How To Master Any Chess Opening
𝐀 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐀 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐂𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐲...
In this post, we're going to discover the 𝟔 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬!
You see, most people have it the 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥...
They spend oceans of time 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘴, and then when they finally feel almost ready to play the opening...they '𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵' 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 and start the process again.
What if there was a better way?
For those who prefer video to text, here's a 60-second summary:
Let me share with you the 6 steps to 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲...
𝟏. 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞!
Who would have thought that the best way to get good at an opening is to start playing it?
I get that you're 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨.
But it's these early mistakes, and getting them out of the way fast, that will 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 and help you 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 that you're 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘴.
Nothing substitutes personal experience when it comes to this.
𝟐. 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬
If you don't do this, you're simply going to 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳, and not improve.
For each game you play, make sure to 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 and see what you (or the opponent, in case you won) should have played instead!
It will be much easier to remember the key moves if they're based on your 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.
It also saves you countless hours 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦.
𝟑. 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝/𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐀 '𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐞'
This is the format I now use for all my opening courses and people love it!
The 'Quick Repertoire' is where you create a 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬, until you are at a position where you are at least getting into the middlegame and knowing you are doing okay.
And it's not many variations...but it will serve as a 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 before diving deeper into mastery.
𝟒. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 '𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬'!
I first learned of this method from my first private chess coach, IM John-Paul Wallace.
He talked of how, by studying 'model games' - games where one side showed exactly what you should be aiming for to win the game - you can very clearly 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐬, learn how to 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬, and know how you typically win from this opening (in the middlegame and endgame).
This is something I still use to this day, and I notice that, w𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 just before a blitz session, I typically play at least 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠.
𝟓. 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬
Here is where we get to the advanced parts!
Of course, as you are playing lots of high-level tournament games in the opening, at some point, people will see your games in the database, and will start 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, trying to 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘰𝘪𝘳𝘦.
The way to deal with that is to 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬, indicating the 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.
The right depth and breadth of the file of course depends on your level. Perhaps you will be happy to simply use the file to 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬.
Or, for more advanced players, you may prefer to 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 for lines that you 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 or where you simply want some variety.
𝟔. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬
This is where we take our great work from the first 5 steps, and use it to 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞, against our next opponent.
Naturally this applies mainly to 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 where there is time to prepare between the rounds.
We can 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐢𝐫𝐞, and then either play our 'usual' stuff that we already know very well, or prepare some kind of alternative or 'surprise' to specifically target their weaknesses.
So to summarize, the 6 steps for mastering any opening are:
1. Practice
2. Checking Your Games
3. Quick Repertoire
4. Model Games
5. Creating Opening Files
6. Preparing For Games
𝗪𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞?
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