The Opening

I'm planning on making a blog post on the opening. I want to put some ideas and quotes from players of all levels, from noobs like me to maybe even titled players! (This includes a sarcastic quip from you, MrPushwood.) If you're interested in contributing, please post below like so:
1. What is your favorite opening on each side of the board?
2. What is your biggest problem in the opening? (Or, what is a big problem you USED to have in the opening?)
3. What is your advice to someone struggling with the opening?
Looking forward to reading your responses! If you're interested in joining my team, The Prayer Warriors, check out my profile for the link.

My rating: 1700 ish

1. closed Sicilian for white, caro-kann for black.
2. punishing mistake (I just spam moves without thinking about ways to punish my opponent early.
3. for beginners, play an opponent with very simple plans and little risk, (like London, kings Indian, and Scandinavian).

Hope this helps :)
good luck with your blog

@ovfife said in #2:
> My rating: 1700 ish
>
> 1. closed Sicilian for white, caro-kann for black.
> 2. punishing mistake (I just spam moves without thinking about ways to punish my opponent early.
> 3. for beginners, play an opponent with very simple plans and little risk, (like London, kings Indian, and Scandinavian).
>
> Hope this helps :)
> good luck with your blog
Thanks! London and Kings Indian are my favorite openings for those specific reasons. My draw to the London was that I knew where each piece would go, and I had a general idea of how to play the middlegame.

@codingmasterggg said in #1:
> I'm planning on making a blog post on the opening. I want to put some ideas and quotes from players of all levels, from noobs like me to maybe even titled players! (This includes a sarcastic quip from you, MrPushwood.) If you're interested in contributing, please post below like so:
> 1. What is your favorite opening on each side of the board?
> 2. What is your biggest problem in the opening? (Or, what is a big problem you USED to have in the opening?)
> 3. What is your advice to someone struggling with the opening?
> Looking forward to reading your responses! If you're interested in joining my team, The Prayer Warriors, check out my profile for the link.

Rating: 2000

Fav White opening: Italian Game (e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4)
Fav Black opening: Two Knights Defence (e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Nf6)

Problem with White opening: Against 3... Nf6 I like to play 4. Ng5, but a big problem is that after 3... Bc5, the main line, I find the game kind of boring. Eventually I bought Gothamchess' White gambits course and the course taught me the Deutz gambit (e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Bc5 0-0 Nf6 d4!?), which made the game interesting.

Problem with Black Opening: Against 4. Ng5 I like to play the Traxler Counter-Attack with Bc5!!, and I have something like a 95% win rate, even against 2000s. But a problem is after 4. d3 I thought the position was kind of boring for Black. Then I learned the idea to play Be7, 0-0, Kh8, Ng8 and f5 from Jan Pinski's book about the Two Knights, and I thought this line was pretty sharp.

@Orciety said in #5:
> Rating: 2000
>
> Fav White opening: Italian Game (e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4)
> Fav Black opening: Two Knights Defence (e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Nf6)
>
> Problem with White opening: Against 3... Nf6 I like to play 4. Ng5, but a big problem is that after 3... Bc5, the main line, I find the game kind of boring. Eventually I bought Gothamchess' White gambits course and the course taught me the Deutz gambit (e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Bc4 Bc5 0-0 Nf6 d4!?), which made the game interesting.
>
> Problem with Black Opening: Against 4. Ng5 I like to play the Traxler Counter-Attack with Bc5!!, and I have something like a 95% win rate, even against 2000s. But a problem is after 4. d3 I thought the position was kind of boring for Black. Then I learned the idea to play Be7, 0-0, Kh8, Ng8 and f5 from Jan Pinski's book about the Two Knights, and I thought this line was pretty sharp.
Cool! I used to love the Italian, but same thing... If I was met with Bc5, I didn't have an idea of what to do really. I'm a huge fan of Gotham, that's cool that you bought one of his courses.

1) Tarrasch defense as black and Torre attack with White

2) I like openings where my material flows forward to the enemy position with nice outposts... When you and your opponents reach a certain rating they start becoming very good at stopping this since they have figured out all the pawn breaks and how to arrange their material for counter attacks if you leap forward. Learning how to keep the position dynamic without making a fatal error is a trick once all the material is developed.

3) Pick an opening that makes some logical sense to you in terms of understanding what you're supposed to be doing. Look at some high level games in your opening and pay attention to how titled players use their pawns and where they like placing their material with said pawn structures. Also, remember most games are decided within 30 moves so make sure you take most of your time in the opening/middle game to play the best moves possible. Finally, if you are highly uncomfortable with opponent's pressure early in the opening, make sure you review that particular opening more as that is a sign of neglect in that particular system.

Opponents at my level are getting an edge on me in the opening. I definitely want to learn more opening info.

rating- ~1800
1. favorite openings- Vienna game as white, CK/slav as black
2.If my opponent plays a unsound gambit-style sideline, I have no idea how to punish it, and if they are good enough, they will probably win a tactical battle in around 20-30 moves
eg- this game i had in the no castling qualifiers- lichess.org/YThx7P6d
3. just pick a sound opening such as CK, London, etc. , learn 3-5 moves of theory in a few lines+ the opening ideas, and then just practice, find your weaknesses and try to minimize them

1. What is your favorite opening on each side of the board?
White:
King's Indian Defense: Sämisch Variation
White has the center, more space and a possible kingside attack. Black has... a position they must play precisely.

Black:
Sicilian Dragon
White follows the simple plan of Be3, long castle, exchanging dark squared Bishops, h4 and a devastating attack.
But...it turns out it does't work for them most of the time.

2. What is your biggest problem in the opening? (Or, what is a big problem you USED to have in the opening?)
The biggest problem is very little time for studying openings - there are more important things in life.

3. What is your advice to someone struggling with the opening?
Understand that most of "opening advice" on internet is a complete nonsense.
People are talking about "following opening principles", the dangers of "rote memorizing without understanding" and some even say that openings are not important.
Realize that these are misunderstanded ideas which have their own internet life and circulate around again and again.
Just follow Daniel Naroditsky and do exactly what he says.
Build your own repertoire, you will learn a lot.