Space, quick development, and central pawn majority are all things that I look for in an opening
Goals For Every Opening/Game
Sort:
Quick development for black
Central pawn majority
Silman mentions FCO, a 2009 book without sample games.
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings
"... [Fundamental Chess Openings] is not particularly suited for players who are just starting out. I would imagine players rated at least 1400-1500 would get the most benefit from this volume. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf
You can get an idea about what it is like to try to read this sort of book by looking at this sample:
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/FCO_Fundamental_Chess_Openings.pdf
A Silman sentence gives some indication of the sort of thing that is probably going to be necessary, if one is trying to use anything like FCO.
"... pick up the tidbits [FCO] offers, fashion a repertoire based on the lines that intrigue you, buy books on your openings, and then play a zillion blitz games with it. ..."
Winning Chess Openings is not as comprehensive as FCO, but it is probably a lot more readable. If I remember correctly, it was written around 1999. Here is a review:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
"... Nearly 170 pages [in The Mammoth Book of Chess] are ... devoted to various chess openings. ..." - Steve Goldberg (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093123/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review756.pdf
That sort of reading would be a pretty daunting task, but I think this book differs from most others in that it uses a lot of sample games.
Here are two books that strive to improve the reader's understanding of opening play without making any attempt to cover all or even most openings:
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/excerpts/OpeningsForAmateurs%20sample.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
"... For beginning players, [Discovering Chess Openings] will offer an opportunity to start out on the right foot and really get a feel for what is happening on the board. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf
Every opening? That's way too many.
Only need to know a couple... if you're just starting out and have no particular preference, you can pick up a general opening like French or Caro Kann as Black.
As white, you can try a stonewall based system against anything that black can throw at you.
It's not particularly powerful. You won't get much advantage out of the opening, if at all.
However if you play this often enough, you will find various nuances and resources which your opponent will not likely know about and then your results will naturally get better. Being on familiar grounds is a huge opening advantage in itself.
Apr 22, 2017
0
#8
Black must "equalize." Usually that means being able to advance both of his center pawns two squares (in e-pawn openings that means ...d4, in d-pawn openings that means ...e5, in c-pawn openings it means either), but it can also mean setting up a "strong point" defense, like maintaining his e5-pawn in Philidor's Defense.
What are some more strategic goals for every game/opening in chess? (I've played for awhile, but never read any books on strategy)
Intuitively I would guess that the goals should be to set-up a pawn structure, develop power pieces, take center control and castle early. But what is the best order to do these in and how do you know what a good pawn structure is, or where to develop said PP's to?
Maybe my question is too broad, but I don't want to think like all the chess players I have met who just memorize openings and variations. I want to create an algorithm like understanding of the game so that I can be well respond to any threat or variation with tenacity and intelligence.
Thanks,
David