How Much Opening Preparation Should YOU Have?

We've all seen games where top-class GMs whip out long, crazy, and unique ideas in the opening. They go on to crush their opponent with these revolutionary ideas, resulting in a brilliant masterpiece. But how much opening preparation should an average player know? What about for beginners? Today, we're going to dive into how much opening preparation different skill-leveled players need to know, as well as the specifics of how to prepare openings for each skill level. We will be using the Italian Game to demonstrate these varying degrees of opening preparation. Enjoy!

Rating Categories: (Based on USCF ratings, though these categories are rather fluid, so it's not like a 499 rated player cannot take a look at the "Beginners" Category advice. These are just general skill level categories )

• New Players (0 - 499)
• Beginners (500 - 999)
• Amateurs (1000 - 1299)
• Intermediate Players (1300 - 1799)
• Advanced Players (1800 - 2199)
• Masters (2200+)

New Players (0 - 499)

Players who are new to chess should not focus on preparing specific openings lines or variations. They should instead try to learn more about the game's strategic concepts and learn the general ideas behind typical moves in openings rather than study specific variations.

Alright, you are now a very strong player! If you're not memorizing some concrete variations and truly trying to understand the openings you're playing, you won't improve your chess very well. Let's take a look at some more interesting ideas and lines in the Italian

And for the moment of truth... what does a master's preparation look like? How deep does a NM go? Here, I will be showing you the extent of my preparation (not all of it! ) in certain lines of the Italian. This is going to be long!