1. Pick an opening to learn 2. Learn the main line. Play through it a few times from both sides till you memorize it. Learn the ideas rather than the exact moves. 3. Learn variations by practicing by yourself.
Excellent instruction. I am teaching my 8-year-old grandson chess and he is doing all right. He is excited beyond belief. He joined the chess club at school and that is increasing my challenge and this video will help a lot. Sixty eight years ago, my uncle taught me the Rut Lopez opening and started me down this glorious path of chess. I don’t think I will start with the Ruy Lopez however. The London for white is popular right now so I will start there and maybe the PIRC for black. But I will use your approach. Thanks a lot for your help.
I think a good “level up” from this info is how to use a database to improve your openings…ie, looking for short decisive games between players with larger rating discrepancies to determine common tactical themes, middle game plans, end game outcomes, etc
@@munibzain1966 here’s something I’ve implemented since making this comment: I use the lichess database and consistently flip flop between the “master” database and the lichess database filtered to only show 1200-2000 rated games. It will quickly shed light on what moves are commonly played at my level but are mistakes…then I just work out why…is it tactical? Positional? Etc. that exercise alone helps to crystallize the idea and remember what to play in practice
Well done. Simple. Good diction. To the point. My youngest son plays on Lichess at around 1700. But he knows the basics. At that level it is incredible the number of hope chess players who don't have a clue. As a teen I was lucky enough to have a very good coach. I studied and played tournaments for about 12 years. That was 50 years ago. You got a new subscriber.
I love playing the Vienna opening and have dedicated about 3 weeks now on learning about the different variations. As black, Ive been spending a lot of time on the pirc especially the Czech pirc. NM Nelson - any vids in your library about the Czech pirc? I've been looking, but haven't seen anything specific to that one
Nice video Nelson, appreciate this a lot. Working on breaking through 1300 so it's time I really start learning openings and setting myself up better...
Hey man i think a good way for you to grow your channel would be to show 2019/2020 leela/stockfish/ etc games and analyse and teach us the concept behind the moves that high level computers make. Why computer games? Because the are very educational and some of the move they make are just absolutely beautiful, giving us very enjoyable games to watch at the same time
kinda late, but engine games aren't really educational because of how deep those ideas are. Sometimes they make a move that reveals it's idea after another 15 moves. I remembered one game between stockfish and torch (ig) where they just hung all their pieces and played like that for 20 moves till torch was destroyed. It's just not comprehensible for humans
I agree with others who have also said this is their favorite chess channel right now. He addresses a lot of the issues that I've struggled with in trying to learn a few openings and he tells you exactly how to do it. Unfortunately, the bad news is that there is no shortcut or quick fix. You do have to spend the time on it as he describes. I'm not there yet, but now I know what I need to do next to improve this area of my game. Fantastic video.
Oof, I wish I'd found this channel sooner. This was really well thought-out and created to be as helpful as possible. It really shows. Thanks for all the effort, and it's just fun to learn with you, so thank you for that as well.
Interesting. I've always considered "Openings" as applied to white, but you flipped it to apply to black. Thanks for the insight. Now I have to re-think some things. I love chess. Thanks for a great channel. I've watched a lot of your videos.
As part of your opening study it will benefit greatly to take the main 2-3 lines 20-25 moves deep. It will show you how the pieces usually coordinate, the general plans and recurring themes and the typical structures you will see. It's more about learning the patterns, ideas and plans than it is memorizing specific moves and move orders
I just look to remember the first few moves of an opening because that's the limits of my memory. I have watched 15 or 20 hours of a series on an opening and am lucky to remember the first couple of moves. However what I look to get from these videos is ideas with the particular opening, which does serve like a sort of road map so you at least have a sense of what you are trying to accomplish. This also has the advantage of taking your opponent off of the beaten path, you don't know the standard moves like your opponent does but now you've taken it off the road where you both are down to just playing chess. I recall a recent game where I played a move early on that wasn't even played once in the database. My opponent went into the tank and then got into trouble, it's tougher when you need to think more at this point of the game and you're not used to it. This is my home turf though and by move 12 he got into so much trouble he resigned. That's my kind of chess :)
I watch some other programs as well but it feels as if I'm in a blitzkrieg or blizzard or something. Then I lose interest for days. Thanks for taking it slow. It gives me time to focus and absorb better. I'm progressing a lot better now that I'm sticking to the basics.
this is really helpful. thanks for putting this out! how would you recommend building your openings repertoire for a beginner? is there openings that should be learnt first?
