What are the different opinions of Grandmasters on learning Chess Openings?
Posted by: admin on December 19th, 2009
3 Comments
Posted: Learning Chess
I’m no "Grandmaster," but reading what they have to say suggests to me that they think learning openings is very important. In the opening of a game, it is very difficult to "think ahead" like in the middle-game or end-game because there is still many different possibilities. Grandmasters learn openings so that they know each one’s advantage and use them appropriately and also be able to defend against the opening of the other player by using its disadvantages; Since they know the openings by heart, they dont need to "think" and they can use the time saved later in the middle game and end game, which cannot be "learned" like the openings.
The same thing also goes for Chess AI (Artificial Intelligence). Usually, the programmers gives the AI an opening database to work with so that it knows how to properly attack and defend in the early game quickly.
All share one thing. They are useless to me, the club player.
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Posted on December 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I’m no "Grandmaster," but reading what they have to say suggests to me that they think learning openings is very important. In the opening of a game, it is very difficult to "think ahead" like in the middle-game or end-game because there is still many different possibilities. Grandmasters learn openings so that they know each one’s advantage and use them appropriately and also be able to defend against the opening of the other player by using its disadvantages; Since they know the openings by heart, they dont need to "think" and they can use the time saved later in the middle game and end game, which cannot be "learned" like the openings.
The same thing also goes for Chess AI (Artificial Intelligence). Usually, the programmers gives the AI an opening database to work with so that it knows how to properly attack and defend in the early game quickly.
References :
Posted on December 19th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
You should get a grandmaster to answer that. Still, there are some general ideas.
If you’re a regular player that’s learning an opening it’s quite useless to just learn the moves by heart. You must know why a move is played, because:
a) If your opponent deviates, you must know what to do.
b) What will you do, when your knowledge ends?
Even Kramnik suffered a dreadful loss after playing over 20 moves of computer theory without fully thinking the position through.
Also, try to learn some openings properly, rather than a little bit of everything.
So, you should be familiar with the strategy that follows from the opening and know this really well. Only then you can ever hope to obtain a long term opening advantage. You should probably look at some games where a stronger player was beating a much weaker player, so you’ll know what the underlying idea of a move is. Of course, grandmaster games will help too, but these are difficult. It’s in fact best to get the ideas from the grandmaster that was playing the game himself. So, buy a good book in which the moves are truely explained, this works much better than just trying things out for yourself. (Though you could do that too)
If you get the general idea, just play around. You can play some casual games against a player that’s around your strenght, or slightly better. Make sure to write the games down. Did everything go as planned, or did you get surprised? If you feel you’ve explored most of the natural moves and common mistakes I’d take the opening to the board for real. Don’t give up too quickly, because playing a new opening is bound to cause you problems you’ve never encountered before. But remember, this way you become a player with a better understanding of positions.
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Posted on December 19th, 2009 at 7:03 pm