Before you choose a Chess Opening DO THIS!!!

[@davidblue819]

That's all great advice, worth replaying, writing down, thinking about, trying out, and likely sticking with.

[@benedictineonchessable]

Yes, I think he talks a lot of sense. I wonder if he did a lot of coaching at amateur level.

[@willt9642]

Great video!

[@benedictineonchessable]

Cheers. Part two is available here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWmal36Edteji5o

[@joeldick6871]

I like David Norwood's book The Usborne Book of Chess Puzzles. Fond memories from my childhood.

[@benedictineonchessable]

Nice, I'll have to look into it. I like traditional puzzle books.

[@joeldick6871]

@@benedictineonchessable it's not a typical puzzle book. It's an illustrative book targeted at kids. There's a nice feature at the end where you go on a quest and you're presented with puzzles by characters playing each of the chessmen, and they're all study-like puzzles.

[@benedictineonchessable]

@@joeldick6871 Oh right, that sounds great. I'm teaching a couple of kids. I will definitely into it then. I'm also interested in David Norwood's stuff.

[@ericst-laurent1194]

Thank you for this 5 great advice i am agree with this too!!

[@benedictineonchessable]

Cheers!

[@markosborn3079]

I remember buying this book in the 90s, in might be hidden in a box somewhere, need to hunt it down now! Good recommendations too, cheers!

[@benedictineonchessable]

Nice! I love the silly photos and some of the Q+A between Davis and Norwood. Cheers.

[@thorsthunder2670]

These are some great points, especially for the time stretched adult. But I do think that the opposite holds in some ways for a super ambitious player, you should try to get experience in as many structures as possible and tackle the main lines.

[@benedictineonchessable]

Yes, that's a perfectly valid point. It does depend upon the individual. You do learn a lot playing mainlines and different structures it's a question of if the payoff is beneficial in the long run or not. It's hard to say.

[@ChessWithMouselip]

Some structures come from several openings... like the typical Black IQP which can come about from a slew of openings -- or (this surprised me when I realized it) King's Indian types of positions from a Closed Ruy Lopez! So, I think it is more beneficial to learn the ideas behind typical middlegame structures more than studying specific opening lines.

[@mrodock]

Great video, thanks!

[@benedictineonchessable]

Cheers!

[@PatrickRecordon]

At some point, I realized I didn’t have much time to study tons of variations and didn’t enjoy e4. I started 1b3 and studied « fight like Naka » on Chessable. Best choice of my chess life!

[@benedictineonchessable]

1.b3 would definitely fit the bill. You going to get that on the board 50% of the time, every time you play white. I believe it is much more aggressive than system openings such as the London. I'm quite tempted myself especially as I've been playing around with 1...b6.

[@PatrickRecordon]

@@benedictineonchessable I recommend this course for you if you don’t have it yet. It’s well written and easier to remember than what came after. Plus it’s classified by structure.

[@benedictineonchessable]

@@PatrickRecordon Thanks. I will have a look at it now. I'd have to weigh up whether if switching to it would work for me. I'd lose the d3 Ruy structure I like so much but gain from getting rid of other openings and from regularly playing similar structures in the b3 opening. It's very tempting. Thanks for letting me know about it.

[@Socrates...]

How does one master a particular opening when black has the power to respond in a way that takes you down a totally different path? Surely mastery of opening principles beats a particular opening?

[@benedictineonchessable]

Is a good question. You can go a long way with good opening principles, a good grounding never leaves you really. Opening study/theory after that can be massive black hole as you might have to study all of those black openings in order to respond if you go down that path.

[@jimmccann3856]

Steve Davis!?! A snooker player? (Never mind "weird-looking", just weird would do... ) But the Norwood rules are quite good. A key opening objective for amateurs should be to invalidate the prep of bookish opponents via an early radical trimming of the opening tree. (Only God & Fischer should play 1 e4 ?! )

[@davidblue819]

Steve Davis the snooker player is a great idea. It gets right away from the idea that the grandmaster giving advice is a guru who knows everything, and the amateur is a baby who knows nothing. It's impossible to look down on Steve David. He already knows how to concentrate, how to compete, and how to be a champion. He doesn't need anyone to hold his hand and tell him that "practice makes perfect."

[@benedictineonchessable]

Ha, ha yes. Steve is an amateur chess player. The book is Norwood teaching Steve with the reader as a third party. I bought it for a laugh and keep meaning to get Steve to sign it but I keep forgetting. I'm trying to play E4 as a sort of system opening in some variations. For example I have a system against the Sicilian and play the Ruy as a system (d3) and try to fit other openings (Pirc etc) into those systems. I still need openings against certain openings though. Work in progress.