Opening advice for under 2000 players..

Date: 29 May 2005 22:36:30
From: John J.
Subject: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

I'm sure you folks have heard about the fabulous class prizes being awarded
recently in a few tournaments. Well, I've decided to try and snag one next
year. In order to have a fighting chance I will have to be at a solid Class
'A' strength by next summer. My last USCF rating was 1589 which would keep
me in the under 1600 class.

Regarding openings these days, how important is it to really study them? I'm
going to use Bookup or Chess Position Training and I'm thinking maybe
learning the first 7-10 moves of my repertoir.

Is that sufficient?

Opinions welcome. And yes, I know the importance of the ideas behing the
openings!!!

John

Date: 30 May 2005 14:18:37
From: Terry
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

"John J." <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm sure you folks have heard about the fabulous class prizes being
> awarded recently in a few tournaments. Well, I've decided to try and snag
> one next year. In order to have a fighting chance I will have to be at a
> solid Class 'A' strength by next summer. My last USCF rating was 1589
> which would keep me in the under 1600 class.
>
> Regarding openings these days, how important is it to really study them?
> I'm going to use Bookup or Chess Position Training and I'm thinking maybe
> learning the first 7-10 moves of my repertoir.
>
> Is that sufficient?
>
> Opinions welcome. And yes, I know the importance of the ideas behing the
> openings!!!
>
> John
>

Openings are not important until 2200 +

Regards

Date: 31 May 2005 08:39:26
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

>> Opinions welcome. And yes, I know the importance of the ideas behing the
>> openings!!!
>>
>> John
>>
>
> Openings are not important until 2200 +

Who told you THAT?

Every chessgame has an opening, and the better you play the opening, the
better your games will help you learn because you won't be studying
"poisoned" positions.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 30 May 2005 17:09:33
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
opening preparation.

I've gotten 2 replies to my post. One is that openings aren't important at
all until Master strength and the other is that openings are very important.

Looks like there is no concensus.

John
"Terry" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "John J." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> I'm sure you folks have heard about the fabulous class prizes being
>> awarded recently in a few tournaments. Well, I've decided to try and snag
>> one next year. In order to have a fighting chance I will have to be at a
>> solid Class 'A' strength by next summer. My last USCF rating was 1589
>> which would keep me in the under 1600 class.
>>
>> Regarding openings these days, how important is it to really study them?
>> I'm going to use Bookup or Chess Position Training and I'm thinking maybe
>> learning the first 7-10 moves of my repertoir.
>>
>> Is that sufficient?
>>
>> Opinions welcome. And yes, I know the importance of the ideas behing the
>> openings!!!
>>
>> John
>>
>
> Openings are not important until 2200 +
>
> Regards
>
>

Date: 31 May 2005 08:40:57
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

>I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
>opening preparation.
>
> I've gotten 2 replies to my post. One is that openings aren't important at
> all until Master strength and the other is that openings are very
> important.
>
> Looks like there is no concensus.

Your post concerns studying openings to win a tournament this or next year
versus engaging in a long-term study plan.

If you want to win now, study what you know. If you want to be stronger
down the road, study the sharpest openings you can.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 30 May 2005 22:49:30
From: Stefan Renzewitz
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

Hi John,

this question is quite similar to the question whether love or sex is more
important for a relationship. Everbody will tell you love is all you need,
well ...

To get back to chess. Indeed it is possible to have a performance of >2100
ELO in tournaments without any knowledge about opening theory. I had for 2
tournaments in a row such a rating (a while back) and I even didn't read any
chess book till then. But does this justify the statement that opening
theory is not important? In my case I knew for sure more about openings than
I did about endings (still embarassing little, but working on it). Overall I
would say I knew nothing. I was only good at tactical positions.

Certainly there is no need to train long variations till the playing skill
of your opponents is high enough so they don't deviate right after move 3.

I guess opening study (also in the meaning of depth of varations you
prepare) becomes more important the higher the level of your chess play
becomes (maybe somebody can come-up with an accurate mathematical formula?
playing skill = number of moves you should learn per variation). On the
other hand tactical position and end game training will become less
intensive in your daily training sessions (because opening preparation takes
more time than before).

Then again I'm not a titled, but just an amateur player.