I might ask something silly. Do you know if the supergrandmasters learn every 50 possibilities in an opening superdeep? Because if they do then it´s both breathtaking and mindblowing.
I do own FCO but the continuation lines get a bit complex and confusing as to the best way to utilize the book, Do you have a fundamental tip; on this issue?? Thank You! .. Mike.
...That's the Benko gambit? Back when I was playing 1. d4 I would come across this on occasion and never once have I taken the b5 pawn because I thought the d5 pawn hanged afterwards, not noticing the queen.
What if your opponent doesn’t stick to your plan and after two or three moves does something else! You still play You still play opening? What is your benefit!
I’m guessing that’s why he says learn the ideas behind the opening as well. So if they don’t play the main line and go out of theory, you already have an advantage because you know what your plan is. Especially with this Benko gambit, at lower levels you hardly ever see this stuff, so if they play it chances are they have 0 clue what they are doing and they won’t play main line stuff. So I suppose try to set it up best you can. If you do benko gambit for example, try to get open g file. But yeah when I go out of theory because the other person doesn’t know main line stuff I get why that’s annoying Edit: I’m only about a 1300 on chess.com so take my advanced beginner advice with a grain of salt haha
No disrespect to the great Garry Kasparov but your videos are better than his Master Class. I gain more knowledge of the game and how to play it from you, keep up the good work!
I'm really amazed by the fact that a master like you doesn't know some openings. Tells me alot about how chess is so complex and its all about what your opponent does.
It's so nice when a chess master teaches. The provided structure, steps, and how to practice has high utility. So many of these youtube chess masters are just talking to other chess masters. I can take this video and apply the method to more than openings. Keep up the great work. I watched the 35 principles yesterday. Typed them out to continue to study them. Thanks so much.
excellent review on how to study openings! good option to create a follow video is what if your oponent doesn't follow the theory, what's next? thanks for the amazing video!
This is a great video. For follow-up content, I would like to know how you deal with dubious responses to your opening. I'm about 1450 on Lichess and I've undertaken learning the Catalan as my main opening for white. I've maybe gotten the main line of the Open Catalan (4...dxc4 5...a6) less than 5 times in the 3 months I've been playing chess. More often than not, within the first 5-10 moves, my opponent will be the one to break out of theory. I struggle to decide which moves are worth commiting time to sequencing out versus just tossing aside as "just play solid chess from this point and you're fine". The same question comes up when I see people play sidelines of, say, the Englund Gambit (not responding with 2...Nc6 and instead maybe 2...Bc5) which is already questionable even in the main lines. The problem I find is, if *this* opponent played it, surely another will at some point, right? I'm happy to expand further or provide examples if that would be helpful. Thanks!
That's a fantastic question. I personally take it on a case by case basis. So if there's a particular line that someone plays that isn't a book move, but looks very logical, and I feel I will probably face again, I may take the time to pull up the engine and learn the best line in response to it. But other times if someone plays a move that's just so strange looking that I doubt I will ever see it again, I probably will just do like you said and "just play solid chess..." I think as you get to higher and higher levels, you will get less and less of those really strange opening moves. Probably around 1800+ range is when folks tend to stick more to the main lines. I will note this down as a potential upcoming video idea b/c I think this is pretty common for a lot of people. Thanks for bringing this up!
