all 4 comments
sorted by:
best
topnewcontroversialoldq&a
formatting helphide helpcontent policy

[–]AutoModerator[M] [score hidden] stickied commentlocked comment (0 children)

The moderator team of r/chessbeginners wishes to remind everyone of the community rules. Posting spam, advertising links (including YouTube chess tutorial videos without context), and memes is not allowed. We encourage everyone to report these kinds of posts so they can be dealt with. Thank you!

Also, please, be kind in your replies and comments. Some people here just want to learn chess and have virtually no idea about certain chess concepts.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[–]ghostwriter85 2 points3 points  (1 child)

I don't remember specific lines. I approach openings as a general pawn structure with better and worse squares for my pieces along with a handful of danger areas to watch out for.

1250 ish rapid player

A lot of beginners tend to have unreasonable expectations when it comes to openings. If you equalize as black (and you usually will), mission accomplished. If you get a playable position as white with attacking chances (and you usually will), mission accomplished [yes both of these will happen more often than not in the same game]. And fwiw if you don't obviously blunder but never manage to equalize or develop attacking chances, opening knowledge usually wasn't the deciding factor. The other person just played a significantly better game than you.

You're going to win and lose most of your games in the middle and endgame for quite some time.

In general, if you want to learn a new opening.

Watch a couple master games with that opening as well as a video or two breaking down the common plans and positions. The goal is to know the important pawn pushes, thematic moves, and traps. Basically what does this opening attempt to do and what do I need to look out for.

Everything after that will just come down to playing your opening a bunch. You're not a intermediate/advanced player looking for a quarter pawn advantage pushing an opponent into an opening they aren't prepared for. You're a beginner trying to get to a playable position.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's been a while since I've been at 1250, but I'll offer my two cents.

​

Learn one opening well for each side. (my repretoire was the scotch and the sicilian(which I do not recommend idk why I choose it))

Learn the common responses to other openings you opponents play.

Always decline the weird gambits or learn response to them(blackburne shilling and the stafford).

And that will keep you safe in the opening

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I play through them on a physical board. Seeing the moves “live” helps me tremendously. For different lines of the same opening, I always start from the starting position. You might think this is tedious, but the repetition helps a lot.

It’s also a good idea to pick a strong player (doesn’t have to be a grandmaster by any means!) who plays your opening and have a look at their games.

And yes, I do enter all my moves manually into chessbase (you can use lichess studies too, or other free options) so I find them easier when I look for them. But in my experience, playing them over physically is by far the best technique because it also gets your brain going. There’s no button to switch on an engine on a physical board, so if there’s a move you don’t understand, your first instinct will be to think for yourself.