6 ways to get better at the openings!

When it comes to mastering chess openings, there are several key strategies and principles that can guide your learning journey. In this blog, we will explore these essential steps, equipping you with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the opening phase of a chess game with confidence and precision.

KEEP OPENING PRINCIPLES IN MIND

In the opening we develop our pieces, fight for the center and get the king to safety. These general principles should guide your early decision making and help you punish your opponent if they go astray. Things to do in the opening: move the center pawns, develop a new minor piece with every move, develop the minor pieces towards the center, get the king to safety. Things to avoid in the opening: moving corner pawns, moving the same piece several times, taking the queen out too early, neglecting king safety, opening the center (by exchanging central pawns) when the king is still in the center and you are not close to castling. As you get stronger, you will learn that these rules can be flexibly applied, but you will need to do a lot of work to the point where you know when and how to break them. If you find yourself playing a line where you struggle to finish development, then that opening is probably not yet for you.

ASK YOURSELF QUESTIONS

Instead of breezing through the first standard moves, make sure you are understanding why the moves are played in the first place, even the basic moves. Keep in mind, just because certain moves are standard in the opening or the pieces have developed to certain squares, doesn’t mean that they want to be there as the game progresses

STUDY MASTER GAMES

You can find games in your opening in any online database or major website, including Lichess.org, Chess.com, or Chessbase.com. Begin with games where your side has won, preferably against someone much lower rated, and play through those games. These lopsided games clearly demonstrate the key ideas of an opening. I don’t recommend going through games of top-rated players, as they involve a lot of heavy preparation, none of which will happen in your games. For anyone rated below 1500, I would recommend looking through games of players of your rating and players rated 200-400 points higher. For the more technologically adept: I learned of a feature on Lichess that allows the users to look up games played on Lichess while filtering for time control and player rating.

PRACTICE BY PLAYING TRAINING GAMES

Studying theory can only take you so far. By playing training games, you will get a better feel for the positions, the tactical themes and can build your intuition for the structures. While playing rapid or classical games is the standard recommendation, I think that playing a lot of blitz games can be as beneficial. You will face a wider variety of options in blitz, which will give you an idea of where players will typically deviate. I also recommend playing your opening from the other side, i.e., the White side of the Two Knights if you are defending it as Black. I have tried this with some of my pet lines, and the feeling on the opposite side is completely different, despite my being very familiar with the lines. A helpful supplement to training games is solving opening-specific tactics, and Lichess has a database of puzzles that can be filtered by opening. Spending some time here will certainly familiarize yourself with key tactical themes.

ANALYZE YOUR TRAINING GAMES

Practicing new openings is only beneficial if you analyze your games afterwards. Ideally, you have a chess coach who can walk you through the mistakes. If you don’t have a coach, you can first look through the game yourself, compare your moves to known theory, and only then check with the engine. You can also search in the database to see if your mistakes were played by stronger players, and if so, how they were punished by their opponents.

FOCUS ON UNDERSTANDING THE IDEAS AND STRUCTURES

Often you will find yourself in a brand-new position quite early, as you or your opponent will deviate from the standard lines. This can be uncomfortable, especially if you have focused only on memorizing gobs of analysis. You can minimize your suffering by focusing on learning typical structures and themes, so that when you hit a “hole” in your preparation, you can apply known ideas to the new situation. This is where studying master games comes in. You can’t just blindly repeat the patterns you learn — always calculate! — but your thinking will be much clearer if you have some idea of how stronger players tend to approach similar positions.

Conclusion:

Studying chess openings is crucial for improving your overall chess skills. By following opening principles, asking yourself important questions, studying how experts play, practicing in training games, analyzing your performance, and understanding the underlying ideas and structures, you can enhance your opening strategies, deepen your grasp of chess tactics, and become a stronger player. Embrace the challenge of studying chess openings and let your newfound knowledge lead you to success on the chessboard. Enjoy the journey of learning, and may your opening moves be bold and brilliant!