How to Build an Opening Repertoire | Chess Meditations

[@HangingPawns]

Here's a great tool for learning openings: chessbook.com/hanging-pawns Chessbook allows you to import and practice your repertoire. It focuses on moves people actually play as well as your mistakes. Connect it to your lichess or chess com accounts to correct the biggest gaps in your repertoire!

[@johnmorgan9782]

"Nobody tells you what to do against the bad moves..." YES. YES YES YES. I've thought that for YEARS. Funny story: when I was in college, I used to play a lot of speed chess with my roommate. We both sucked, but it was fun. Anyway, the chess team folks at our college knew we did this (but also knew we sucked). One day, one of their players was ill and they risked forfeiting. A guy ran to my room, and I was the only one there. I agreed to play, and on the walk over to the room, they taught me notation. Anyway, I won my game, much to everyone's surprise. We go to the pub to analyze the matches, as was custom. They look at my game for ages, thoroughly confused, and in the end concluded that I had won because my moves were so atrociously bad, and my opponent missed numerous opportunities to punish (and even mate) me. The moves were so bad that they concluded that he must have convinced himself that I was a savant or a GM...

[@fakecubed]

Now that I know a bunch of opening theory, I have to say it drives me absolutely crazy to play against people with little-to-none. What I want to do is practice certain variations and learn them better, but my opponents just won't cooperate, and take me down all sorts of bizarre games. I try to just play solid chess and look for tactics opportunities but it's very frustrating. I probably need to find some higher level practice partners and get them to agree to play specific openings and variations and see where we get with it.

[@buk1733]

There is no point of memorizing the best moves if you can’t punish the bad moves

[@dxfvgyhjh]

"we both sucked, but it was fun" hahahahahah

[@fakecubed]

google owns you I didn’t say I was losing to these players. I said I was disappointed not to get to practice against somebody who knows as much as I do.

[@r0yce]

Even after 1 year of searching I couldn't find a resource where they teach why a move is bad. You have to manually try bad moves against engines.

[@Cluns436]

"it's not bad, it's just not good" -every chess teacher ever

[@colethomson7267]

The system of studying 1 move for every possible variation per week is genius, i'm going to use this advice.

[@HangingPawns]

Thanks:) I'm glad you think the system is viable. Let me know how it goes!

[@cheesiechess3656]

Did you keep at it? Did it work? Do you know your openings now?

[@Rahulsingh-iu1in]

What does it mean i dont understand

[@mdmassi]

@@Rahulsingh-iu1in if you play e4 you have several variations what your opening can play so you list all of them. than you do the second move and now the opening also has several moves he can do so you list them all (and memorize ) and you keep going till let s say 10-15 moves. this is alot of things to memorize . I d say as a casual player just learn like 3 main things your opening can do and hope for the best haha.

[@iYankrozHD]

Your thumbnails are a piece of art I must say. I watch a lot of KZbin but damn these thumbnails are beautiful? Do you make them yourself?

[@07jackg]

So, this is what I understood by the proposed method: 1a) Pick an opening move for White. 1b) Find every solid response (e.g. 3-5). 1c) For each of these, find a response of your own. 1d) Repeat steps 1b and 1c for your first 3/4 moves (assuming you check for the 3-5 best responses to your own move each time, this will result in an initial study of 27-125 lines as White) 2) Repeat all of step 1 for black, in which case you start with your response to the 3-5 most common openings for white (resulting in another 27-125 lines studied) At this stage you will have studied 54-250 lines total, equating to an understanding of the most likely outcomes for the first 3/4 moves of ANY game you will play. From here, allow further study to be guided by your favourite position. Please clarify any misunderstanding I have then away from the video, being mindful that, even if I have misunderstood the depth into which the study has been completed, I am more interested in whether I have understood the essential method. Many thanks for the content :)

[@xHannibal]

Pretty accurate but maybe the number of lines is probably higher depending on how well prepared you want to be. Like I play typical d4 openings and need to know over 150 10-20 move lines to play against all of Blacks main options where I’ll be very prepared but that ignores less common things like the Albin CounterGambit, Austrian Defense, Chigorin Defense etc. Right now I maybe properly remember 100 of those lines, when I remember all 150 I’ll probably shift focus to solidifying my Black repertoire then slowly expand my White to be maybe 200-250 or so lines to cover certain things I don’t know yet.

[@cloudofpk5904]

yeah keep learning all the openings and their responses till the time memory is really tired .