Great question! I'm around 1350, and I like the italian lately. I've been trying to incorporate more gambits/traps/tricks in my repertoire and I'm finding the same issue as the OP. A variation from the lines I expected my opponent to play. A great example is the STAFFORD GAMBIT and the variations of it as black! Unfortunately, my opponent plays 3.Nxe5 maybe 25% of the time at the most! It becomes incredibly frustrating, but I continue tried and true "best chess practices". A video on various gambits would be sweet! I just found this channel today, and I've wAtched the 8/8 " practical traps and tricks" series. Looking forward to vid 9! Ty for this teaching approach! It's comfortable. U don't assume, like some other NM IM GM streamers, that a 1350 shouldn't make a mistake or an inacuracy, and most importantly u don't brow beat them! Sry 4 the terribly long post... I just had a lot to say.
Thanks for this comment! I'll make a note to circle back and do more of the opening traps videos soon. Also I really like the idea for a video on gambits. Maybe something like Top 10 Most Exciting Gambits or Top 10 Trickiest Gambits would be cool. And thanks for the compliments, much appreciated!
I'm a bit late but I'd probably say the more important thing is memorizing the ideas of the opening. For example, in the catalan your main idea is to have a ton of pressure with your light squared bishop. It's annoying when that happens but the most important thing is to just keep playing into the ideas of your opening if your opponent takes you out of theory
+1 for this question! It happens all the time for me, whenever i learn an opening i like, opponent breaks out of theory and i'm left there wondering what to do next, and this is where i usually blunder.
I think for a player under 1600 it's important to remember that most people aren't going to go long into theoretical lines. You need a response to e4 and d4 (c4 and Nf6 if you have the time). Learn the key lines of these variations, the important part is to punish opponent mistakes and not make any of your own, you probably won't go much deeper than 6 or 7 moves unless you pick the sicilian (gross). If you play e4 you need a response to c6, c5, d6, d5, e6, and of course e5. Be smart, pick simple lines with a low likelihood of branching out. For example, smith morra is a great response to c5. Orthosnapp to e6. Avoid all the theory that your opponent has put into their opening and piss them off in the process. If you play d4 (boring) then don't play queens gambit it's a headache. Play london or stonewall and don't be surprised when you come running back to e4. You need to learn your system well and consistently out perform black in the opening. Also you need a response to the dutch (I would castle queenside) and the englund (a bad gambit with cheap tricks that you can and should always crush). Unless you're like 2000, openings should be a fun thing to catch your opponent out and dodge traps - don't bog your head down with things like the benko. Get through the opening and just play lots of chess, it's the only to get any good really
I just don't understand. Can the 'Benoni and Benko' be played for both white and black? And If so, why does the book's pictures always show white at the bottom as though you're playing as white?
In my personal opinion, I'd say rather than learn opening lines, it's better to learn pawn structures. Like out of a Spanish, you're most likely to get either a d5-chain structure, the symmetrical ruy structure, or a mobile ruy structure. Then learn recommended piece placements, likely pawn breaks, and general plans of attack. That's how I tend to approach opening theory.
I get "learn the ideas behind the openings" but you lost me at "rather than the precise moves." Knowing the precise moves is often very very important. There are myriad opening moves that seem sound strategically, but fail for non-obvious tactical reasons.
As a new chess player Actually I watched the whole 22mins and sadly it didn't answer my only question my concern is not how to learn the opening and remember the line that's a straightforward thing I want to know what to do if the opponent plays a different move or unexpected variation that is completely not in the main lines? What if he started like we wanted with the d pawn and then played like 2or 3 other moves as we desire Then suddenly he goes unpredictable and plays other moves Are we going to stick to the plan and continue to try as much as we can to follow what the main line says, or we abort the opening and try to keep up with his moves That's the thing that is confusing me
I'm a 1300 to 1400 player. I have a question. Aren't openings like dances? Like what if your opponent doesn't play the right move? Don't you have to change your opening?
Yeah that's about right. At the higher levels (1800+) I think you'll find more and more people will play the main lines, but you still have games all the time where your opponent takes the game in a different direction with an unexpected move.
They're cubing terms. In the CFOP method theres 4 steps to solve the cube. 1) Cross. 2) F2L. 3) OLL. 4) PLL. The last 2 are algorithm sets. OLL has 57 and PLL only has 21. The joke is that PLL takes much less time and effort.
