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Main
Date: 18 Dec 2005 18:34:40
From: tdiedwards
Subject: Is choosing an opening like choosing a pet pony?
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Hi, i'm looking for some advice about openings.
It SEEMS to me that many openings might have a horsey quality, whic
determines which one you ought to choose. By that I mean, some opening
are safe and easy to control (good for beginers, although no
necessarily only for beginers) while others are like Arabian horses
lethal in the hands of an expert, but difficult for a novice to handle
I can't give examples of openings because that's what my question i
about.
IF this analogy is accurate, how would you rate the Ruy Lopez and th
Sicilian? I ask because I ALWAYS play c5 as black and tend to g
Spanish as white if black plays ball.
Following advice from this forum and other places I'm not studyin
openings in depth at this point (rated about 1400 max) but if there ar
openings which I would be better off considering instead I might as wel
start using them and get experience of them before it's time to stud
them deeply?
If I'm not doing myself any disfavours with those openings are ther
any openings which I should think about switching to once I've raise
my game? Or do some openings remain as faithful steeds throughout ou
chess career even as we change as players?
Many thanks for your comments,
Ti
--
tdiedwards
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Date: 19 Dec 2005 18:57:42
From: Nick
Subject: Re: Is choosing an opening like choosing a pet pony?
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David Richerby wrote:
> =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Claus-J=FCrgen_Heigl?= <[email protected]> wrote:
> > The Englund Gambit can be avoided with the move order 1. Sf3 2. d4.
>
> Or just play 1.d5 e5 2.e4 and transpose into a Danish.
There are many interesting transpositions in chess openings
if one's permitted to make illegal moves. :-)
'1. d5' (as written by David Richerby) is an illegal move.
I assume that David Richerby intended to write '1. d4'.
Given my chess experience, I usually can infer what David Richerby
intended to write when he writes, as he often does, illegal moves.
I suspect that some less experienced readers may be more
confused or irritated by his frequent errors in chess notation.
Has David Richerby ever considered asking Eric Schiller
to proofread his chess notation? :-)
--Nick
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Date: 20 Dec 2005 09:50:23
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Is choosing an opening like choosing a pet pony?
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Nick <[email protected] > wrote:
> Has David Richerby ever considered asking Eric Schiller to proofread his
> chess notation? :-)
You're mean! :-)
Dave.
--
David Richerby Incredible Metal Chair (TM): it's like
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ a chair that's made of steel but it'll
blow your mind!
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Date: 18 Dec 2005 21:59:02
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Is choosing an opening like choosing a pet pony?
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Well, you already picked two openings that are very popular among
grandmasters. To use your analogy, you're already riding the Arabian
steeds. At your level, though, your opponents aren't likely to know
what to do about that any more than you are, so it might work out ok
for you.
I think the most commonly recommended opening for beginners is the
Giuoco Piano. The ideas behind it are simpler than in the Sicilian or
Ruy. The bad news is that everyone and their brother has played it, so
a lot of your opponents might know the details better than you. And you
have to be prepared for the Two Knights Defense if you play this as
white. This is what I play right now, and I've found that pushing my e4
pawn to e5 at the earliest opportunity is a nice, sound way to get a
good attack and throw my opponents out of the more familiar "book"
lines.
I'd say stick to attacking openings. It'll probably be easier as black
to meet 1. e4 with e5 until you know what you're doing better. As Ron
mentioned in his post, the Sicilian is easier for white to improvise
through than black. That's why I'm scared to try it as black. :P I've
been thinking of looking into some of the theory, though, simply
because I play 1. e4 and have to face it regularly.
Of course, I'm not much better than you are, so I may just be entirely
off and not know it. :P
--Richard
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Date: 19 Dec 2005 12:48:55
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Claus-J=FCrgen_Heigl?=
Subject: Re: Is choosing an opening like choosing a pet pony?
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[email protected] wrote:
> I think the most commonly recommended opening for beginners is the
> Giuoco Piano.
Yes it is, but if you are not playing Giuoco Pianissimo it is very
tactical too. So the need arises to learn quite some variations. Myself
I played the Colle or the London system for a long time. This is a very
simple and very safe opening. You will not fight for an advantage in the
opening but it gets you started in the game well enough. There is not
much that Black can do to throw you out of your non-existent opening
preparation, mainly the Dutch and the Englund Gambit. The Englund Gambit
can be avoided with the move order 1. Sf3 2. d4.
Claus-Juergen
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Date: 19 Dec 2005 13:35:42
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Is choosing an opening like choosing a pet pony?
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=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Claus-J=FCrgen_Heigl?= <[email protected] > wrote:
> The Englund Gambit can be avoided with the move order 1. Sf3 2. d4.
Or just play 1.d5 e5 2.e4 and transpose into a Danish.
Dave.
--
David Richerby Accelerated Indelible Flower (TM):
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ it's like a flower but it can't be
erased and it's twice as fast!
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Date: 18 Dec 2005 21:14:05
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Is choosing an opening like choosing a pet pony?
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In article <[email protected] >,
tdiedwards <[email protected] > wrote:
> It SEEMS to me that many openings might have a horsey quality, which
> determines which one you ought to choose. By that I mean, some openings
> are safe and easy to control (good for beginers, although not
> necessarily only for beginers) while others are like Arabian horses -
> lethal in the hands of an expert, but difficult for a novice to handle.
> I can't give examples of openings because that's what my question is
> about.
>
> IF this analogy is accurate, how would you rate the Ruy Lopez and the
> Sicilian? I ask because I ALWAYS play c5 as black and tend to go
> Spanish as white if black plays ball.
Well, while I think you "horse" analogy has some truth to it, there are
other factors as well.
In no particular order:
1) Does the opening emphasize strategic and tactical themes which you
can understand? (your horse analogy)
2) Do I enjoy playing the resulting positions?
3) Do I need to study a lot of opening theory to play this opening well?
In my opinion, the sicilian and Ruy Lopez fail questions one and three -
the sicilian more so than the Ruy.
The sicilian is a defense which, more than any other, requires black to
find "only" defensive moves. As a 1400 player (USCF? ICS? Where?) you
don't want to put yourself in that kind of position. You simply won't
find them often enough. Whereas for white, reasonable-looking moves are
often good ones.
And white has a variety of options which are good at the 1400 level (and
significantly above, for that matter). The c3, the Smith-Morra, the
closed - theory tells grandmasters not to worry too much about these,
but at your level, they all give white oodles of practical chances and
put you where you don't want to be: playing defense against an opponent
with a development advantage, a space advantage, or both.
The Ruy is a more reasonable choice, but I wouldn't be surprised if you
found yourself getting better results (and building a better long-term
foundation) by playing more gambits. The scotch and goring gambits, the
Italian and Evans gambits - lots of play for a pawn or to. The Vienna
game is a great choice, too. Theoretical soundness isn't really what
matters to you right now, but getting your hands dirty playing a lot of
basic attacking chess will do you lots of good, developmentally, but
also probably pay better short-term results.
The Ruy is really one of the most strategically complex openings there
is, and black has so many reasonable choices if he's not too worried
about the cutting edge of theory.
That's just my $.02; other's opinions may vary.
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