Posts tagged ‘chess openings’

Although you don’t intend to join chess tournaments someday, time will come wherein you will wish to perk up your chess skills. Probably, a long lost friend suddenly battle you for a game thus you end up wishing for ways that could somehow don’t leave you in disgrace. Now, if you don’t have time to study all the skills then you might just consider looking for successful chess openings.

Chess opening is given due priority by lots of people. In fact, if you search the web you will realize that there are more books that will discuss this much more than tactics to attack enemy. This is for the reason that it is fairly easy for someone to talk about openings rather than attacks.

Keep in mind that successful chess openings may vary and if you ask many experts, each of them will suggest different methods to open the game which they think is the most reliable. Each opening has specific reasons behind; some would opt to have a control of the center, others would like to have more space, while some would target coordinated development of their pieces.
Through openings, players can possible realize those goals and the process of doing such is more of chess strategy rather than chess tactics.

However let it be known that chess attacks are merely result of chess tactics which may rise depending on the position that arise into the chessboard. The positions are just an outcome of the right and wrong positioning done by player to his pieces and to his opponents. This happening normally takes place during the middle of the game during the time when a wide range of possible moves as well as countermoves were made.

Because of this, some people may thing whether it is right to think that chess attacks can never be pre-planned. The answer here is both ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Yes, in the sense that each chess game is different thus needing new thinking for the players. No, for the reason that since the positions may vary then there are some underlying factors which will recur. If you are aware about these and you are capable enough to detect them in the chessboard, you can surely opt for a methodical manner to take advantage of the opportunity.

Now, is it really important to understand successful chess openings? The answer here is a big sound “yes”. They are important although they do not play all the part to determine the success of your chess game not unless you did a very bad chess opening. Nevertheless, even though your openings are somewhat indifferent from what is written in the book, you will be able to come up with reliable attacking attacks just as long as you try to be careful with what you do.

In a nutshell, there is the obligation for you to carry out a good opening plus a good tactic to come up with a good game. These two factors will create a big difference in the outcome of your game.

An Open Game, or also known as the Double King Pawn game, is a type of chess openings which starts with White moves. Commonly, chess players begin by advancing their king’s pawns by two spaces or known as the 1.e4, which is the oldest type of chess opening. This is the most famous opening strategy and it features many strengths: it can instantly wore on repressing the central space and it frees the queen and a bishop. However, 1.e4 puts a pawn on an unprotected area and weakens d4 and f4. An open game occurs when the Black reflects the strategy of the White.

The second most known strategy for White is the 2.fN3 which strikes the king’s pawn of the Black, prepares for a castle in the kingside, and anticipates the forward move of the queen pawn to d4. The most popular response of the Black is 2…Nc6, which commonly results to Ruy Lopez or 3.Bb5, Italian Game or 3.Bc4, or Scotch Game or 3.d4. But if the Black keeps symmetry and retaliates the opponent’s central square using 2.Nf6, it will leads to Petrov’s Defense. The Philidor Defense or 2…d6 is not used because it provides a convenient space advantage for White while the Black’s place remains passive and paralyzed. The 2.Nf3 response is not also used in the master game.

The most known substitutes to 2.Nf3 are the Bishop’s Opening (2.Bc4), the Vienna Game (2.Nc3), and the King’s Gambit (2.f4). These tactics have some connection with one another, particularly the Bishop’s opening which often TRANSPOSES to VARIATIONS of the Vienna Game. During the 19th century, the King’s Gambit was exceedingly accepted. White gives up a pawn for rapid development and to get a Black pawn out of the central square. The Vienna Game also often features ATTACS on the Black center through the pawn’s move forward from f2 to f4.

The White instantly opens the central area in the Center Game or 2.d4 type but it should prematurely expand the queen after 3Qxd4, when the pawn is needed to be recovered. An option is to give up one or two pawns, for instance in the 3.c3 or the Danish Gambit. The EARY advancements of the queen in the Napoleon Opening (2.Qf3) and the Parham Attack (2.Qh5) appear to be amateurish. In fact, they are normally being played by beginners but the 2.Qh5 was used in some grandmaster competition games. Some of the rare openings and interesting moves for White are the Alapin’s Opening (2.Ne2), Inverted Hungarian Opening (3.Be2), Portuguese Opening (2.Bb5), and Konstantinopolsky Opening (3.g3).

In terms of the defense, the Damiano Defense is definitely not an ideal technique to use, even though the Latvian Gambit (2…f5) and the Elephant Gambit (2…d5) are very dangerous for Back. Meanwhile, the 2…d6 is not common in contemporary chess since it gives an effortless space advantage to the White while the Black stays solid but is controlled and inactive.

The open games has various variations, this include Portuguese Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Bb5), Alapin’s Opening (1.e4 e5 2.Ne2), and Ponziani’s Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4).

In playing chess most of the time is spent in the opening. Although chess opening should be given ample time in planning for moves, but it is also ideal to give enough time to study the middle game and the end game. In this sense, it is important to learn efficient chess openings in lesser time. This will help any player to facilitate and divide the time on the three part of the game.

Reference material is a great help in learning the different openings. You can find valuable information from many reference books like Encyclopedia Chess Openings, Nunn’s Chess Openings and Modern Chess Openings. These books will provide you information on deciding what systems you want to employ as well as the important opening lines. The benefit of using reference book is that you have a guide on studying your opening point. In this sense, your mind will be focused on the task you will carry on instead of wasting time studying inferior scenarios.

However, studying chess opening should be more than about memorizing the variations and lines. Figuring out the plans and themes available for use on each side is one way of effectively studying the openings. You can achieve it by using database games that provide examples of games played in higher level in the exact opening variations and lines you are studying. By just browsing in the internet, you can find multitudes of free databases programs that you can use. Having the right system you can easily learn the opening and games played before.

On the other hand, you can also use specialty books that will guide you toward the specific opening system or line. Included in this book are instructions of themes and ideas that you should learn and think about in your studies as well as in the actual game. Likewise, you can also learn ideas on how to trap your opponent at your advantage. However, specialty books are effective after you have referred to opening references, databases and played lot of games thus you will master the opening in chess.

If you are just beginning on this game, you can use the combination of databases and reference books for you to obtain general idea of the things happening in different openings. You can also achieve more insights about the subtle variations and differences that you can use in your own game. This will be your doorway to play well in the middle and end game. After you have mastered the opening until you reached at least 1800 USCF, it is then the time to work on the middle and end game. These parts of the game will be the deciding phase of the battle. No matter how good you are in the opening if you come across trouble in middle and end game, you will find hard time gaining your tempo. For this reason, you should not overuse your time studying and planning the opening but also towards the end of the game. Doing so, you can take in control the board throughout the game.