Another thing I love to do in order to get my head around new openings, is to maintain the ideas of a general good opening. Therefore I'm going to look for reasons why the opening helps me grasp the center more than my opponent, or can I get my pieces active right from the beginning, or am I going to castle my king safely? The benko is a double-edged opening, which by you're resigning the center at some capacity by allowing two white pawns in the central squares, however, it could be really tricky with the open lines black would have and the restriction on the white king from getting castle early in the game.
Your last point about practice, if you have someone about on your level agree to learn openings together and then the practice part is playing against someone else learning the lines from the other side. Flip the board and go again.
Considero o melhor canal de xadrez que eu conheço! Eu sigo vários, tanto do Brasil quanto dos Estados Unidos, mas este é, com certeza, o mais instrutivo.
If you don't have the book, how do you determine what the idea is behind an opening? Also, would you recommend going from an alternate opening based on the 2nd move or 1st? (My second question is saying would you go from the Benko to a 1. d4 Nf6 2. e4 line? Or would you go to a 1. e4 line?
![[Limbus Company - Teaser] Season5 - Oblivion](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8anKuEeZLeI/mqdefault.jpg)
1. Pick an opening to learn
2. Learn the main line. Play through it a few times from both sides till you memorize it. Learn the ideas rather than the exact moves.
3. Learn variations by practicing by yourself.
Thnx bro
Thx, i was about to memorize 10 chess openings per day so that i can memorize little by little
Thx bro I was about to learn an opening but I’m actually just gonna keep making up moves and losing ELO
Chess is such a beautiful game
Indeed it is!
@@ChessVibesOfficial ok
@@youaskedforit3896 you smell like metal? Ok
@@wetraccoon99 It can be.
Yes it is
"If your games have more than five blunders...." I'll still watch i guess
Lol same i have 6-8
Excellent instruction. I am teaching my 8-year-old grandson chess and he is doing all right. He is excited beyond belief. He joined the chess club at school and that is increasing my challenge and this video will help a lot. Sixty eight years ago, my uncle taught me the Rut Lopez opening and started me down this glorious path of chess. I don’t think I will start with the Ruy Lopez however. The London for white is popular right now so I will start there and maybe the PIRC for black. But I will use your approach. Thanks a lot for your help.
Man, thank you for your work. Keep it up, the content is always so relevant!
I appreciate that!
I think a good “level up” from this info is how to use a database to improve your openings…ie, looking for short decisive games between players with larger rating discrepancies to determine common tactical themes, middle game plans, end game outcomes, etc
Chess Opening Study for Advanced and Serious Players by Greg Shahade: ruclips.net/video/93kO7OXn9Lc/видео.html
Wow that's actually genius
@@munibzain1966 here’s something I’ve implemented since making this comment:
I use the lichess database and consistently flip flop between the “master” database and the lichess database filtered to only show 1200-2000 rated games. It will quickly shed light on what moves are commonly played at my level but are mistakes…then I just work out why…is it tactical? Positional? Etc. that exercise alone helps to crystallize the idea and remember what to play in practice
Well done. Simple. Good diction. To the point. My youngest son plays on Lichess at around 1700. But he knows the basics. At that level it is incredible the number of hope chess players who don't have a clue. As a teen I was lucky enough to have a very good coach. I studied and played tournaments for about 12 years. That was 50 years ago. You got a new subscriber.
Welcome!
I lost a game to the Vienna opening and stumbled upon your channel. I am glad I did, this channel is great!! and you are good teacher!. Thanks!!
Thanks for the kind words! Glad you found the channel!
I love playing the Vienna opening and have dedicated about 3 weeks now on learning about the different variations. As black, Ive been spending a lot of time on the pirc especially the Czech pirc. NM Nelson - any vids in your library about the Czech pirc? I've been looking, but haven't seen anything specific to that one
@@brass4235 Shit, I play those same opening for white and black
Nice video Nelson, appreciate this a lot. Working on breaking through 1300 so it's time I really start learning openings and setting myself up better...
