Opening Repertoire

I really enjoy chess and have a lot of time to study. How can a build an Opening Repertoire quicly and easily without long hours of studying???

Hi there,

My advice is that you first invest a bit of time thinking about what kind of middle game positions you enjoy playing, and then find out what openings typically lead to that style of game. No matter what level of detail you want to study openings in, if you find them interesting you will stay motivated and remember stuff because it will start making sense to you in relation to the middle game. So start with the main ideas which you can get a grip on and gradually deepen your understanding. Of course there's trial and error involved, but you will ultimately get better results when you actually enjoy it.

Good luck 

Also it helps, especially with the black pieces, to find similar positions coming out of openings... and then play those.

For example, using the Pirc (Nf6, d6, g6, Bg7) vs 1. e4 and the King's Indian (same sequence) vs 1. d4.

With white... don't know what to tell you - I struggle with the same thing.

Hm...

Well, there are several very simple openings that require little study.

As far as openings with the black pieces, it is always pretty easy to learn Petroff's Defense (1.e4,e5 2.Nf3,Nf6) against King's Pawn Openings. It is a *very* solid opening which some Grandmasters play.  Also, against 1.d4, you can always play the Nimzo-Indian Defense(1.d4,Nf6 2.c4,e6 3.Nc3,Bb4) and the Bogo-Indian Defense(1.d4,Nf6 2.c4,e6 3.Nf3 or 3.g3  then  3...Bb4+).  You don't need to know any of those very deeply, and it is easy to improvise on both of them.

As far as playing with white, there are several ideas. You could simply play the King's Indian Attack (sometimes played by World Champion Bobby Fischer), which can be played against anything. Also, instead of playing the Ruy Lopez (Spanish Opening), you could play the Three Knights' Opening (which usually transposes into a Four Knights' Opening). The Three Knight's Opening is simply: 1.e4,e5 2.Nf3,Nc6 3.Nc3   It is very solid, but it isn't popular due to the fact that it doesn't keep white's first-move-advantage as much as others. It still does well, though, and requires very little learning.

If your opponent plays the Siclian Defense against 1.e4, you can always try the Closed Sicilian (1.e4,c5  followed by  either 2.c3  or  2.Nc3. Also, 2.Bc4)

http://wikipedia.org/  has all of these openings. It explains them in a pretty easy-to-understand way.

Hope I helped!

-John

Thanks all of you!!!!!!!!!!! Please add me to your friends list.

Petroff, Nimzo and Bogo have loads of theory and inparticular Nimzo is quite hard to play with out intense study because the varying pawn structure and the multitude of whites responses that each require a 300 pg book to be written about them.

Opening with out study would be KIA or Torre attack as white and Scandinavian and Tararch(?) defense as black.

If you want to be good at chess it is probably a good idea not to "skip" theory as eventual study of the openings is needed. As well you would probably want to study the openings that interest you the most.

http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/Openings/choosopg.html

Here is my suggestion (which may not be much).

If playing white :

- you like playing positional games play queen pawn openings - d4. Then build naturally and see what openings fit your middle game.

Typical black response is QGD d5 or KID Nf6

- you like more agression and tactics play king pawn - e4.

Typical black response is Sicilian c5 or Ruy Lopez e5.

Learning a little of these four lines and playing them will make you understand what happens in the middle game. And then you could zero in on what you like.

When playing black, I like QGD, Tarrasch against d4. It suits a more tactical style though many may agree/disagree to this opening for various reasons. But Kasparov used it a lot till he met Karpov. I typically use Ruy Lopez against e5.

If you want to remember very little:

playing white: e4 Ruy Lopex exhange variation - white decides the opening

playing black: black decides many openings so just pick one.

THANKS FOR THE TIME!!!!!!!!!! I THINK I WILL NOT GET CLOBBERED IN THE OPENING ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 However, most of those multitutes of responses can be countered with a perfectly natural developing move, rather than an obscure defence.

just a little every week, eventually you get it done. Good openings are caro kann and ruy lopez and those    sound    openings.

 Wow, thanx "nqi" for defending my suggestion. Very cool of you.

Thanks guys!!! Wish me luck in my tournament today!!!

Start off by deciding between the most popular 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 with white and then think what you'll reply to those when playing black.

There aren't really any openings that can be learned without study, but some might require less than others. If you really want to study as little as possible you could try the Stonewall Attack or the Colle as White and the Hippopotamus Defence as Black.

Kings Indian Attack and Kings Indian Defence.

I'm confused. You have a lot of time to study, but don't want to?

Pretty much!!!

there are no bad openings. There are only those with no force to carry them through.

i dont recommend the najdorff. the theori might be bigger than the theori of all your other openings together and lines that are good today may be losing tomorrow because theori change incredibly fast.