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The simple way to learn a new opening

#2

Well I'd like to learn a new opening - the french main lines for white, as my repertoire is limited exclusively to exchange Monte Carlo, but its a quite complex opening. Do you have any advice on how and where to start? (sadly im not a 1200 i cant just play 3.e5 and pray. That doesn't mean I didn't try. My attempts at playing from intuition ended pretty quickly)

Well I'd like to learn a new opening - the french main lines for white, as my repertoire is limited exclusively to exchange Monte Carlo, but its a quite complex opening. Do you have any advice on how and where to start? (sadly im not a 1200 i cant just play 3.e5 and pray. That doesn't mean I didn't try. My attempts at playing from intuition ended pretty quickly)
#3

Thank you for this blog post! I just found you for the first time through this post, and it really helped me a lot. I agree with your main idea, that we don't need to memorize a million variations before we're ready to use the plan of an opening.

Thank you for this blog post! I just found you for the first time through this post, and it really helped me a lot. I agree with your main idea, that we don't need to memorize a million variations before we're ready to use the plan of an opening.
#4

Especially on lower levels (like mine) it's extremely important not to just learn the lines but to understand why those moves are played. Not only makes it much easier to remember them (or to recall them when you are not sure) but on this level your opponents will often deviate from the standard lines quite early. And worse, they will often deviate in ways that are not covered in opening books, either because the author (usually much stronger player) did not consider them worth mentioning or because such move did not even occur to him/her. Understanding why certain move was supposed to be played can give you a valuable hint what to do when something else was played instead.

Especially on lower levels (like mine) it's extremely important not to just learn the lines but to understand why those moves are played. Not only makes it much easier to remember them (or to recall them when you are not sure) but on this level your opponents will often deviate from the standard lines quite early. And worse, they will often deviate in ways that are not covered in opening books, either because the author (usually much stronger player) did not consider them worth mentioning or because such move did not even occur to him/her. Understanding why certain move was supposed to be played can give you a valuable hint what to do when something else was played instead.
#5

How to play an opening against human opponent? If I'm trying a new line in Caro-Kan it might take like 30 games until I can practice it once...

How to play an opening against human opponent? If I'm trying a new line in Caro-Kan it might take like 30 games until I can practice it once...
#6

If you save your openings in a lichess study, they can be uploaded as courses in chessable. It takes some work, but it is a nice way to drill your prepared openings.

If you save your openings in a lichess study, they can be uploaded as courses in chessable. It takes some work, but it is a nice way to drill your prepared openings.
#7

Hey man, nice idea but i do learn the openings yet lose in the game, so any tips for that?

Hey man, nice idea but i do learn the openings yet lose in the game, so any tips for that?
#8

I highly recommend chessbook.com for practicing the moves in the openings.

I highly recommend chessbook.com for practicing the moves in the openings.