Hope you get better
the sample blunder game gave me headache lol
I almost threw up
Hey man i think a good way for you to grow your channel would be to show 2019/2020 leela/stockfish/ etc games and analyse and teach us the concept behind the moves that high level computers make.
Why computer games? Because the are very educational and some of the move they make are just absolutely beautiful, giving us very enjoyable games to watch at the same time
Thanks, Jon, fantastic idea. I will add it to the list of potential upcoming videos! Thanks for the input!
Agreed with the beautiful move, but not with the educational, human brain cant reach the computer level xD
kinda late, but engine games aren't really educational because of how deep those ideas are. Sometimes they make a move that reveals it's idea after another 15 moves. I remembered one game between stockfish and torch (ig) where they just hung all their pieces and played like that for 20 moves till torch was destroyed. It's just not comprehensible for humans
@@dvxv4016 what you elo
I agree with others who have also said this is their favorite chess channel right now. He addresses a lot of the issues that I've struggled with in trying to learn a few openings and he tells you exactly how to do it. Unfortunately, the bad news is that there is no shortcut or quick fix. You do have to spend the time on it as he describes. I'm not there yet, but now I know what I need to do next to improve this area of my game. Fantastic video.
This is the best video I’ve seen on how to learn chess openings
You literally make the best chess videos on the internet man, thank you
Oof, I wish I'd found this channel sooner. This was really well thought-out and created to be as helpful as possible. It really shows. Thanks for all the effort, and it's just fun to learn with you, so thank you for that as well.
Interesting. I've always considered "Openings" as applied to white, but you flipped it to apply to black. Thanks for the insight. Now I have to re-think some things. I love chess. Thanks for a great channel. I've watched a lot of your videos.
This is why blacks initial moves have their own name...
As part of your opening study it will benefit greatly to take the main 2-3 lines 20-25 moves deep. It will show you how the pieces usually coordinate, the general plans and recurring themes and the typical structures you will see. It's more about learning the patterns, ideas and plans than it is memorizing specific moves and move orders
Wikipedia is a good free resource as well !
Thanks for sharing that!
video starts at 4:00, introduction can be summarized as "don't blunder lol"
Very well explained.. bravoo.. you are a gem. I always wanted to learn openings. But have no idea how to do that. Thanks again
Thanks for the video. I just asked for a video in this topic and after a day here it is ✌️😊
Yeah Ari, it was a good suggestion so had to do it fast =P
thank you this was really what i needed actually
wow! idk about openings. But i would love to learn the Benko gambit now!
this is quite instructive, thank you.
This is the best instructive video on how to go about learning openings. Thank you for sharing this method.
Thank you so much! This helped me A LOT!
This is a good idea for a video series. I’m interested in this Benko gambit opening.
Thank you Nelson for all your help!
That was great. Thanks.
I just look to remember the first few moves of an opening because that's the limits of my memory. I have watched 15 or 20 hours of a series on an opening and am lucky to remember the first couple of moves. However what I look to get from these videos is ideas with the particular opening, which does serve like a sort of road map so you at least have a sense of what you are trying to accomplish. This also has the advantage of taking your opponent off of the beaten path, you don't know the standard moves like your opponent does but now you've taken it off the road where you both are down to just playing chess. I recall a recent game where I played a move early on that wasn't even played once in the database. My opponent went into the tank and then got into trouble, it's tougher when you need to think more at this point of the game and you're not used to it. This is my home turf though and by move 12 he got into so much trouble he resigned. That's my kind of chess :)
Great way to approach learning a new concept👍🏻 I'm going to try this right away😁 thank you!
I watch some other programs as well but it feels as if I'm in a blitzkrieg or blizzard or something. Then I lose interest for days. Thanks for taking it slow. It gives me time to focus and absorb better. I'm progressing a lot better now that I'm sticking to the basics.
A video that is very much needed!!
Another informative video. Great job! Thanks for posting.
Your videos are great. Did you ever play competitively?
Amazing tutorials. Thanks for your time.
