Beginner? Don't use this opening - It's too theoretical! Better yet, don't learn any openings!

I hate this argument. 

Usually, sometimes people ask on the forums, "Hey, I'm a beginner, and I want to play the XXX opening, does anyone have tips?"

Now there are three types of people who respond. The first is the one who says, "this opening is too theoretical and so you shouldn't learn it as a beginner". The second type of person says "You don't need opening theory at your level, opening principles will serve you well". And the last type of person actually answers the question.

"It's too theoretical"

This argument is easily refuted. Your opponent, if you are a beginner, will NOT be refuting your unsound modern benoni defense with the latest Stockfish novelty recommended by GM Coris Avrukh on move 22. So if neither player knows theory, then you just have a game of chess. 

And these people often imply that you should learn all the theory at once. Ridiculous. That's not how learning works. You don't simply pick up the ruy lopez as black and one day decide, "If my opponent plays the Zaitsev, then I'm going to do this, and if he tries to go with the Breyer, I can do this, and if he tries the Marshall, I can avoid it with a4..." No. Learning is an incremental process, you learn a little theory, you play some games, and you update your theory. And if you're like me, who doesn't learn any mainline openings at all, by the time you actually get to the "2000+ range" (the most common threshold these people say) then it will actually be EXTREMELY HARD to learn theory! Because all of your opponents know it much better than you! And do you know why? It's because they've spent MUCH LONGER playing, analyzing, and understanding this "theoretical" opening than you have! 

"You only need opening principles at your level"

The logic is that since you're a beginner, you shouldn't waste time learning openings because you can't play chess if you're hanging a piece on move 7. But are you really going to tell me that if this person doesn't even know what he's playing, that would be good for him? If you have studied the positions better than your opponent, don't you think you'll get an advantage? It doesn't actually matter if you blow the advantage away later. One problem at a time - you can't win without getting an advantage, and the opening is the first part of the game, meaning you can easily work on them by playing some blitz and looking at your opening play afterward. Then, you can learn more about converting advantages. 

And notice, I'm not saying someone should memorize opening moves. That's stupid. I'm quite sure no beginner under 1300 rating would be memorizing moves, especially if they want to learn an opening. These kinds of assumptions are actually very unrealistic.

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Thanks for reading, assuming you actually read it.

lol true

lol

I didnt read it but i think i got the jist

k

The what now

Which means if you play the benko gambit you'll be a pawn down with no advantage in anything

According to grandmasters who play impeccably. And yet I still score very poorly against the benko at rating 2200!

Yes! As someone who tried to learn mainline Catalan theory, it was near impossible to play it in 3min games because my opponents were playing the opening so fast I had to stop and gather my bearings each time.

what's Catalan

pissmark 

whos pissmark lol

Because apparently to some people beginners are incapable of breathing properly (sarcasm)

Honestly I think the catalan is garbage if black plays d4 because the c pawn will be a free pawn since the bishop is fianchettoed so it can't take back 

You have clearly analyzed the catalan up to move five and stopped there.

show me a game 

Dude I have been playing catalan from 2017 in 2016 I was fed up of e4. My rating was tilting very badly.

After that my coach suggested me to play catalan. I learned the opening by just seeing games of Kranmik and doing Chess School 2(A book with lots of tough puzzles) I increased my rating from 1000 to 1200 just by playing catalan. So yeah you have to first go through catalan to understand it clearly you cannot just claim that any opening is trash.

a game? there are about five different ways black tries to hang onto the pawn. Tries.