Are you spending too much energy on the opening?- DeGuire's Digest #2

There is only so much time in the day. The time we have to study chess every year is very limited. So we must strive to not just study but to do it efficiently

Many chess players are obsessed with the opening. It is the majority of what I hear when attending DCC, especially from newer players. “This opening is good, this one is bad, I am learning a new opening, I need a new opening as black”. Players constantly switch back and forth opening to opening, but rarely are they satisfied. In my opinion many players are putting too much emphasis on this one part of the game and other aspects deserve more attention. 

  Now my classic introductory hedging. Much of my advice is for club level players and below. Expert players and above have put a lot of work into their chess fundamentals and the role the opening plays becomes larger and larger as players become stronger.

Chess is an ocean, openings are boats 

"Chess is a sea in which a gnat may drink and an elephant may bathe" -  Indian proverb

    Playing the game of chess is like navigating the ocean. Openings are the vessel we choose to sail on this vast sea of tactics, plans and potentiality. The middle game is the water and waves itself. Different strategies, principles and play styles are the routes in which we navigate. Sometimes it will be smooth sailing but oftentimes storms and big waves will try to keel over your boat or lead you into unfamiliar territory. Endgames are lighthouses and buoys, helping us avoid danger and acting as a guiding light to our destination, checkmate.

    Some openings are like speed boats, fast and agile but if driven into the wrong storm they will be crushed by the waves. Other openings are like big cruise ships strong and durable but sometimes they are predictable and hard to change course. Your choice in opening should make you feel comfortable and be fun for you to play. I will argue that while picking the right boat is important it is only a small part in the journey across the ocean of chess.

Position after 5... a6

    The Sicilian Najdorf is the definition of a “speed boat” opening. It's dynamic, imbalanced and requires the driver to be flexible to avoid all of the storms that your opponent can choose to throw your way. White has a plethora of strategies and ideas to use against the black player including but not limited to , Be3, Be2, Bg5, Bc4, h3, Rg1, f4.

Position after 6.Bg3

    Here we have a basic London system set up akin to a cruise ship. White is simply aiming to get a solid pawn structure and develop their pieces comfortably. Black cannot do much to change this course and white will get a pleasant but potentially un-ambitious game. Keep in mind this is still chess. A London could potentially turn into a insane tactical shootout so never fall asleep at the wheel.

What is more important than openings?

    "It would be a grave mistake to study the opening without keeping in mind the subsequent middlegame and ending. In the same way it would be wrong to study the middlegame without considering the endgame. This reasoning clearly proves that in order to improve your game you must study the endgame before anything else; for, whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and opening must be studied in relation to the endgame” - José Raúl Capablanca

    In my opinion opening study has very little value unless a player has a solid grasp of the fundamentals. The fundamentals being, basic checkmating patterns, taking hanging pieces, basic calculation/analysis, seeing threats, strategy, basic endgames. The opening will always end but these basic skills will be of constant need. These skills are much more important than whatever small advantage opening study may give you for a couple moves.

   I once heard a young kid talking with his friend at the Denver Open 2023, “we played 19 moves of theory and then I hung my queen on the next move”. I couldn't help but chuckle. Many players spend a lot of time studying openings just for a weakness in one of these fundamentals to be their downfall. Messing up in the opening rarely means the game is over, where if you are blundering checkmate in the middle game or allow a losing endgame there is often no way to recover.

Position after Nxe4

    In this position Rhett Langseth just made an early opening blunder. This was not in my prep but because I have a decent grip of tactics, the idea came easily. I played 1.Nxe7+ because after 1...Qxe7 2. Bd5 white forks the a8 rook and e4 knight and wins a piece by force. The sad part? I still lost this game even being up an entire piece for the majority of the game. Rhett's willpower, skill and resilience shined through which I argue is much more important than some miniscule opening advantage.

