Do your openings ever feel stale?

After dozens of games mine start to get repetitive or I get a creative block. I temporarily abandoned 1c4 and shifted to1f4.

I am no expert on the English, but, as I understand it, there is considerable scope for variety even as early as move 2. For a reaction to 1 c4 e5, I have seen books that advocate 2 g3 and books that advocate 2 Nf3.

Try chess 960 perharps .for me i play only blitz so its never stale for me

@morphyms1817 I used to play over Game #1 in a new Chess Informantor book ... Then Game #11 then Game #21 Then Game #31 all the way through the book (Usually they have around 630 Games so 63 games ALL from different Openings , Ideas, Ideals, Tactics & Midddlegame/Endgames . then Game # 6 Game number 16 Game #26 etc but at some point say Game #146 or so ... I would stop & do other reading. playing all along of course . The Chess Informantor Series you can buy on New In Chess website or USCF Sales & more places . The Idea being to be able to Play many different positions & structures with plenty of Ideas @morphyms1817 These books have symbols & can be studied by any language speaking person

@ThunderClap said in #4:
> @morphyms1817 I used to play over Game #1 in a new Chess Informantor book ... Then Game #11 then Game #21 Then Game #31 all the way through the book (Usually they have around 630 Games so 63 games ALL from different Openings , Ideas, Ideals, Tactics & Midddlegame/Endgames . then Game # 6 Game number 16 Game #26 etc but at some point say Game #146 or so ... I would stop & do other reading. playing all along of course . The Chess Informantor Series you can buy on New In Chess website or USCF Sales & more places . The Idea being to be able to Play many different positions & structures with plenty of Ideas @morphyms1817 These books have symbols & can be studied by any language speaking person

Hi, I really appreciate the good suggestions.

@morphyms1817 Probably you should start with some classical Chess books to get you up to speed before what I just suggested @morphyms1817 ... You might enjoy Richard Reti's writting because you sound sorta upset the possibilities of Chess aren't being explored yet by you so ... Book One for you Modern Ideas In Chess by Richard Reti ... Then Book two Masters Of The Chessboard by Richard Reti' . Then the usual logical Chess Move by Move by I Chernev maybe you even want to LOOK AT The Chess Companion by i Chernev

@morphyms1817 said in #1:
> After dozens of games mine start to get repetitive or I get a creative block. I temporarily abandoned 1c4 and shifted to1f4.

I love f4 and c4 both. I also like the Catalan which you can transpose in from c4. You can do the Botvinick variation which is fun. Feel free to explore other openings for fun. I do so at different sites or time control if you are worried about rating points. f4 also has a variety of options..

Every once in a while I change up my opening repertoire. I suspect it's just a natural reaction. Not only does one's repertoire become stale with over-use, but one becomes curious about other lines of play. And there's no reason one cannot go back to an old favourite later, with fresh eyes and a fresh wind in your sail.

My usual against 1e4 is Modern Defense with d6, g6, Bg7 (move order like g6, d6 Bg7). This week I'm experimenting with 1 e4 d6. Here is my game today. Right down to the last ticks of the clock.

I did flag my opponent.

@calbernandhowbe