[@whyvern6817]

@@xHannibal Well you can pretty much cut that down by a few lines by ignoring natural moves and instead focus on some unnatural positional ideas that you wouldnt have thought of

[@danalfredjohnnaungayan4420]

"Whether you feel comfortable having hanging pawns..." I see what you did there

[@kavyanshagrawal5279]

Hanging pawns also mean two Connected isolated pawns

[@gabsterrivera5674]

@@kavyanshagrawal5279 dude, the name of the channel's "Hanging Pawn" r/woooooosh

[@RahulSharma-oq2ut]

Roll credits

[@rodgepaderon]

I loved this guy how he tackled his subjects, point by point. I dont find it boring despite prolonged discussion. Technically, he avoids annoying sounds, his voice is clear, and he is a simple, unassuming guy. He is everything a coach should be. I would say, this is a highly recommended channel. You guys better watch this.

[@flowbare]

A very solid approach. I particularly like the advice to limit the number of your openings so as not to become a “Jack of all trades,” then study all the variations. That’s already a tall order. Thanks for the sound advice.

[@HangingPawns]

No problem. I'm happy you think what I've said was useful.

[@Koyasi78]

It's like learning a martial art. Pick one and learn it to the best ability you can. Less you learn nothing.

[@Chesstastic5000]

Ben Finegold told me that openings do not matter and as a result there are even grandmasters that play bizarre openings. The reason why coaches recommend lower rated players to diversify is because it allows the player to be always thinking for themselves in a sense. One of the underlying reasons is probably lower rated players tend to memorize lines and when there is a curveball they crumble. For example lets say you enjoy a certain structure, but your opponent decides to play his own way and all of a sudden you lose. A friend of mine showed me a tournament game in the sicilian where after d4 (open siciilian) the opponent did not take the pawn. Now this is obviously a bad move however black won the game. Anyways as a nobody these are my 2 cents. Push forth on your journey!!!!

[@HangingPawns]

You (and Ben Finegold) are correct to some extent. Being on your own in a game will certainly sharpen your senses and make you a better player overall, and there are grandmasters who play off-beat openings. But... if two 2500 players were playing and one of them used the latvian gambit, the other one would win 9/10 games. That's just the way it is. The better you are, the better you get at utilizing your advantage properly and punishing your opponents mistakes. That's why I think that while it's essential to be able to play solidly while out of book, you also have to maximize your chances in the opening by knowing all the best lines and being better prepared that the other person. I'm sure Ben Finegold played his strongest opening when trying to get his Gm norms or to win a tournament. Combine both is the key:)

[@alboresivn7012]

@@HangingPawns So, to what level is it advisable to study like this? ... I definitely think it is not for beginners. It is everyone's responsibility to always clarify that, there are many who are dedicated to playing even systems like London, but their thinking is square in other positions.

[@DarkSeaFriend]

It's all about the Benjamins :)

[@rishabhsolanki7595]

@@alboresivn7012 exactly my question when should we study in this manner? And as a beginner how should be approach the opening? Should be master on particular and all the variations of trying different ones? Please help :-)

[@Jj82op]

@@rishabhsolanki7595 I don't think there is a fixed moment to start studying like this, I'm about 1500 elo on lichess and I have decided to start a fixed repertoire. Before that I actually learned a lot from videos and I would play a fixed system against almost everything because it wouldn't require much preparation, I played London and King's Indian. I am now on a level in which I can loose from the opening so I decided to fix this problem early on but you could start learning later or perhaps even earlier. As a beginner I learned the "principals" from mixing and matching everything I learned from multiple videos, some not actually with educational purposes, but I was able to understand something new from most videos even from Hikaru's speedruns. If you prefer a more step-by-step method I recommend you watch the coaching sessions from Pogchamps, those are very well done and instructive.

[@freezemedia]

Hands down my favorite chess channel. I learn so much from you. Your humility and willingness to admit your weaknesses, with a commitment to fix it, is inspiring.

[@cristianmicu]

3:50 this is gold. tens of books on how to choose a opening say one thing, you say another thing and i strongly believe you are right and not all those authors, some of them being GM's Respect

[@xzaksis]

Such great advice! I've been scouring all of youtube for this type of content. I especially liked the advice to master certain openings and study responses to common openings. We don't want to be jacks of all trades and masters of none, right? Also, the comment on how everyone will tell you how to play the good moves and how to defend against them but they don't tell you about the bad moves and how easily you can lose against those who don't adhere to strict chess theory; this has been so painfully true for me as I've picked up chess as a hobby recently and getting whooped (exaggeration) by casual players. Please keep making these "meditations"; you're by far my favorite chess teacher/enthusiast for me to watch and learn from.