Btw. with CPT you can exactly achieve my suggested pattern: You can decide
to train every variation only till move X. This pays contribution to what I
think is a natural improvement plan. If your rating is <1600 you probaly
should only focus on tactical positions and end game theory. Then your
rating increases you want to know the openings more and more. With CPT just
increase this number steadily till you want to learn all variations to the
end. This way you efficiently learn all opening variations evenly instead of
one vartiation till move 25 and the other side variation only till move 10.
I think this is a unique feature of CPT and I found quite useful for myself.

Stefan

"John J." <[email protected] > schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:[email protected]...
>I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
>opening preparation.
>
> I've gotten 2 replies to my post. One is that openings aren't important at
> all until Master strength and the other is that openings are very
> important.
>
> Looks like there is no concensus.
>
> John

Date: 31 May 2005 05:38:00
From: John J.
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

I just recently downloaded a copy of CPT and tonight I was exploring its
features. Your software is slicker than snot!! I love it !!!

The one and only feature I miss is that it's not capable of selecting
opposing candidate moves randomly.

I also like Bookup but its DOS like interface hasn't changed for 20 years!

John

"Stefan Renzewitz" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi John,
>
> this question is quite similar to the question whether love or sex is more
> important for a relationship. Everbody will tell you love is all you need,
> well ...
>
> To get back to chess. Indeed it is possible to have a performance of >2100
> ELO in tournaments without any knowledge about opening theory. I had for 2
> tournaments in a row such a rating (a while back) and I even didn't read
> any chess book till then. But does this justify the statement that opening
> theory is not important? In my case I knew for sure more about openings
> than I did about endings (still embarassing little, but working on it).
> Overall I would say I knew nothing. I was only good at tactical positions.
>
> Certainly there is no need to train long variations till the playing skill
> of your opponents is high enough so they don't deviate right after move 3.
>
> I guess opening study (also in the meaning of depth of varations you
> prepare) becomes more important the higher the level of your chess play
> becomes (maybe somebody can come-up with an accurate mathematical formula?
> playing skill = number of moves you should learn per variation). On the
> other hand tactical position and end game training will become less
> intensive in your daily training sessions (because opening preparation
> takes more time than before).
>
> Then again I'm not a titled, but just an amateur player.
>
> Btw. with CPT you can exactly achieve my suggested pattern: You can decide
> to train every variation only till move X. This pays contribution to what
> I think is a natural improvement plan. If your rating is <1600 you probaly
> should only focus on tactical positions and end game theory. Then your
> rating increases you want to know the openings more and more. With CPT
> just increase this number steadily till you want to learn all variations
> to the end. This way you efficiently learn all opening variations evenly
> instead of one vartiation till move 25 and the other side variation only
> till move 10. I think this is a unique feature of CPT and I found quite
> useful for myself.
>
> Stefan
>
> "John J." <[email protected]> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:[email protected]...
>>I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
>>opening preparation.
>>
>> I've gotten 2 replies to my post. One is that openings aren't important
>> at all until Master strength and the other is that openings are very
>> important.
>>
>> Looks like there is no concensus.
>>
>> John
>
>

Date: 30 May 2005 21:53:57
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

In article <[email protected] >,
"Stefan Renzewitz" <[email protected] > wrote:

> Certainly there is no need to train long variations till the playing skill
> of your opponents is high enough so they don't deviate right after move 3.

I think the key point goes a little further than this.

"Opening theory" is mostly concerned with building or maintaining a
small advantage. This becomes more and more important as your ability
to take advantage of small advantages improves, and as your opponent
gets better at not making errors which give you a large advantage during
regular play.

Furthermore, opening theory as practiced by grandmasters assumes that
you play the middlegame and endgame extremely well. Two examples will
help make this point:

Fischer played the exchange Ruy Lopez as white, and in his hands it was
a highly effective weapon. Why? Because the resulting positions
(nurturing a small, technical advantage) played directly into his
strengths as a player; he could out-endgame almost anyone, and the
exchange Ruy gave him a chance to do just that.

But if you don't play the endgame as well as your opponent, you'll never
win with the exchange ruy. As a player who meets 1.e4 with 1.e5, I see
the black side of a lot of exchange Ruys from players of about your
strength, and invariably I outplay them in the middlegame (often they
don't even know that they should be aiming for an ending) or the ending.

My other example concerns a theory-heavy opening, the yugoslav attack in
the sicilian dragon. There's a well-known "trap" which goes along the
lines of:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O
8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13.
Qxd5 Qc7

White is up a pawn.

14.Qxa8 ? Bf5 15.Qxf8 +

Now, the truth is that no grandmaster would fall into this line as
white. While materially he's not significantly worse, black's attack is
considered to be so strong as to be almost winning. So "theory" is going
to say, if you're black, "hurray! white fell into a trap. +/-. Get ready
to accept white's resignation."

