4 ms·

My advice to beginners is to not stick with one opening, but to play them all. Include wild openings like the Kings Gambit and Danish Gambit, as well as strate

by lcuff 6y ago

My advice to beginners is to not stick with one opening, but to play them all. Include wild openings like the Kings Gambit and Danish Gambit, as well as strategic openings like the Queen's Gambit. You will be out of 'the book' very quickly, and that's actually good. You'll be learning to play, rather than recall. Another piece of advice: Study endgames before openings. Learn about K + P vs K, the elementary mates, (K + 2B vs K, and K + N + B vs K). Then keep going. I have had to 'finish off' opponents in tournament conditions with these combinations of pieces. Lastly: Best chess book ever: Winning Chess by Fred Reinfeld and Irving Chernev. Of the dozens of chess books I've owned, this one is head and shoulders above the rest. All about middle game tactics, and mating patterns.

antognini 6y ago
> Study endgames before openings. Growing up we had a copy of The Art of Chess by James Mason. The book starts out with the endgame, goes into the midgame, and ends with openings. The philosophy was that if you don't understand how to play when there are four pieces on the board, how will you be able to play when there are 32?
- banachtarski 6y ago
  I grew up playing chess competitively and used to make this argument all the time. Since then however, I've relaxed my stance. In reality, endgame theory is in some sense, far more complicated than many opening systems, because their are so many degrees of freedom. Yes there are 32 pieces at the start of the game, but prior to development and initial piece placement, there are usually far fewer candidate moves. I think it's a good idea for a beginner to learn at least a few opening systems after getting the "gist" of the endgame like king opposition and opposite color bishops etc.
- watwut 6y ago
  The trouble with that order is that you dont get to actually play the game and dont get to have any fun for months. Which means you will stop playing chess entirely. And I mean, I started to play late and I am not good, but the "if you don't understand how to play when there are four pieces on the board, how will you be able to play when there are 32" does not really check out. The two are just different.
jellicle 6y ago
Agree with this. You can do well through the game and come to the end with a slight advantage in material and if at that point you don't know how to close the deal, then ????????
hcnews 6y ago
> My advice to beginners is to not stick with one opening, but to play them all. Include wild openings like the Kings Gambit and Danish Gambit, as well as strategic openings like the Queen's Gambit. You will be out of 'the book' very quickly, and that's actually good. You'll be learning to play, rather than recall. This is opposite of general advice. Beginners should play only one white opening and 2 black openings (d4/e4 response) mainly so that they can focus on middlegame and endgame instead.
- lcuff 6y ago
  My experience playing one opening (d4/Queens gambit) as a beginner is that I failed to develop my tactical skills, which are used much more in gambits (but not the Queens gambit) and e4 openings generally. And I'd further argue that playing 'one opening' when you only know 2 or 3 moves is not really playing any opening, so it doesn't matter (much). I'd also say, learning the main opening principles: develop your pieces, don't move a developed piece a second time (with a few exceptions), castle as soon as possible, is probably more important than any particular opening repertoire.
  - hcnews 6y ago
    Playing small number of openings is a general advice by IM/GM teachers for beginner players. This makes sense since the focus is on endgames and middlegames in the initial learning curve. There's nothing stopping you from practicing tactics even if you play d4 openings as white. I have been a mainly d4 player as white so far (London, BDG, QG) and have had quick ratings growth (Start -> 1650 chess.com rapid in 5 months). Also, an opening is more like 7-10 moves (not 2-3 moves) where all the minor pieces have been developed and the player has castled.

by lcuff 6y ago

antognini 6y ago

> Study endgames before openings. Growing up we had a copy of The Art of Chess by James Mason. The book starts out with the endgame, goes into the midgame, and ends with openings. The philosophy was that if you don't understand how to play when there are four pieces on the board, how will you be able to play when there are 32?

banachtarski 6y ago
I grew up playing chess competitively and used to make this argument all the time. Since then however, I've relaxed my stance. In reality, endgame theory is in some sense, far more complicated than many opening systems, because their are so many degrees of freedom. Yes there are 32 pieces at the start of the game, but prior to development and initial piece placement, there are usually far fewer candidate moves. I think it's a good idea for a beginner to learn at least a few opening systems after getting the "gist" of the endgame like king opposition and opposite color bishops etc.
watwut 6y ago
The trouble with that order is that you dont get to actually play the game and dont get to have any fun for months. Which means you will stop playing chess entirely. And I mean, I started to play late and I am not good, but the "if you don't understand how to play when there are four pieces on the board, how will you be able to play when there are 32" does not really check out. The two are just different.

jellicle 6y ago

Agree with this. You can do well through the game and come to the end with a slight advantage in material and if at that point you don't know how to close the deal, then ????????

hcnews 6y ago

> My advice to beginners is to not stick with one opening, but to play them all. Include wild openings like the Kings Gambit and Danish Gambit, as well as strategic openings like the Queen's Gambit. You will be out of 'the book' very quickly, and that's actually good. You'll be learning to play, rather than recall. This is opposite of general advice. Beginners should play only one white opening and 2 black openings (d4/e4 response) mainly so that they can focus on middlegame and endgame instead.

lcuff 6y ago
My experience playing one opening (d4/Queens gambit) as a beginner is that I failed to develop my tactical skills, which are used much more in gambits (but not the Queens gambit) and e4 openings generally. And I'd further argue that playing 'one opening' when you only know 2 or 3 moves is not really playing any opening, so it doesn't matter (much). I'd also say, learning the main opening principles: develop your pieces, don't move a developed piece a second time (with a few exceptions), castle as soon as possible, is probably more important than any particular opening repertoire.
- hcnews 6y ago
  Playing small number of openings is a general advice by IM/GM teachers for beginner players. This makes sense since the focus is on endgames and middlegames in the initial learning curve. There's nothing stopping you from practicing tactics even if you play d4 openings as white. I have been a mainly d4 player as white so far (London, BDG, QG) and have had quick ratings growth (Start -> 1650 chess.com rapid in 5 months). Also, an opening is more like 7-10 moves (not 2-3 moves) where all the minor pieces have been developed and the player has castled.