Great video ma dude
Great tips. Thanks
This was a super helpful video, thanks for making it!
i recommend the kings indian bc u can use it against anything.
À very nice coincidence that is I am trying to learn the benko gambit my self currently 😂❤
this is really helpful. thanks for putting this out! how would you recommend building your openings repertoire for a beginner? is there openings that should be learnt first?
Benko or Volga (Kurylenko)-gambit. ;)
Thanks!
No problem, thank you!
i've learned a lot. Thanks
I might ask something silly. Do you know if the supergrandmasters learn every 50 possibilities in an opening superdeep? Because if they do then it´s both breathtaking and mindblowing.
So good!!!!!!!!
Haya fellow
Thanks for this
Can you do London system explained? Thank you
Love your videos, do you do online opening courses?
I have on on the King's Indian: chessvibescourses.thinkific.com/
I do own FCO but the continuation lines get a bit complex and confusing as to the best way to utilize the book, Do you have a fundamental tip; on this issue?? Thank You!
.. Mike.
Simply wow
Do you prefer the Caro Kahn or Sicilian best?
Kings Indian
Hi can i ask the name of that book?😁
...That's the Benko gambit? Back when I was playing 1. d4 I would come across this on occasion and never once have I taken the b5 pawn because I thought the d5 pawn hanged afterwards, not noticing the queen.
Chess lover
What happens if d6???????
Is MCO-15 a good resource for opening studies?
3:01 how is .Ne4 not a blunder? It blunders the g7 pawn.
Taking the g pawn there is risky because black can play Rg8 and then white has to deal with a half open rook file on their king.
@@ChessVibesOfficial I see.
5 blunders per game that is my norm, so I guess it is too early for me to learn openings. I am 1500 on lichess btw, so may be when I be around 1900?
the book is alredy online or you can downoladed like a pdf
Can i play the sáme as white
That's a book move
What if your opponent doesn’t stick to your plan and after two or three moves does something else!
You still play You still play opening? What is your benefit!
I’m guessing that’s why he says learn the ideas behind the opening as well. So if they don’t play the main line and go out of theory, you already have an advantage because you know what your plan is. Especially with this Benko gambit, at lower levels you hardly ever see this stuff, so if they play it chances are they have 0 clue what they are doing and they won’t play main line stuff. So I suppose try to set it up best you can. If you do benko gambit for example, try to get open g file. But yeah when I go out of theory because the other person doesn’t know main line stuff I get why that’s annoying
Edit: I’m only about a 1300 on chess.com so take my advanced beginner advice with a grain of salt haha
@@kaitlyng7850 that make sense!
No way those guys are rated 600
600 is like the lowest rating u can have.
These are not beginners just dumb. 😅
The first game gave me a migrane please never do it again
The ten wind extremely murder because design conservatively carve anenst a cheap rooster. unsightly, placid pedestrian
Nelson's video>> Levy's video
6-700
Notice he didn't say 600
Love your videos Nelson..so clear and instructive..Thank you
No problem! Glad they're helping!
No disrespect to the great Garry Kasparov but your videos are better than his Master Class. I gain more knowledge of the game and how to play it from you, keep up the good work!
That's quite the compliment, thank you Steven!
No doubts this is my favourite channel right now, so much good content with simple explanation, no name dropping or egos. Love it.
I'm really amazed by the fact that a master like you doesn't know some openings. Tells me alot about how chess is so complex and its all about what your opponent does.
Thanks for showing me how to read my FCO book....much easier 😀
It's so nice when a chess master teaches. The provided structure, steps, and how to practice has high utility. So many of these youtube chess masters are just talking to other chess masters. I can take this video and apply the method to more than openings. Keep up the great work. I watched the 35 principles yesterday. Typed them out to continue to study them. Thanks so much.
Thanks, Andrew!
@@ChessVibesOfficialYou're welcome. I bought the book too. Thanks again for the great job teaching.
excellent review on how to study openings! good option to create a follow video is what if your oponent doesn't follow the theory, what's next? thanks for the amazing video!