But give the position to two 1600 players, and see what happens. The
fact is that for most class players, the only fair way to describe this
position is "unclear." I've seen white play five accurate moves from
this position, stifle black's initiative, and go on to an easy technical
win.

In most games between 1600s, there are plenty of mistakes in the middle
game which give either side the chance to secure a large advantage.
Coming out of the opening with a "+/=" is therefore almost irrelevant.
Instead, familiarity with the basic themes of the middlegame, the
ability to create and exploit tactical opportunities, and the ability to
fight through an even endgame will result in far more points.

-Ron

Date: 31 May 2005 08:52:04
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

> In most games between 1600s, there are plenty of mistakes in the middle
> game which give either side the chance to secure a large advantage.
> Coming out of the opening with a "+/=" is therefore almost irrelevant.
> Instead, familiarity with the basic themes of the middlegame, the
> ability to create and exploit tactical opportunities, and the ability to
> fight through an even endgame will result in far more points.

So I guess high school sprinters don't need to practice their starting,
because they are so slow that a slight advantage created by a slight head
start is meaningless except in the olympics.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 31 May 2005 16:32:51
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

In article <[email protected] >,
"Ray Gordon" <[email protected] > wrote:

> So I guess high school sprinters don't need to practice their starting,
> because they are so slow that a slight advantage created by a slight head
> start is meaningless except in the olympics.

If sprinters somehow made mistakes that their opponents could exploit
which would turn the race mid-race, then this comparison might not be
completely idiotic.

But as it is...

Date: 01 Jun 2005 03:50:26
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

>> So I guess high school sprinters don't need to practice their starting,
>> because they are so slow that a slight advantage created by a slight head
>> start is meaningless except in the olympics.
>
> If sprinters somehow made mistakes that their opponents could exploit
> which would turn the race mid-race, then this comparison might not be
> completely idiotic.
>
> But as it is...

Wow, name-calling. Must be a good idea I have there!

Seriously: a high-school sprinter won't win the race from a good start, so
what's the harm in losing a half-second out of the gate? It's not fatal at
that level.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 01 Jun 2005 04:49:57
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

In article <[email protected] >,
"Ray Gordon" <[email protected] > wrote:

> > If sprinters somehow made mistakes that their opponents could exploit
> > which would turn the race mid-race, then this comparison might not be
> > completely idiotic.
> >
> > But as it is...
>
> Wow, name-calling. Must be a good idea I have there!

In case you were having trouble with your reading comprehension, I'll
point out that I was calling your comparison, not you, idiotic.

(And, for what it's worth, no coach worth his salt puts a lot of
emphasis on start technique for high school sprinters, because there are
much larger gains to be had by putting the same effort into other areas.
Most people these days don't learn the highly technical aspects of
sprinting until college.)

Date: 31 May 2005 10:38:48
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

Ray Gordon <[email protected] > wrote:
>> In most games between 1600s, there are plenty of mistakes in the middle
>> game which give either side the chance to secure a large advantage.
>> Coming out of the opening with a "+/=" is therefore almost irrelevant.
>> Instead, familiarity with the basic themes of the middlegame, the
>> ability to create and exploit tactical opportunities, and the ability to
>> fight through an even endgame will result in far more points.
>
> So I guess high school sprinters don't need to practice their starting,
> because they are so slow that a slight advantage created by a slight
> head start is meaningless except in the olympics.

So I guess high-school sprinting is somehow like chess? It's kind of hard
to see the link, there...

Dave.

--
David Richerby Psychotic Moistened Robot (TM): it's
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ like a high-tech robot but it's moist
and it wants to kill you!

Date: 30 May 2005 22:28:27
From: Terry
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