[@HangingPawns]

Thanks for the comment Zakary! I'm glad you found my advice useful. I plan on doing the meditations on most key aspects of the game, as well as on common issues such as this one or understanding key squares, preparing for specific opponents, learning how to cope with defeat and things like that. And yeah, thanks for watching:)

[@theinacircleoftheancientpu492]

Of course it must be emphasised, learning these openings should primarily focus on understanding ideas and avoiding pitfalls. You will naturally start to remember lines over time but rote memorisation is asking for trouble long term.

[@frostyphoenix2864]

Him while recording this “I’m not really good at any opening” him now “I have learned every single opening to mastery and all the theory”

[@berniecat8756]

You're the best chess instructor on KZbin. Thank you so much for doing this!

[@lukemarfim]

Love the lesson! You sound like a master already, is only a question of time. Your channel is helping me to follow the footprints of your journey and learn how to navigate in such wild waters. I'm a brazilian and you're a croatian, but even living so far away from each other and being born into so different cultures, we're both Caro-Kann players of the type that will not accept to lose when the Advanced variation happens on the board. I'm 26 now and I'm also striving to become a master. Hope you achieved your goals described on this video, by now. Your method is amazing and is helping me to improve my opening repertoire as well. Thank you, Stjepan. Wish you strength. Best regards, Lucas Macedo

[@gasmimohamedbaha559]

Thank God you mentioned it !! "Semi bad" moves are the most challenging moves in any game. If you can study those cases it would be a huge advantage since most of the time players play some improvised semi bad moves instead of the theoretical plays which we are prepared for. so that's takes anyone off guard

[@dante350]

This channel is gold. Keep up the good work. You've really inspired me to get really good at this amazing game.

[@stevelenores5637]

1) Transpositions are always important, especially if you have limited study time. (Think of this as more than one path to achieve your goal). 2) Style - You have to dedicate many hours to chess to get any good at it so chose a "pleasing style". I started off in open e-pawn openings when I was young then switched to more closed d-pawn openings. Now I'm back to e-pawn openings because it suits my style (aggressive play with initiative). Don't get me wrong though, I like to play prophylactic moves also because I prefer my prey to be helpless (in other words prevent counter play or you will find yourself on the receiving end). Those who prefer sniper styles might like hypermodern opens and the English. D-pawn openings are more suited to the Python slow strangulation players.

[@nycthinklab966]

Great teacher. Thank you. Huge point about gaming that when the body is strong the mind becomes stronger than your body.

[@kennethbradfield6241]

One tweak to your system (that I employ as a beginning player myself) is to start recognizing similar patterns across different lines. This will allow a chess player to lighten the load of memorization to employ their opening repertoire. Although it will start with routine lists of possible moves, I'll start to look at a position and think "wait, this looks like that other position I looked at yesterday...how is it the same, how is it different?..." After some time, my 20...30...200 lines start to turn into a smaller number of motifs in the opening that start repeating themselves. Perhaps when I'm completely done with a long list of variations (say, 10 moves deep) of a single opening line (e.g. the Caro Kann) I might have already been exposed to general ideas that apply to many other openings. A good example is the French Advance and Caro Kann Advance. In the French black can play c7-c5 in one developmental move while in the Caro Kann black can maneuver their light-squared bishop outside the pawn chain. With that subtle difference, I might have some insight into French Advance positions that will lighten my load if I choose to explore French Advance as a potential opening. If I'm wrong about their similarity, I'll begin to understand how these subtle positional differences might not be so subtle after all.

[@HangingPawns]

That is true. I agree with what you said completely. Pattern recognition is the fastest way to learn as, as you pointed out, it will start happening automatically after a lot of learning. Thanks for the input!

[@stampdealer]

This is an incredibly helpful video for me, thank you. I am just starting my chess journey at age 52, and trying to sort through the overabundance of available information. As you suggest, I think I will "be a maniac" and pick one opening each for white and black, and do my best to understand them as thoroughly as possible.

