2200 assault

[Amit R]

Thank you, Vlad ; it really helps to know that this can be deferred quite a bit, since the body of knowledge is so vast. I'll visit openings if/when I reach 2K, and stick to basic opening principles & avoiding blunders till then.

Once you get into the 2000s you should have an opening repertoire that you can trust. You don't need to do too much work. Ideally you want to have two openings you can play as white or black for a total of four openings. One would be for the last round when a draw would be fine and another when you need to win in the last round. If you are in the middle of the pack and can't win a prize then you play the solid opening. If you can win a prize with a win, you play the opening that gives you a good chance at the full point.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Thank you, Vlad & Egidijus, for weighing in here.

At what approx. rating do you think dedicated opening prepartion will be necessary to make progress? i.e go beyond opening principles and avoiding simple blunders. I am not asking from a "won't hurt" or "lots of fun" perspective, more from a "must-do" perspective.

Once you get into the 2000s you should have an opening repertoire that you can trust. You don't need to do too much work. Ideally you want to have two openings you can play as white or black for a total of four openings. One would be for the last round when a draw would be fine and another when you need to win in the last round. If you are in the middle of the pack and can't win a prize then you play the solid opening. If you can win a prize with a win, you play the opening that gives you a good chance at the full point.

[Neil Frarey]

Well worth looking at if you play either side of those openings.

For sure! I've completely highlighted most of the text when I first went through the books, lol!

I bought my copies of that series from the CFC ... back in day ;)

[Amit R]

Thank you, Vlad & Egidijus, for weighing in here.

At what approx. rating do you think dedicated opening prepartion will be necessary to make progress? i.e go beyond opening principles and avoiding simple blunders. I am not asking from a "won't hurt" or "lots of fun" perspective, more from a "must-do" perspective.

Well worth looking at if you play either side of those openings.

[Vlad Drkulec]

Just took a look on the innerwebs and found the sereis over on Scribd.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/81242820/...ietro-Ponzetto

https://www.scribd.com/doc/269297129...Indian-Defense

And it looks like they have a 30 day free trail.

Well worth looking at if you play either side of those openings.

[Aris Marghetis]

For IQP you must read Baburin's book Winning Pawn Structures. It is getting harder and harder to find however. Michalcyshin and his two chessbase pawn structure videos present similar ideas though not in as much depth.

If you insist on King's Indian structures then playing 1.... g6 against everything is a viable strategy. When I want to be cheeky, I sometimes play a double fianchetto with black. My better students always manage to draw, though.

There is a whole series of chessbase videos on different pawn structures under the name Know the Terrain. I like them a lot.

Chesspublishing.com is an excellent resource for opening study. In every opening you get about ten to twelve or more games per month that are nicely annotated. There are also pdfs of every opening which are like having a constantly evolving opening book every month or so. It is a tad expensive but the games are well annotated and entertaining and if you play the English you get IM David Cummings bringing you the latest flank openings every month. David Cummings book on the English is also quite good though its focus is on non-fianchetto lines for white.

I'm not so familiar with the chess.com lessons aside from a quick passing glance. They seem good and my students that have been using them seem to be making good progress.

Thanks Vlad, much appreciated.

[Neil Frarey]

Its not always easy to find those books though. They were the first series that talked about pawn structures on a consistent basis that I can recall.

Just took a look on the innerwebs and found the sereis over on Scribd.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/81242820/...ietro-Ponzetto

https://www.scribd.com/doc/269297129...Indian-Defense

And it looks like they have a 30 day free trail.

[Vlad Drkulec]

I find that you can play almost anything you want in the opening and achieve some success as long as you follow opening principles. Every twenty or thirty games, I go off the rails in a game because of a careless opening but some of my best results were achieved on the spur of the moment playing an opening that I had bought a book on but having only read what was on the cover which was the first four or five moves (Colle Zukertort). In my first game, knowing no theory, I beat a FIDE master mainly because my plans were confusing to him as I knew no theory. After I read the book and knew the theory my next three games against 2200 players all ended in frustratingly easy draws so I stopped using that opening against 2200 players.

[Vlad Drkulec]

To Vlad: any thoughts on the above post from a few days ago? A few of us lower-rated types would love to know.

For IQP you must read Baburin's book Winning Pawn Structures. It is getting harder and harder to find however. Michalcyshin and his two chessbase pawn structure videos present similar ideas though not in as much depth.

If you insist on King's Indian structures then playing 1.... g6 against everything is a viable strategy. When I want to be cheeky, I sometimes play a double fianchetto with black. My better students always manage to draw, though.

There is a whole series of chessbase videos on different pawn structures under the name Know the Terrain. I like them a lot.

