OK. Let me hit you up with some observations and a question.
In choosing an opening reportoire, one has only to look at the myriad of books on openings to see that the choices are staggering.
But let's say you decide (Practicality in mind) to just concentrate on a handful of openings with a plan to specialize.
The question is not one of are their any good openings to choose from, but th question is this: Which openings have the best overall TRACK Record for being superior? For that matter, is their such a thing as a superior opeing? Some that come to my mind are the sicilian, the lopez, and the queen's gambit. At least they are played alot in master play, which says alot about them.
Are there any openings that have in your opinion proven THE BEST overall as far as resulting in wins over losses percentage wise? So were talking statistics here, basicly.
Anybody have any info on this topic?
Also, do you think their are particular openings that lend themselves very favorably to producing situations where tactical possibilities on the board abound, as opposed to quiet positional games?
What do you think?
I don't think you should choose your openings by statistics. I guess you could say the sicilian would be the most successful as black, but I personally at this point don't feel comfortable with it so I play the Scandinavian, which is statistically very inferior to the sicilian. Someone said it on another thread: "ANY opening is good at our level." When you get to master level, then you can worry about percentages. I think being comfortable is the key. If you enjoy say the exchange variation in the ruy lopez, like a lot of operating room, maybe queens off the board, then that's for you. If you like close maneuvering and pawn chains, go for the French. I started out playing the najdorf because it had good stats, but i felt like i was fighting inside a pillow case and didn't like the "waiting for your break" strategy. I even tried the Caro for a little bit and that was worse, felt like i was being strangled. So there you are. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Originally posted by buddy2I agree. I like to counterattack and obtain positions where I have a chance to outplay people in the middlegame. I like to switch between openings to confuse people. So I play either 1. Nf3, 1. c4, or 1.g3 as white. I feel most comfortable in Hypermodern positions and MY statistics are best from those types of positions. You need to find what works for you, because really, you are no GM, and those statistics mean crap for YOU. Pick what YOU play best! You get my point? (It has to do with YOU!)
I don't think you should choose your openings by statistics. I guess you could say the sicilian would be the most successful as black, but I personally at this point don't feel comfortable with it so I play the Scandinavian, which is statistically very inferior to the sicilian. Someone said it on another thread: "ANY opening is good at our level." Whe ...[text shortened]... , felt like i was being strangled. So there you are. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Also, do you think their are particular openings that lend themselves very favorably to producing situations where tactical possibilities on the board abound, as opposed to quiet positional games?
Yes. King's Gambit is tactical, Queen's Gambit is positional. King's Indian Defense is tactical. Etc.
Originally posted by kingisdeadi think you shoud concentrate on finding an opening that suites your style instead of finding the "best"openings.
OK. Let me hit you up with some observations and a question.
In choosing an opening reportoire, one has only to look at the myriad of books on openings to see that the choices are staggering.
But let's say you decide (Practicality in mind) to just concentrate on a handful of openings with a plan to specialize.
The question is not one of are the ...[text shortened]... l possibilities on the board abound, as opposed to quiet positional games?
What do you think?
if your a counterattacking player you will like the english opening with white and some of the sicilian lines with black and the nimzo againt d4
if your an attacking player you will like the kings gambit or the vienna opening. And if your a possitional player you shoud try the queens gambit.
Of course any guidelines you get are just that, guidelines. Yes, more often than not the Queen's Gambit becomes a positional struggle. But I have won games in the Orthodox Rubinstein variation that were nothing but tactics and violent attacks.
As black I play the Sicilian and the King's Indian and as white it's Queen's Pawn. I concentrate mainly on openings that come from those. For example I have no need to know any Ruy or Italian openings (I do know a portion of the Evan's and a bit of Fried Liver but that was only for interest) so those huge areas of knowledge can be bypassed, for now.
I do know that a lot of very good players completely change their openings each year. Going from an always e4 player to a d4 for a year or from ...c5 to ...c6. This could be seen as improving you as a chessplayer by forcing you to get better at the weak points of your game.