Opening views

Openings... this most elusive part of a chess game. For some of us it barely passes in a flash, nothing but a prelude to bigger and better things; for others the opening is chess, to be studied and prepared before games, to be applied purposefully during games, to be analysed after games. Whatever way you look at the opening, it is without doubt one of the most crucial stages of the game; so it is important to have one's own approach towards openings.

The first thing to realize is that if your approach is over-simplistic it's probably not particularly great. Just about every chess coach preaches, "Don't memorize openings, just learn a few opening rules and you'll be fine etc etc" and of course there is no doubt that heavy memorization of openings is unhelpful. But it is also easy to lean to the other extreme and purposely avoid memorizing any lines at all, if only to stick to a principle. The result can be too many games going something like e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 Nc3 Nf6 Bc4 Bc5 d3 d6 etc, and by the time you reach the middlegame you realize you have reached a stale dull position which you just hate to play. So there has to be a compromise of some sort- you need to know the principles well because you are bound to play games where you or your opponent veer out of the main line, and also because it saves time which you can use to learn other aspects of chess; but some memorization is required if you are going to get good positions out of the opening.

A second point to consider is what opening to play; and this depends very much on your chess style. A fundamental decision to make is whether to play 1. e4 or 1. d4 (or other openings such as 1. c4 or 1. Nf3). The common rule-of-thumb is that if you have a 'positional' style play 1. d4; if instead you have a 'tactical' style play 1. e4. It is a useful guidline but not completely true of course; there is plenty of scope for dynamic play with 1. d4 (many of the lines in the QGD or Slav where white allows black to win the c4 pawn) and many grandmasters with quieter styles have nevertheless played 1. e4 (Karpov is a good example). Another decision to make is what openings to play as Black against the common white openings. But I think more important than what opening you choose is how you play it. A good method I think is to understand the point of the opening, so to speak, and know the plans from typical positions that arise from the opening. Then browse quickly through a few main lines and skim through a few games in the opening, just to get a feel for what kind of moves are 'right' in the opening. Next comes the obvious but important step- play a few games with that opening even if you haven't mastered the ins and outs of the opening. There is no better way of learning an opening than to actually play games with it- you are confronted with actual problems set by your opponent, and this gives a sense of urgency not present in the relaxed atmosphere of home analysis. (Also this is more fun!) Having played a game, then is a good time to look up the theory of the particular line played in the game. If you play enough games in the opening, very soon you will pretty much have mastered that opening; while at the same time you have avoided the other extremely dull method of studying openings, which is to pore through relentlessly long variations from a fat book until you fall asleep!

More on openings in a future post. Criticisms and suggestions are welcome!