Hi everyone,
I've posted a few questions on openings and received great advice from all of you, but I've decided that it's time to go back to basics with openings. I discovered chess about 2 1/2 years ago, and I was hooked. Being a bibliophile, I bought many books on strategy, tactics and openings. I never really understood the recommendation that beginners play e4 to learn about tactics and open games; I figured that if you understand your opening it doesn't really matter what you play (as long as it's reasonably respectable). Well, after learning a lot about chess but not improving measurably, I have seen the importance of understanding the classical openings (which I had largely ignored). When I play them, it seems that my knowledge of strategy pays off, and I have started beating higher ranked players.
I've decided to go back to basics by answering 1.e4 with 1...e5 and 1.d4 with 1...d5. My study focus will be primarily tactics and endgames, and I will learn openings as they arise rather than waste time studying lines that I never face. I probably should have been doing this for the last couple of years, but hey, I thought I knew better :-).
So, I'm trying to put together a respectable repertoire, and I wanted to see if any of you have opinions on the suitability of the following lines for someone at my rather basic level:
1. As white - 1.e4
a. vs. 1...c5 - open Sicilian (gotta learn it sometime!)
b. vs. 1...e6 - Tarrasch (I like my pawn structure to be solid)
c. vs. 1...c6 - Advance with Nf3. Develop and use my space advantage
2. As black vs. d4 - QGD Tartakower (also against English and Reti)
3. As black vs. e4 - Berlin vs. the Lopez, Giuoco Piano vs Bc4, and I'll have to learn a line for the King's Gambit, Four Knights, etc.
Do these openings seems appropriate for someone who wants to wipe the slate clean and really begin to understand chess?
Thanks and happy St. Patrick's Day,
Scott
Originally posted by smrex13The QGD will work against the English and Reti only if white co-operates by playing an early d4. You will have to learn another line against both of these, but you won't see them all that often, so you can probably wait until you actually get one of those openings. That's the nice thing about correspondence chess - you can learn something about the opening as you play, instead of stumbling into a losing game in the first few moves.
2. As black vs. d4 - QGD Tartakower (also against English and Reti)
Originally posted by murrowEither Modern Chess Openings (14th edition) or Nunn's Chess Openings will give you a fairly complete overview of all the standard openings, and most of the playable non-standard openings. These books are primarily tables of moves, with the authors' evaluations at the end of lines. MCO has a little more verbal explanation of the openings, but not much. I use NCO to look up lines in openings that I'm not familiar with.
could one of you recommend a good book on openings?
a book where you can look up openings / different lines?
Two MAJOR notes of caution: The first is that you are not going to be able to learn an opening just by playing lines from either book. Unless you are master level, you will need to find other sources to explain what's actually going on in your opening. The second is that both books were published in 1999. Six years is a very long time in modern chess; many lines that are being played today aren't in either book, or are badly incomplete if they are there.
Originally posted by smrex13It all depends if you like open or closed. As black. the Petroff suits my standard and style of play:
3. As black vs. e4 - Berlin vs. the Lopez, Giuoco Piano vs Bc4, and I'll have to learn a line for the King's Gambit, Four Knights, etc.
Do these openings seems appropriate for someone who wants to wipe the slate clean and really begin to understand chess?
1. d4 e4 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Pd6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Pd4