Position after 57...a5

    Here is a example of when studying the endgame helped me recover from an opening disaster. After being down a pawn the entire game, I played the only move Kd2! prioritizing the b2 and a2 squares for my king! I know that if I can just get my king to those squares I can turn the position into a theoretical draw. (Rook in front of its 7th rank pawn Silmans endgame course pages 227 - 235)

 You either know your opening ideas 100% or not at all

    Studying opening lines can sometimes give a player a false sense of security. It's easy to turn your brain off and mindlessly follow a GM game or a computer recommendation. While this is not inherently bad in itself you must use caution in order to not get complacent and blunder. I once thought I was following a Magnus Carlsen game that I read from a book. Things were going well till I confidently played a move out of order and completely killed my game.

Position after 14. Qa5

    Here is my first game against Alex Steger from a couple years ago. I carelessly played Qa5 because I was sure that I had remembered it being a move but Qa5 is out of order. White should castle first and maybe then play Qa5. I allowed Stegar to play Qb4+ trading queens by force and making my last move a waste of time. I went on to lose this game. I was trying too hard to remember when I could have just looked at what is in front of me. 

    In a recent game against Enrico Moss, my opponent relied too heavily on what he thought was his opening prep.  This game I gambit a pawn with the black pieces to attack his king. Early in the game I play Bf5 deviating from the best move and Enrico's prep. Enrico was too loyal to his prep and ended up moving his king to the queen side. In combination with the weakening a3 move I was able to attack to my hearts content.

Hide game details

Enrico (1650) - Ben (1750)

Round 3 of DCC Thursday March 2025

3/20/2025

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1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 e5 6. dxe5 Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 Nc6 8. Nf3 Bf5 9. Bf4( 9. Bb5 O-O-O+ 10. Ke2( 10. Bd2 ) ) 9... Bc5 10. Bg3 Nge7 11. Nc3 Rd8+ 12. Kc1 O-O 13. Na4 Bb4 14. a3 Na5 15. Bc4 Rc8 16. Kd1 Rfd8+( 16... Rxc4 17. axb4 Rd8+ 18. Ke2 Bd3+ ) 17. Ke2 Rxc4 18. axb4 Bd3+ 19. Kd2( 19. Kd1 Nb3 20. Ra3 Rc1# ) 19... Nb3+ 20. Kd10-1

    When you find yourself out of book try your hardest to understand what is different about the position! With blacks bishop on f5 a stroll to the queenside was a dangerous journey. Often times it is better to just play a logical move then to rely on an idea you are not 100% sure is correct.

Opening study is ok just do it right

  I don't think their is anything wrong with studying the opening. Openings can give a player a sense of direction and comfort which aids a players confidence over the board. I just aim to highlight that it is overly prioritized and poorly executed. Here are some of principles I have tried to use when doing my own opening study. 

    Pick an opening and stick with it. Try not to give up on an opening after one or two bad losses. Figure out what you're doing wrong and turn it into a strength. Switching to a new opening is a lot of work and constantly resetting your repertoire is time consuming.

    Study breadth NOT depth. Rarely will the father of two sitting across the table from you have every variation of the Sicilian memorized 25 moves deep. Just knowing the key features and ideas of your opening of choice will go much farther because you are always going to deviate from theory. Spending time memorizing lines you never see is a sad fate that can befall all of us.

    A chess engine cannot teach you an opening. You should learn the common ideas, traps, strategies of your opening from a human! I always try and use a book or online video to learn the ins and outs of a opening. Just because a engine says one move is best doesn't meant its the best for you. Engines do not play chess like we do. Why learn how to play like an engine when you don't have the same hardware? 

  Do not neglect the other 90% of chess! As i have stated openings make up a small portion of chess as a whole. Tactics, strategy, middle game, endgame, calculation, visualization are all things to be studied and treated as equal if not more important than the opening. 

 Resources

1. Silmans complete endgame course - J. Silman
2. https://www.chessable.com/basic-endgames/course/6371/ (an awesome free chessable course with good variety of endgames)