"Stefan Renzewitz" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi John,
>
> this question is quite similar to the question whether love or sex is more
> important for a relationship. Everbody will tell you love is all you need,
> well ...
>
> To get back to chess. Indeed it is possible to have a performance of >2100
> ELO in tournaments without any knowledge about opening theory. I had for 2
> tournaments in a row such a rating (a while back) and I even didn't read
> any chess book till then. But does this justify the statement that opening
> theory is not important? In my case I knew for sure more about openings
> than I did about endings (still embarassing little, but working on it).
> Overall I would say I knew nothing. I was only good at tactical positions.
>
> Certainly there is no need to train long variations till the playing skill
> of your opponents is high enough so they don't deviate right after move 3.
>
> I guess opening study (also in the meaning of depth of varations you
> prepare) becomes more important the higher the level of your chess play
> becomes (maybe somebody can come-up with an accurate mathematical formula?
> playing skill = number of moves you should learn per variation). On the
> other hand tactical position and end game training will become less
> intensive in your daily training sessions (because opening preparation
> takes more time than before).
>
> Then again I'm not a titled, but just an amateur player.
>
> Btw. with CPT you can exactly achieve my suggested pattern: You can decide
> to train every variation only till move X. This pays contribution to what
> I think is a natural improvement plan. If your rating is <1600 you probaly
> should only focus on tactical positions and end game theory. Then your
> rating increases you want to know the openings more and more. With CPT
> just increase this number steadily till you want to learn all variations
> to the end. This way you efficiently learn all opening variations evenly
> instead of one vartiation till move 25 and the other side variation only
> till move 10. I think this is a unique feature of CPT and I found quite
> useful for myself.
>
> Stefan

This post makes a lot of sense.

Regards

Date: 30 May 2005 20:37:51
From: Terry
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

"John J." <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
>opening preparation.
>

I have also seen many - indeed - most sub 2200 players well booked up.

But considering the effort they must put in - how much use is it to them. ?

Regards

Date: 31 May 2005 08:48:03
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

>>I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
>>opening preparation.
>>
>
> I have also seen many - indeed - most sub 2200 players well booked up.
>
> But considering the effort they must put in - how much use is it to them.
> ?

A lot of use, since they don't have to change their repertoire when they go
over 2200, or even over 2700.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 31 May 2005 10:37:26
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

Ray Gordon <[email protected] > wrote:
>>> I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with
>>> excellent opening preparation.
>>
>> I have also seen many - indeed - most sub 2200 players well booked up.
>>
>> But considering the effort they must put in - how much use is it to them?
>
> A lot of use, since they don't have to change their repertoire when they
> go over 2200, or even over 2700.

If, not when.

Dave.

--
David Richerby Radioactive Apple (TM): it's like a
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ tasty fruit but it'll make you glow
in the dark!

Date: 01 Jun 2005 03:49:05
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

>>> But considering the effort they must put in - how much use is it to
>>> them?
>>
>> A lot of use, since they don't have to change their repertoire when they
>> go over 2200, or even over 2700.
>
> If, not when.

It's "when" if they study openings properly, not if.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 30 May 2005 20:35:38
From: Terry
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

"John J." <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
>opening preparation.
>
> I've gotten 2 replies to my post. One is that openings aren't important at
> all until Master strength and the other is that openings are very
> important.
>
> Looks like there is no concensus.
>
> John

You have a lot more replies in rec.games.chess.misc.

Regards

Date: 30 May 2005 18:09:58
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

In article <[email protected] >,
"John J." <[email protected] > wrote:

> I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with excellent
> opening preparation.

You sure have. But one of the things you see all the time is beginning
players studying openings and getting no return for it.

One thing you'll find is that, with experience, you'll learn most of
the openings you play 10 or so moves deep without any opening-specific
study at all.

> I've gotten 2 replies to my post. One is that openings aren't important at
> all until Master strength and the other is that openings are very important.
>
> Looks like there is no concensus.

Are you sure your settings are correct? You've gotten more than two
responses.

But, for what it's worth, all opinions are not created equal.
Especially on the usenet, you can't assume all opinions are equally
valid.

The conventional wisdom among most teachers is that class players put
far too much emphasis on the opening.

Date: 31 May 2005 08:44:58
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

>> I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with
>> excellent
>> opening preparation.
>
> You sure have. But one of the things you see all the time is beginning
> players studying openings and getting no return for it.

You mean they don't win games instantly with new openings? So what? You
try getting a half-pawn advantage against a current US champion on move 22,
since you think it's so easy.

> One thing you'll find is that, with experience, you'll learn most of
> the openings you play 10 or so moves deep without any opening-specific
> study at all.

That's familiarity, not mastery.

>> I've gotten 2 replies to my post. One is that openings aren't important
>> at
>> all until Master strength and the other is that openings are very
>> important.
>>
>> Looks like there is no concensus.
>
> Are you sure your settings are correct? You've gotten more than two
> responses.
>
> But, for what it's worth, all opinions are not created equal.
> Especially on the usenet, you can't assume all opinions are equally
> valid.
>
> The conventional wisdom among most teachers is that class players put
> far too much emphasis on the opening.