This is a great video. For follow-up content, I would like to know how you deal with dubious responses to your opening. I'm about 1450 on Lichess and I've undertaken learning the Catalan as my main opening for white. I've maybe gotten the main line of the Open Catalan (4...dxc4 5...a6) less than 5 times in the 3 months I've been playing chess. More often than not, within the first 5-10 moves, my opponent will be the one to break out of theory. I struggle to decide which moves are worth commiting time to sequencing out versus just tossing aside as "just play solid chess from this point and you're fine". The same question comes up when I see people play sidelines of, say, the Englund Gambit (not responding with 2...Nc6 and instead maybe 2...Bc5) which is already questionable even in the main lines.
The problem I find is, if *this* opponent played it, surely another will at some point, right? I'm happy to expand further or provide examples if that would be helpful. Thanks!
That's a fantastic question. I personally take it on a case by case basis. So if there's a particular line that someone plays that isn't a book move, but looks very logical, and I feel I will probably face again, I may take the time to pull up the engine and learn the best line in response to it. But other times if someone plays a move that's just so strange looking that I doubt I will ever see it again, I probably will just do like you said and "just play solid chess..." I think as you get to higher and higher levels, you will get less and less of those really strange opening moves. Probably around 1800+ range is when folks tend to stick more to the main lines. I will note this down as a potential upcoming video idea b/c I think this is pretty common for a lot of people. Thanks for bringing this up!
Great question! I'm around 1350, and I like the italian lately. I've been trying to incorporate more gambits/traps/tricks in my repertoire and I'm finding the same issue as the OP. A variation from the lines I expected my opponent to play. A great example is the STAFFORD GAMBIT and the variations of it as black!
Unfortunately, my opponent plays 3.Nxe5 maybe 25% of the time at the most! It becomes incredibly frustrating, but I continue tried and true "best chess practices". A video on various gambits would be sweet! I just found this channel today, and I've wAtched the 8/8 " practical traps and tricks" series. Looking forward to vid 9! Ty for this teaching approach! It's comfortable. U don't assume, like some other NM IM GM streamers, that a 1350 shouldn't make a mistake or an inacuracy, and most importantly u don't brow beat them!
Sry 4 the terribly long post... I just had a lot to say.
Thanks for this comment! I'll make a note to circle back and do more of the opening traps videos soon. Also I really like the idea for a video on gambits. Maybe something like Top 10 Most Exciting Gambits or Top 10 Trickiest Gambits would be cool. And thanks for the compliments, much appreciated!
I'm a bit late but I'd probably say the more important thing is memorizing the ideas of the opening. For example, in the catalan your main idea is to have a ton of pressure with your light squared bishop. It's annoying when that happens but the most important thing is to just keep playing into the ideas of your opening if your opponent takes you out of theory
+1 for this question! It happens all the time for me, whenever i learn an opening i like, opponent breaks out of theory and i'm left there wondering what to do next, and this is where i usually blunder.
Really enjoyed this. Bought 1001 deadly checkmates on your recommendation and it’s great, so just ordered FCO too! Keep on creating 👍
I think for a player under 1600 it's important to remember that most people aren't going to go long into theoretical lines.
You need a response to e4 and d4 (c4 and Nf6 if you have the time). Learn the key lines of these variations, the important part is to punish opponent mistakes and not make any of your own, you probably won't go much deeper than 6 or 7 moves unless you pick the sicilian (gross).
If you play e4 you need a response to c6, c5, d6, d5, e6, and of course e5. Be smart, pick simple lines with a low likelihood of branching out. For example, smith morra is a great response to c5. Orthosnapp to e6. Avoid all the theory that your opponent has put into their opening and piss them off in the process.
If you play d4 (boring) then don't play queens gambit it's a headache. Play london or stonewall and don't be surprised when you come running back to e4. You need to learn your system well and consistently out perform black in the opening. Also you need a response to the dutch (I would castle queenside) and the englund (a bad gambit with cheap tricks that you can and should always crush).
Unless you're like 2000, openings should be a fun thing to catch your opponent out and dodge traps - don't bog your head down with things like the benko. Get through the opening and just play lots of chess, it's the only to get any good really
What if I play c4?
