• What openings to master

    From Geeknix@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 29 06:44:37 2022
    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game.

    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first.
    As white I like to play Italian Game. For black against e4 I play Caro
    Kann, d4 Semi Slav.

    Sometimes as white I like to play d4 looking to develop Queen Gambit.
    Not sure that or Italian.

    What do you think, seems reasonable?

    GNX

    --
    Don't be afraid of the deep...
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    --[ /query geeknix on libera.chat | tilde.chat ]--

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  • From Ken Blake@21:1/5 to usenet@apple.geeknix135.net on Sat Jan 29 08:53:00 2022
    On Sat, 29 Jan 2022 06:44:37 GMT, Geeknix
    <usenet@apple.geeknix135.net> wrote:

    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game.

    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first.
    As white I like to play Italian Game. For black against e4 I play Caro
    Kann, d4 Semi Slav.

    Sometimes as white I like to play d4 looking to develop Queen Gambit.
    Not sure that or Italian.

    What do you think, seems reasonable?


    There's no answer that's right for everyone. We are all different,
    have different styles, and what fits one person's style doesn't fit
    the next one's. As an example, you like playing the caro-kann. I hate
    it. I have a very aggressive style. I usually reply e5 or c5 to e4.

    I should say "replied." I almost never play anymore.

    With White I almost always played the Ruy Lopez, but occasionally the
    Giuoco Piano, or sometimes even the King's Gambit. I almost never
    played d4.

    But one thing that is good to do is to vary your openings and not
    always play the same thing, so your opponent doesn't know what to
    expect.

    And how to improve your game is like improving playing a musical
    instrument: how do I get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice,
    practice--mostly against players stronger than you (or strong computer programs, like Fritz or Rybka). Beating weaker players does almost
    nothing to improve your game.

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  • From Eli Kesef@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 29 10:22:23 2022
    QnMiZA0KDQpDb25jZW50cmF0ZSBvbiB0aGUgdHJhcHB5IGdhbWJpdHMsIHRoZXkgYXJlIHPDs8Oz w7PDs8Ozw7PDs8Ozw7PDs8Ozw7PDs8Ozw7PDsyBtdWNoIGZhbiENCg0KICAgaHR0cHM6Ly90aW55 dXJsLmNvbS90cmFwcHktZ2FtYml0ICA=

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  • From Eli Kesef@21:1/5 to Eli Kesef on Sun Jan 30 05:29:22 2022
    On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 8:22:24 PM UTC+2, Eli Kesef wrote:
    Bs"d

    Concentrate on the trappy gambits, they are sóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóó much fan!

    https://tinyurl.com/trappy-gambit

    Bs"d

    For examples, look in this thread: https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.chess.misc/c/hKPCQE8g-oc

    Just posted a fresh one!

    https://tinyurl.com/trappish

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  • From Ken Blake@21:1/5 to nastyhorsefork@gmail.com on Sun Jan 30 09:59:19 2022
    On Sun, 30 Jan 2022 05:29:22 -0800 (PST), Eli Kesef
    <nastyhorsefork@gmail.com> wrote:


    https://tinyurl.com/trappish

    What a terrible picture! The board is set up improperly, with the
    Kings and Queens on the wrong squares.

    And why is Black moving first?

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  • From The Horny Goat@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jan 30 12:10:33 2022
    On Sun, 30 Jan 2022 09:59:19 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 30 Jan 2022 05:29:22 -0800 (PST), Eli Kesef ><nastyhorsefork@gmail.com> wrote:


    https://tinyurl.com/trappish

    What a terrible picture! The board is set up improperly, with the
    Kings and Queens on the wrong squares.

    And why is Black moving first?

    And the model isn't even hot! (Though there are plenty of female chess
    players who are reasonably good looking and can be counted on to
    without fail ALWAYS set the board up right.)

    That's just annoying. Could be worse - I once saw a similar picture
    where there was what at first looked like a normal position - then I
    noticed there were NINE white pawns!

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  • From William Hyde@21:1/5 to Geeknix on Tue Feb 1 15:18:12 2022
    On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 1:44:42 AM UTC-5, Geeknix wrote:
    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game.

    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first.

    Unless you are playing speed chess that is a terrible idea.

    Practice tactics first and foremost. Then endgames and positional play. Openings last.

    William Hyde

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  • From Eli Kesef@21:1/5 to William Hyde on Wed Feb 2 05:12:24 2022
    On Wednesday, February 2, 2022 at 1:18:14 AM UTC+2, William Hyde wrote:
    On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 1:44:42 AM UTC-5, Geeknix wrote:
    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game.

    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first.
    Unless you are playing speed chess that is a terrible idea.

    Practice tactics first and foremost. Then endgames and positional play. Openings last.

    Bs"d

    EVERY chess game has an opening. Not all have an endgame. Study openings, and tactics, and the essentials of endgames, like king + pawn endgames.

    And of course; opening traps will give you many a quick win, often within 10 moves, and that is VERY funny.

