least hiw to defend against it.
And generally you should know, that an opening isn't just the first few moves of a game. Different openings can lead to different kind of matches:
some lead to calm and drawish onrs and some other are aggressive.
Well to any queen pawn opening or english , I play kings Indian defence . To any king pawn opening I can play Sicilian right ?
you sure
@tpr ? Beacuse you should know at least some theory. After all, if you dont know nothing, you will can be already lost out of the opening.
It‘s a legend that amateurs/masters don’t train openings. Of course they all know exactly what they do. Some of them prefer spreading „talent“ myths. „If I had studied I would be better“.
Without opening knowledge you are dead as a dodo, 1-2 classes below your Elo compared to decent opening treatment. Your opponent plays concrete theory and you try to figure out everything otb? C‘mon!
#7 I am quite sure about that. Theory only postpones the moment you have to think on your own. Most theory you learn will not show up in any game as people will deviate and when it does show up, you will have forgotten it.
"It is mostly ballast" - Nimzovich
Kasparov: "A player should study opening theory after he becomes a grandmaster"
Lasker: "Variations are transient, method is eternal"
Capablanca: "The opening is to prepare the middle game, the middle game is to prepare the endgame, so study the endgame, not the opening"
#8 on the contrary: by playing an heavily theoretical line against a strong player you will give him a free win, as he will know and understand much more about it mostly from practical experience. Theory helps against the weak, which you would beat anyway and does not help against the strong, where you need most help.