@@engelsteinberg593 what's your rating
@@arya6085 like 1500-1600.
@@engelsteinberg593 do you think you need to learn c4 theory? I feel like black would just play basic opening moves not some prescribed theory
@@arya6085 I like the play style of c4.
Great work thanks! I ordered the FCO book based on your last video and I'm excited to get started.
Awesome, let me know if you have any questions!
In case you don't know you can download this book on pdf for free!
I just don't understand. Can the 'Benoni and Benko' be played for both white and black? And If so, why does the book's pictures always show white at the bottom as though you're playing as white?
blunder games with bad opening vs blunder games with proper opening?
In my personal opinion, I'd say rather than learn opening lines, it's better to learn pawn structures. Like out of a Spanish, you're most likely to get either a d5-chain structure, the symmetrical ruy structure, or a mobile ruy structure. Then learn recommended piece placements, likely pawn breaks, and general plans of attack. That's how I tend to approach opening theory.
I get "learn the ideas behind the openings" but you lost me at "rather than the precise moves." Knowing the precise moves is often very very important. There are myriad opening moves that seem sound strategically, but fail for non-obvious tactical reasons.
As a new chess player
Actually I watched the whole 22mins and sadly it didn't answer my only question
my concern is not how to learn the opening and remember the line that's a straightforward thing
I want to know what to do if the opponent plays a different move or unexpected variation that is completely not in the main lines?
What if he started like we wanted with the d pawn and then played like 2or 3 other moves as we desire
Then suddenly he goes unpredictable and plays other moves
Are we going to stick to the plan and continue to try as much as we can to follow what the main line says, or we abort the opening and try to keep up with his moves
That's the thing that is confusing me
I'm a 1300 to 1400 player. I have a question. Aren't openings like dances? Like what if your opponent doesn't play the right move? Don't you have to change your opening?
Yeah that's about right. At the higher levels (1800+) I think you'll find more and more people will play the main lines, but you still have games all the time where your opponent takes the game in a different direction with an unexpected move.
learning chess openings is like learning all all of OLL and thinking it was easy, then looking at the PLL list.....
Wdym by OLL and PLL?
They're cubing terms. In the CFOP method theres 4 steps to solve the cube. 1) Cross. 2) F2L. 3) OLL. 4) PLL. The last 2 are algorithm sets. OLL has 57 and PLL only has 21. The joke is that PLL takes much less time and effort.
Another thing I love to do in order to get my head around new openings, is to maintain the ideas of a general good opening. Therefore I'm going to look for reasons why the opening helps me grasp the center more than my opponent, or can I get my pieces active right from the beginning, or am I going to castle my king safely?
The benko is a double-edged opening, which by you're resigning the center at some capacity by allowing two white pawns in the central squares, however, it could be really tricky with the open lines black would have and the restriction on the white king from getting castle early in the game.
That first game looks like a Baka Mitai moment. xD
Dame Dane, dameyo, Dame nanoyo~
Chess is the best
Precisely the information I was looking for. Bought the book. Subscribed. Thanks :)
Your last point about practice, if you have someone about on your level agree to learn openings together and then the practice part is playing against someone else learning the lines from the other side. Flip the board and go again.
Considero o melhor canal de xadrez que eu conheço! Eu sigo vários, tanto do Brasil quanto dos Estados Unidos, mas este é, com certeza, o mais instrutivo.
Video with 0 dislike 🔥
I've a really confusing question which is, how to play against random players? since they play without any opening!🤦🏻♂️😔
If you don't have the book, how do you determine what the idea is behind an opening? Also, would you recommend going from an alternate opening based on the 2nd move or 1st? (My second question is saying would you go from the Benko to a 1. d4 Nf6 2. e4 line? Or would you go to a 1. e4 line?
Currently, on Amazon, the kindle edition of Fundamental Chess Openings is very reasonably priced at 8.09 GBP!
The biggest problem at lower levels is people don't do what you are trying to learn! LOL