    Learn traps.

    https://tinyurl.com/beerklem

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  • From Ken Blake@21:1/5 to wthyde1953@gmail.com on Wed Feb 2 08:53:09 2022
    On Tue, 1 Feb 2022 15:18:12 -0800 (PST), William Hyde
    <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 1:44:42 AM UTC-5, Geeknix wrote:
    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game.

    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first.

    Unless you are playing speed chess that is a terrible idea.

    Practice tactics first and foremost. Then endgames and positional play. Openings last.


    I completely agree, especially with regard to tactics.

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  • From William Hyde@21:1/5 to Eli Kesef on Wed Feb 2 14:00:53 2022
    On Wednesday, February 2, 2022 at 8:12:25 AM UTC-5, Eli Kesef wrote:
    On Wednesday, February 2, 2022 at 1:18:14 AM UTC+2, William Hyde wrote:
    On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 1:44:42 AM UTC-5, Geeknix wrote:
    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game.

    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first.
    Unless you are playing speed chess that is a terrible idea.

    Practice tactics first and foremost. Then endgames and positional play. Openings last.
    Bs"d

    EVERY chess game has an opening. Not all have an endgame.

    "Openings teach you openings, endgames teach you chess" - Stephan Gerzadowicz:


    Study openings, and tactics, and the essentials of endgames, like king + pawn endgames.

    And of course; opening traps will give you many a quick win, often within 10 moves, and that is VERY funny.

    Yes, you will be able to beat weak players, playing the same traps over and over and over.

    That suits you, but the original poster actually wants to get good at chess. So that he can beat the players you avoid.

    A friend played in the world student Olympiad and scored 4.5/7 against opposition rated 2400 (so about 5000 in lichess). He knew even less about openings than I did, and I knew little.

    Well, there was one exception. Since he was playing for his country he thought it was his responsibility to learn some openings, so he learned one system in the Grunfeld. ECO gave this as
    equal at move 17, with Karpov as the source.

    He played this line against Yusupov, who won in 26 moves. The future Candidate commented that "Everyone in the Soviet Union knows this line is lost for black".

    It was my friend's only loss in that event.



    Learn traps.

    Studying traps helps to learn tactics, as above, provided you look at just why the trap can be successful, instead of just memorizing the moves.

    But when confronted with a trap or gambit you don't know, it's best either to not take the pawn or
    to return it when convenient. Many trap specialists are not particularly good at the game once they are out of their preparation and you are likely to win even if your opening position is at best equal.

    I learned this the hard way at age 17 when a stronger player sprung the wing gambit in the Sicilian on me. Though in this case he was probably going to win anyway, had I responded by an appropriate pawn return the game would have gone on much longer.

    Since I learned this rule I've never lost OTB to a trap. Twice I have even knowingly entered a lost position so as to avoid my opponents prepared gambit. I won both games. They were so disconcerted at losing the effect of all that preparatory work
    that they couldn't switch to the kind
    of positional play required to win. Those, by the way, were fun wins, particularly when a strong IM
    dropped by the board to see his friend's win, only to see me, in huge time trouble, cheapo the hell out
    of him - though at this point he was lost anyway.

    William Hyde

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  • From The Horny Goat@21:1/5 to All on Thu Feb 3 01:16:07 2022
    On Wed, 02 Feb 2022 08:53:09 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com>
    wrote:

    On Tue, 1 Feb 2022 15:18:12 -0800 (PST), William Hyde
    <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 1:44:42 AM UTC-5, Geeknix wrote:
    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game.

    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first.

    Unless you are playing speed chess that is a terrible idea.

    Practice tactics first and foremost. Then endgames and positional play. Openings last.


    I completely agree, especially with regard to tactics.

    What does "mastering an opening" mean? Two quite different things if
    you are talking about a 1600+ player and a 2600+ player. I'll beat the
    first most of the time but can only fantasize about the latter though
    I <have> collected scalps as high as 2350 when I was having a good day
    and the other guy wasn't.

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  • From Ken Blake@21:1/5 to All on Thu Feb 3 09:53:57 2022
    On Thu, 03 Feb 2022 01:16:07 -0800, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
    wrote:

    On Wed, 02 Feb 2022 08:53:09 -0700, Ken Blake <Ken@invalid.news.com>
    wrote:

    On Tue, 1 Feb 2022 15:18:12 -0800 (PST), William Hyde >><wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 1:44:42 AM UTC-5, Geeknix wrote:
    I'm playing around with chess trying to decide how to improve my game. >>>>
    I am thinking to focus in on my favorite openings and master them first. >>>
    Unless you are playing speed chess that is a terrible idea.

    Practice tactics first and foremost. Then endgames and positional play. Openings last.


    I completely agree, especially with regard to tactics.

    What does "mastering an opening" mean? Two quite different things if
    you are talking about a 1600+ player and a 2600+ player. I'll beat the
    first most of the time but can only fantasize about the latter though
    I <have> collected scalps as high as 2350 when I was having a good day
    and the other guy wasn't.


    You replied to me, but I'm not the one who said "mastering an
    opening." That was Geeknix who started this thread.

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