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I have always wondered this. Whenever I open an opening book, it is so packed with variations that my head swirl. Surely nobody can memoirze all those moves! I guess people use it for their correspondence games; they open them when they need to look for a continuation of their favorite opening.
Usually, below the master level, people are not that booked up. Even if they are, they lack middlegame or endgame knowledge, so there are plenty of opportunites to beat them.
However, we all need a starters opening repertoire to carry us until we reach advanced levels.
It seems that even promising book series like "Starting Out" are full of confusing variations. Really, I just need a book that tells me the idea, the usual piece placements and the usual attacking schemes of an opening so that I can find a sensible move that gains the initiative or advantage when my opponent plays something nonsensical!
-Rant mode off-
I wrote this because I lost quite a lot of games with my opening because the book I have about it does not talk about any plans. I lost once because the usual attacking plan did not work- he just plonks the knight on e4! -as my opponent just copied my moves. Finding no sensible plans, I just accepted my inferior position and lost.
Well, that's all.
This is where blitz is valuable. Play dozens of games with the opening. Then go over where you went wrong and can improve, using Fritz or Crafty to examine game and (of course) looking at it yourself. Playing lots of games with an opening can give you a "feel" for the position you couldn't get in one or two over the board games an hour each. Don't think you can learn an opening from a book, then play a reasonable game against a good opponent the first time. Experience is the missing factor, something you can't get from any book. Good luck!
"Discovering Chess Openings" by John Emms is a very good introduction to opening principles that explains things like why the rule "knights before bishops" exists and when it can be ignored and why 1.a4 is a weak move (no offense to 1.a4 lovers) but it's aimed at a more elementary level than you are at now.
When I had a similar experience with opening knowledge I just realised that I had learned enough about the game to become aware of how little I know. This is why grandmasters will say they are still learning as it's such a vast subject.
Theoretically if someone plays a non book move early in the game it should be a weak move but the weakness may only be very subtle. Here is the advantage of CC because you can, if you wish, spend a lot of time working out how best to exploit the weakness and then next time someone plays it or if it occurs OTB then you're already prepared. The suggestion to just blitz it over and over again is another way of learning it.
Originally posted by anthiasWhat is your repertoire, if it coincides with mine, I can recommend some books, otherwise you'll have to hope someone else is helpful.
I have always wondered this. Whenever I open an opening book, it is so packed with variations that my head swirl. Surely nobody can memoirze all those moves! I guess people use it for their correspondence games; they open them when they need to look for a continuation of their favorite opening.
Usually, below the master level, people are not that booked ...[text shortened]... inding no sensible plans, I just accepted my inferior position and lost.
Well, that's all.
Originally posted by anthiasWhen you play through all those variations there are always alot of themes, motifs etc that keep popping up. It's not necessary to exactly know what the correct 'book' move is all the time, unless you're playing a variation that is extremely complicated in comparison with the rest of your opening.
I have always wondered this. Whenever I open an opening book, it is so packed with variations that my head swirl. Surely nobody can memoirze all those moves! I guess people use it for their correspondence games; they open them when they need to look for a continuation of their favorite opening.
Usually, below the master level, people are not that booked ...[text shortened]... inding no sensible plans, I just accepted my inferior position and lost.
Well, that's all.
What is important is knowing the correct set-ups and ideas/plans. If you are at a total loss with 2000 different variations and 0 explanations, try working out what every move achieves etc.
I can show you an example:
Position after 10. Bg3. The opening is black knight's tango. My opponent (I had the black pieces) had gone out of book on move 7. Normal ideas for black here would be pushing a5 and then putting a knight on c5, or exchanging on c3 and then playing Ne4 followed by f5.
However I thought this was a bit slow and I wanted to punish my opponent's slow play: 10. ..b5! undermining the white centre, another common theme in this particular opening.
Most opening books won't tell you alot about the best set-ups and what to do if your opponent plays this way or that way. But by playing through the given variations you can learn alot about good set-ups and ideas of your opening.
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Originally posted by zebanoColle-Zuckertort / Barry Attack as White
What is your repertoire, if it coincides with mine, I can recommend some books, otherwise you'll have to hope someone else is helpful.
Berlin against the Spanish
Bc5 against the Italian (http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=74487)
The Cambridge Springs against the Queen's Gambit
3...Bf5 against Colle Systems
As someone said, the best way to learn an opening, and learn to adapt to unexpected moves, is speed chess. It also helps you to identify patterns and possible piece combinations much faster.
You shouldn't have to rely on book memorization to be strong at an opening. You need to be able to understand the basic concept behind it. For example, the Alekhine defense (1. e4 Nf6) is designed to draw white's center pawns out and sabotage them, hampering white's ability to control the center. To that end, you should be able to work with that general plan. If white declines, you can transpose into another opening.
Your problem isn't really the books you are using, it's the fact that you can't adapt. That's what you need to work on. Some people say that speed chess can make your game sterile, but it's really rote memorization that makes you sterile.
Also, if I was playing someone who was using a book during the game, even in CC, I would never play him again. I hope that was a misspeak on your part.
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Originally posted by laferri2Books are allowed in CC. Engines are not. There was a thread on it not long ago.
As someone said, the best way to learn an opening, and learn to adapt to unexpected moves, is speed chess. It also helps you to identify patterns and possible piece combinations much faster.
You shouldn't have to rely on book memorization to be strong at an opening. You need to be able to understand the basic concept behind it. For example, the Alekhine ...[text shortened]... game, even in CC, I would never play him again. I hope that was a misspeak on your part.
Originally posted by laferri2Please read the TOS. Books and even databases are allowed in Correspondence Chess. They always have been. Please use the search function to find hundreds of threads on this subject.
As someone said, the best way to learn an opening, and learn to adapt to unexpected moves, is speed chess. It also helps you to identify patterns and possible piece combinations much faster.
You shouldn't have to rely on book memorization to be strong at an opening. You need to be able to understand the basic concept behind it. For example, the Alekhine ...[text shortened]... game, even in CC, I would never play him again. I hope that was a misspeak on your part.