Learning Openings

Scarlet 27

Hi,

I am new to chess (well I played when I was younger but didn't learn it properly) and I am trying to get a handle on openings. I decided to start with d4 openings and then move onto e4 openings once I had a good grasp of d4 (I figure I will need to be able defend both so I should probably learn both).

Anyway I not sure what is the best way to go about learning them. I have studied it for a while but no one every makes any of the first moves for black as per my study so how am I supposed to get good at it (perhaps playing people that are better than me and are using more modern defences?) and is there really any point in learning the openings in the first place if they are not of any practical benefit to me when playing . I just end up playing in response to the black defence (and I have no idea if it is the correct response) perhaps I would be better to continue with my moves and let them alter there defence in response.

Sorry I know this is probably a very basic question but I am finding it very frustrating that I am not noticing much of an improvement in my openings.

Also I was wonder how good someone ought to be before the consider joining a club, I am a novice at best and don't know what to expect from a club or if the will welcome someone who clearly needs a lot of improvement.

Thanks in advance,
Scarlet

macinalli

Hi,

I think that its definitely important to learn your openings, the problem is just that there are so many of them. If you play e4 then you need to be ready to meet responses such as e5, d5, e6, c6, c5, Nf6 etc which are all popularly played. It takes time to figure out what you'll play against these but if you don't know the lines then just play sensibly & develop your pieces.

Have you tried online chess? If you don't take it too seriously you can use it as a test for different opening lines to see what suits your style best. One important thing is to work on all parts of your game - It's not good if for example you know the openings perfectly but don't know how to convert a winning endgame.

As for clubs, you really will see a big range of players there and you'll never know unless you try. Chess can be a humbling game - I'd be confident of my own abilities at the board but have still been stuffed by 14 year old kids! Main thing is to just start playing and enjoy it!

Scarlet 27

Hi thanks for your reply, yeah definitely finding it humbling at the moment, I have just starting playing on redhotpawn but not using any other sites, any recommendations are welcome.

Also any suggestions for books on openings would be great there are so many out not exactly sure where to start. I find learning tactics and end game much more interesting so I am better at them (although still have a lot to learn) but know I need to sit down and put the effort in with openings.

LiamMc

Some internet Chess Resources below


http://gameknot.com/


http://www.chess.com/

http://www.chessbase.com/

mikhail

Scarlet 27 wrote: »

Also any suggestions for books on openings would be great there are so many out not exactly sure where to start. I find learning tactics and end game much more interesting so I am better at them (although still have a lot to learn) but know I need to sit down and put the effort in with openings.

There's a good book with a short summary (just a few pages) of most openings by one of Ireland's rising stars, International Master Sam Collins. Here's an Amazon link.

fenris

Don't get too hung up on openings or you will find yourself going into a middle game with a notional advantage but no clue how to exploit it!

I think the more productive approach may be to focus on tactics and get "out of book" fairly quickly once you are beyond fools mate or scholars mate, this would negate a lot of your opponents hard work studying openings and play to your strength tactically especially if they try to get back to book instead of playing the game as presented.

I know that this is the case with me, I spent too long on openings and tended to get smashed in the middle game well before there was a sniff of an end game. Remember the point of an opening is to get you to a middle game that you can work with, the opening is not an end in itself.

Personally I am going to leave openings alone until I get to a stage where I am not hanging pieces or falling for two move tactics!