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 Opening Games |
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Now, what's interesting about this is that some Masters agree and others disagree. The one's that disagree say that openings are only important, when you become a Master. But, the one's that agree say that it's important at all levels. For example, the current World Champion, Magnus Carlson, in his recent video, he said that whether your a novice or a world champion openings are extremely important. This is one of the things that I teach my students, as well. He said the same thing that's a well known chess fact. In the opening, it's essential to do 3 things. First, develop all of your pieces. Second, control the center. Third, get the K to safety (by this, he alludes to castling). For example, this what he did in his games against GM Anand, while competing for the World Champion Title. And, that's one reason that he did so well.
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Opening Games
Judit Polgár was born in Hungary in 1976. In 1991 she became an International Grandmaster by winning the "men's" Hungarian championship and at the age of fifteen years and five months, she was the youngest grandmaster in history, breaking a record that Robert James Fischer had held for over 30 years. She suggests basic rules for opening a game. Move your pieces only one time in your opening unless they are attacked. develop your minor pieces, usually Knights before Bishops, and get your King to safety by castling. Lastly move your Queen to connect your Rooks. At this point your fully developed and should be striving to control the center. Game on!
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Yes, that's very important to remember. This is also something that her sister, Susan Polgar, teaches her students.
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I held hold off on this for a while, but, for the sake and purpose of this club, it's very important for everyone to see what I'm about to show. It involves my misstep against blitzkov. And, the reason that it's a misstep is that I lost and played horrible and that was due to, "poor opening play". Now, when you see this, it shows that I argued and thought that what I did was ok. Well, as it turns out, the commentators were right on the money. It's important to remember and another good example of what can happen when one doesn't follow the basic guidelines development, control of center, castling. So, the annotation is shown below. gameknot.com
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redfoxrising
02-Mar-14, 18:45
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That's very important. Another good example, which I found was a link from The Deeper Chess Theory Club. In it, wrecking_ball explains some of the things that the GM's illustrated when it comes to opening. The link is shown below. gameknot.com
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saintinsanity
02-May-14, 23:12
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I definitely studied openings when I first learned chess
I was getting trounced out of every opening, I had to find simple ways to equalize, if not find simple ways to trap and win.
Learning openings didn't help me understand more about chess itself. But it certainly didn't hurt.
The opening was one of the first things I loved about chess. It was only after playing thousands of games and learning about grandmaster play that I started to despair of learning all the opening lines.
It seems that the true understanding of chess does come from understanding the simplest building blocks, which you can best learn from the endgame.
However, the most amusing tricks and traps can be found in the opening, and, for many players, scoring a win from a trap in the opening which you learned, and your opponent has not, can have a motivating influence.
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@pawntificator: Learning opening is just the very basics, is just the start. There's much more one must learn to become a really good player such as basic strategies, concepts, and theories. Not resigning, and studying at least one lost position where someone compensates. Studying GM games. Note: This is something that I like about GM Judit Polgar. She'll quiz people on GM games, sometimes on lost positions and how to handle it. The point, is that opening are very important, but that alone doesn't cut the mustard, one needs to have other components, as well because it all ties into the basics.
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maglicianer
06-May-14, 06:58
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How to proceed
If we assume that someone, me for example, knows how the pieces moves, understands about getting the King as safe as possible and grasps the idea of controlling the centre. So, in this case I'm are ready to play a few games and start learning by experience. Also, a few random bits of information have been picked up along the way, but this is hardly structured study. How would such a person move on from here? I'm a great believer in starting at the beginning and for this reason openings seem logical but I am open to guidance on this.
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saintinsanity
06-May-14, 09:06
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you should
Definitely learn a few of the basic endgames. King and pawn versus king , things like that.
I don't know the best way to proceed, but I was helped a great deal by reading books. Lasker's manual of chess was helpful to me. Id also recommend Jeremy Silman, he has some great books.
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Yes, endgames are a good thing to learn. But, here is one of the most important things about the opening. The general thing is to develop your pieces and control the center. Now, a lot of times, these days, I see people advancing the a or h pawn early. Well, this is not a good idea. When you develop pawns, you want it to be on the center files. The only deviation might be on the c file, if you're playing the Siclian Defense or English Opening. But, otherwise, it's better to advance a centeral pawn or piece. Developing the a or h pawns looks good and you might feel comfortable, but it is a non developing as it doesn't help to control the center. So, it, essentially, wastes time, tempii. When you advance those end pawns early, you'll usually find yourself at a disadvantage early.
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cplusplus11
17-Jul-14, 21:07
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convex30
25-Jul-14, 15:41
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TRIED COLORADO GAMBIT AND IT WORKED
 game , I felt that trying gambit rather than opening and it did work out .
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baddeeds
19-Sep-14, 14:42
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Deleted by baddeeds on 19-Sep-14, 15:16.
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baddeeds
19-Sep-14, 14:43
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Deleted by baddeeds on 19-Sep-14, 15:17.
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baddeeds
19-Sep-14, 15:13
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Deleted by baddeeds on 19-Sep-14, 15:16.
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baddeeds
19-Sep-14, 15:16
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Deleted by baddeeds on 21-Sep-14, 18:30.
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baddeeds
19-Sep-14, 15:16
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Deleted by baddeeds on 21-Sep-14, 18:33.
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Principles
The main thing about this are principles. Now, principles are not rules, as you might think, but they're a set of guidelines to help you play better. What's my take on it? Don't worry about all of the guidelines because, if you focus too much on every one, since there's many, this is where you get mixed signals and has hindered my progress, in the past. There's also new and old guidelines, and I go by the old guidelines which has helped. That's a reason, as to why it took me so long for my rating to reach 950, let alone, where it is today. The idea behind them is to help develop all of your pieces and get the center controlled. In general, I follow most of them. But, there are exceptions, in which, they must be broken to prevent mate, avoid losing material, or to sometimes win material. I don't follow every single one. One guideline that I do not follow, is not having the B in the center. Whenever possible, meaning that I'm not risk of losing that B or a piece, that is generally where I will try to place it. The idea is that you want pieces coordinated right in the e and d files, and work together with those central pawns to help you control the center. So, my idea is just to do what it takes to dominate the center, and don't worry about all of the guidelines.
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knightrider62
24-Sep-14, 14:52
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Openings
What openings would you suggest for a beginner?
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I think that the Ruy Lopez is ideal. It starts with 1.e4, e5 2.Nf3, Nc6 3.Bb5
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cplusplus11
03-Oct-14, 13:49
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cplusplus11
03-Oct-14, 13:50
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These are very good guidelines. All are very important. What I give the most main emphasis to avoid the confusion and mixed signals is safety, and if following them means losing material, that's when the exception applies. Keeping pawns and pieces, are way more important then development, if it's an issue between the two of them.
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Now, redfox17 made a very good point that specifically applied to openings. He said it in the Intro thread, but I think it's ideal here, so I'm transferring it here. "open with development, control the center, playing your pawns and then knights and bishops, castle early, and then lastly bring out your queen which will connect your rooks." By open with development, what he means is to develop your pieces. Yes, this is very important and something that I emphasize to students. That's actually why those general Opening guidelines are there. In other words, that's the idea behind them.
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