just try to follow opening principles and you'll be fine.
black opening for newbies
Sort:
ok, thx. I'm trying to follow the "don't memorize openings" advice.
good link. lots of info. thx.
Whoops! Checked in too soon to see someone suggest the long theoretical lines of the Sicilian.
lol. that's funny.
Jan 17, 2009
0
#8
Hi. I agree with the advice already given. I would like to add that I think the reason for learning particular openings is so that you will already know what to do when you play through the opening moves. (And I don't disagree with that). It's a great idea to know the opening you are playing and to make good moves in that phase of the game.
However, it's also a great idea to know the ideas of the middle game and endings that you will encounter as well. The openings have all these catchy names, and whole books are written about them. It's easy to get the idea (the wrong idea, if you ask me) that all you have to do is study one of the catchy sounding openings, and you will be able to play better. The result of that is that some players spend too much time on openings and have the unrealistic expectation that the time spent will help them be a better player. I think it's actually counter productive because it distracts from learning that would actually help the person be a better player.
And what is that? I think it may be a little different for each person, but you can't go wrong by practicing tactics problems and gaining skill in that department. There is evidence that practicing the same set of problems multiple times helps with pattern recognition. More than that, tactics training will teach you how to calculate variations and accurately visualize positions two or three moves ahead.
By learning pattern recognition, when you see similar patterns emerging in your games, you will already know what to look for. If you can do that kind of calculating and visualizing accurately and consistently, then you can calculate your way through almost any opening, middle game, or ending, to a degree that would win you many games against some pretty good players.
Eventually, you would require more knowledge of various strategies and principals of all stages of the game, but without the tactical skill with which to execute the strategies and principals, you are wasting your time. So my advice is to put the horse in front of the cart and practice tactics problems until you gain strong skills.
As a newbie,I read that you should be familliar with a black response for 1. e4 and 1. d4, when you are just starting to learn the game. How about when opponent plays some thing different than those two choices. Is there a general, bail out, response? That may be poorly worded, but do you get where I'm going with this question?