Chesspublishing.com is an excellent resource for opening study. In every opening you get about ten to twelve or more games per month that are nicely annotated. There are also pdfs of every opening which are like having a constantly evolving opening book every month or so. It is a tad expensive but the games are well annotated and entertaining and if you play the English you get IM David Cummings bringing you the latest flank openings every month. David Cummings book on the English is also quite good though its focus is on non-fianchetto lines for white.

I'm not so familiar with the chess.com lessons aside from a quick passing glance. They seem good and my students that have been using them seem to be making good progress.

[Aris Marghetis]

I have not study openings for a long time and it was not very broad for me - had several with a deep enough knowledge. Though with age (unfortunately) that started to crack. Instead of patching them, I started to play whatever I felt at that moment. I looked through theory and some recent games. Usually I was on my own in a single digit of made moves. But it was good :) However, it is probably not to everyone as openings were on the 3rd or 4th grade type - not a mainstream.
BTW my rating returned to >2200 LOL

Thus my 2 cnts - yes look as wide as you can. It will bring joy to the game itself. It will enrich your understanding of chess. Maybe later you'll apply some ideas from one opening to other.

Thanks, I appreciate the higher insights.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

I was thinking of books like

https://www.newinchess.com/kaufman-s...lack-and-white

and similar ones ... (I have NOT read the book I link to above - it is just a good example of what I meant by having a broad generalized strategy).
It does look like a pretty interesting book, but I already have about 200+ such books <g>

Kaufman's New Repertoire for Black and White: A Complete, Sound and User-friendly Chess Opening Repertoire

I have seen the earlier edition. Looked like a nice book with a ready repertoire. I'm looking to purchase the new edition.
Would not hurt to read for a player without any repertoire.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

AND: I sincerely think it's improving me. For example, I was blindly ignorant of IQP strategy before the Tarrasch, etc.
So in conclusion, I say try lots of different openings. I'm thinking that doing so will improve the openings you do select.
I WOULD JUST LOVE IT IF SOMEONE RATED AT LEAST 2200 COULD REPLY WITH WHAT THEY THINK OF THIS!

I have not study openings for a long time and it was not very broad for me - had several with a deep enough knowledge. Though with age (unfortunately) that started to crack. Instead of patching them, I started to play whatever I felt at that moment. I looked through theory and some recent games. Usually I was on my own in a single digit of made moves. But it was good :) However, it is probably not to everyone as openings were on the 3rd or 4th grade type - not a mainstream.
BTW my rating returned to >2200 LOL

Thus my 2 cnts - yes look as wide as you can. It will bring joy to the game itself. It will enrich your understanding of chess. Maybe later you'll apply some ideas from one opening to other.

[Amit R]

Thank you for sharing, Kerry.

I am beginning to think I may never get around to serious opening preparation, and will have to focus on other aspects.

I was thinking of books like

https://www.newinchess.com/kaufman-s...lack-and-white

and similar ones ... (I have NOT read the book I link to above - it is just a good example of what I meant by having a broad generalized strategy).
It does look like a pretty interesting book, but I already have about 200+ such books <g>

[Aris Marghetis]

Hi again Amit, so if I may, here's some thoughts about this, as we're on similar trying-to-improve-as-an-adult paths:

Over the years, I did something similar to what Kerry is describing, which from a pragmatic viewpoint, well, it worked.
For example, the majority of my games seemed to somehow evolve into a King's Indian structure, no matter what lol

However, especially against better players, they somehow took advantage of my "need" to reach familiar structures.
So, during the pandemic, I'm slowly working through Chess.com lessons on whatever opening is next on their lists.
Even though I won't play the majority of them, it's kinda exciting to try them out, especially if only rated Chess.com
Yes, I've made some glorious errors (my online rating is about 200 points lower than OTB), but it's been quite fun.

AND: I sincerely think it's improving me. For example, I was blindly ignorant of IQP strategy before the Tarrasch, etc.
So in conclusion, I say try lots of different openings. I'm thinking that doing so will improve the openings you do select.
I WOULD JUST LOVE IT IF SOMEONE RATED AT LEAST 2200 COULD REPLY WITH WHAT THEY THINK OF THIS!

To Vlad: any thoughts on the above post from a few days ago? A few of us lower-rated types would love to know.

[Vlad Drkulec]

On videos, Nigel Davies is pretty good though he usually stays off the beaten trail. I usually like Bologan's videos and books. Marin is also quite good but you have to decide what openings you want to play and then more specific recommendations are possible.

Non opening videos you should look at Maurice Ashley's videos for Chessbase.I believe that they sometimes bundle them all together.