Most chess teachers can't properly teach the opening,. and the reason most
class players aren't that booked up is that those who get booked up become
masters, IMs and GMs.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 31 May 2005 10:36:21
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

Ray Gordon <[email protected] > wrote:
> You mean they don't win games instantly with new openings? So what?
> You try getting a half-pawn advantage against a current US champion on
> move 22, since you think it's so easy.

Is that the game score you posted here where you resigned on move 28? As
has been said elsewhere in the thread, there's no point in class players
playing for a small advantage from the opening because they don't know how
to maintain it.

Dave.

--
David Richerby Poisonous Flammable Gnome (TM): it's
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ like a smiling garden ornament but
it burns really easily and it'll kill
you in seconds!

Date: 01 Jun 2005 03:48:35
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

>> You mean they don't win games instantly with new openings? So what?
>> You try getting a half-pawn advantage against a current US champion on
>> move 22, since you think it's so easy.
>
> Is that the game score you posted here where you resigned on move 28? As
> has been said elsewhere in the thread, there's no point in class players
> playing for a small advantage from the opening because they don't know how
> to maintain it.

The advantage is long-term, not short-term. Move 22 becomes move 25, then
move 30, etc. I should also point out that in that game I was not playing
from memory but rather opening instinct, in a line that my opponent knew
inside-out.

Of course someone who books up isn't going to hold the advantages...at
first. No one becomes a GM overnight; even Fischer took years to make it
there himself with many stumbles along the way.

If you don't lift 20 pounds with correct form, you won't lift 200 with it
either.

--
Ray Gordon, Author
http://www.cybersheet.com/library.html
Four FREE books on how to get laid by beautiful women

http://www.cybersheet.com/chess.html
Free Chess E-book: Train Like A Chess Champion

Don't buy anything from experts who won't debate on a free speech forum.

Date: 30 May 2005 20:26:46
From: Terry
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

"Ron" <[email protected] > wrote in message
news:ronaldinho_m-FE885B.11095830052005@newssvr21-ext.news.prodigy.com...
> In article <[email protected]>,
> "John J." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I can't believe that. I've seen too many players under 2200 with
>> excellent
>> opening preparation.
>
> You sure have. But one of the things you see all the time is beginning
> players studying openings and getting no return for it.
>
> One thing you'll find is that, with experience, you'll learn most of
> the openings you play 10 or so moves deep without any opening-specific
> study at all.
>

This applies to me. Over the years I have developed my own
systems for most of the major openings. My book knowledge
is very limited.

Occasionally I will get into a mess in the opening but dont we all :-)

Regards

Date: 31 May 2005 08:47:21
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

> This applies to me. Over the years I have developed my own
> systems for most of the major openings. My book knowledge
> is very limited.
>
> Occasionally I will get into a mess in the opening but dont we all :-)

No, we all don't. Some of us can run someone all the way out of the back
end of ECO no matter what line you choose.

Your "own systems" will be in my opening book (mine is for sale on my
website, btw) of any competent opponent who knows he might run into it.

Those "accidents" you refer to are not accidents at all, but rather someone
who knows exactly why the stuff you play isn't "book."

--
Ray Gordon, Author
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Date: 30 May 2005 14:17:55
From: Terry
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

Date: 30 May 2005 06:32:40
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Opening advice for under 2000 players..

In article <[email protected] >,
"John J." <[email protected] > wrote:

> I'm sure you folks have heard about the fabulous class prizes being awarded
> recently in a few tournaments. Well, I've decided to try and snag one next
> year. In order to have a fighting chance I will have to be at a solid Class
> 'A' strength by next summer. My last USCF rating was 1589 which would keep
> me in the under 1600 class.
>
> Regarding openings these days, how important is it to really study them? I'm
> going to use Bookup or Chess Position Training and I'm thinking maybe
> learning the first 7-10 moves of my repertoir.
>
> Is that sufficient?

It completely depends on what openings you play. If you play the
sicilian dragon, 10 moves isn't close to sufficient. If you play the
white side of the exchange Ruy, 10 is probably a waste of time to
memorize.

Different openings reach "critical stages" at different places, and in
some openings, you either know the critical positions cold or you die.

The most important thing is to know how to think when your opponent
shows you a move you've never seen before - whether than happens on move
3 or on move 25. I can't tell you how often I've seen someone whip out
20 moves of theory only to commit a ?? blunder the moment their opponent
deviates.

-Ron