[@yann7196]

I agree about the choice of the opening: depending of your style and as you do not know it at the beginning you must try different opening until you feel confortable with one and you understand the middle game plans ... I deeply agree with the move by move approach to be ready for everything until you are in your pet variation. Where i disagree is openings are not that important later on if you want to be a master ... To me if you are only playing e4 or d4 you will miss something in your chess knowledge, plus even if you reach 2400 elo or more with your system.People will prepare stuff against you and you will be lost. I played D4 for many years and now I play e4 and c4 to switch. Switch makes me feel the game as more fun because you are not playing the same position ... and in some years I will be a complete player. When I reach a great elo then perhaps I will choose to go deeper and deeper in some variations and choose to be a e4 player or a d4 player ... Now that i choosed my repertoire with white and black. I am confortable to play different systems and ones I play on the internet I am interested to play the middle game and work on the position plus my transition from middle game to end game !!! If I am surprised by something in the opening or I forgot something. I go searching in the opening what went wrong. What I work hard on now is improving my endgame knowledge. Ok i seems boring .... but not a lot of player works on it. Secondly even with a drawish position or a little minus you can do a come back and win and thirdly it is easier to work on because you have simple position and step by step you improve throught more and more difficult position: Mate with a queen ok, mate with a rook ok .... know the philidor position to defend with one rook against one pawn and a rook ok ... and so on In the end what I am saying is ok your method will improve you faster in term of elo ... but at some point I feel you will be stuck. What do you think about it ? Ps: To search for an opening you can search by the pawn structure. I played the french defense. then I wanted to switch so I tried, the caro khan, the alhekine and the scandinavian. They have the same pawn structure.

[@HangingPawns]

Well, yeah, I agree completely. At some point, this method becomes almost obsolete. But that's only because you would have too many more important things to improve at. I wanted to say that this is crucial once you start playing seriously in order to build a solid enough repertoire which won't cost you points in the opening. I think there is a small number of people who can play both d4 and e4 while their rating is low. I feel as if one must first master one and use it to become, let's say, an FM, and only then diversify and switch. Thanks for the input:)

[@rishabhsolanki7595]

Hey I'm at beginner level. Should I learn and perfect all the variations of a single opening or diversify? Please help I want to learn :-)

[@jujubean9063]

I select openings to use based on what skills I want to develop. I also select them based on how forcing they are. My primary weapon for white is the Bishops Gambit of the KGA for white. This drastically limits my opening prep requirements as anyone who plays 1...e5 will face 2.f4. I use an engine to help me evaluate as I personally work through the different lines. I have found some lines where natural moves by black actually give white a huge edge. I play this opening because I figure if Ivanchuk can beat super GMs with it in rapid matches, I should be able to use it to beat anyone I wish. Nobody teaches you to respond to bad moves and that is why you need to run through odd moves with your analysis board and "explore" the opening a bit each day. I love the bishops gambit because it develops my ability to play with a "weakened" king (although black's king is usually weaker), it develops my ability to use the initiative, it develops my ability to spot piece sacrifices, it develops my ability to turn from attack mode to consolidate into a winning position mode when the time comes, it also develops my accuracy as inaccurate moves will be punished hard. For similar reasons I also play the benoni defense in response to d4. It is very hard to play accurately in a benoni game. My CPL is usually really high after those matches. For every move white can make, I have a move I know I will make. I have a long way to go before my rep is more complete but this is an approach you really want to have. You can always change openings in the future. I think it is good to dabble in other openings when playing blitz or bullet as you can use it as a chance to explore other openings and the middlegame ideas that result. If you only ever study the Scandinavian, than you are only learning to develop certain plans. So, when I do my analysis and prep work, I am actively looking for bad responses and how I would respond. Main lines are main lines because the other responses are suspicious, so you just need to explore why the main lines have become the main lines and that is done by analyzing bad moves on your own. No book will do that for you. I also use lichess player database so I get an idea of the most popular responses which I have found really useful. Why is this useful. Well, you should prepare for the PROBABILITY of different openings. Why study an opening that is unlikely to occur. You should use lichess player database (which is games by regular players) to determine the most likely responses and focus your study on those. You can't prepare for literally everything, So you need to begin with what is most common. Lichess player database is a VERY useful tool. There are certain positions in KGA that I have been able to achieve many times where white is basically winning thanks to this tool. People just walk right into it over and over again. I would have never found these lines if I was using a GM database. Seriously, this tool is incredible and if you aren't using it, then you are wasting a ton of time studying statistically improbably positions. Once you have some basic openings and some basic responses, you build. Let's say you end up playing a rapid game where you get the King's Gambit Declined. Then after that game you spend 5-10 minutes exploring that opening deeper. Do this with every game and you can build your opening repertoire in a less painful way. When you explore, you specifically explore the line your opponent chose to play. Ok, so after all this you should be able to handle most "bad moves" from your opponent, and with this technique, you will continue to develop that ability with each game. So what happens when you do get someone to go down your main lines? Okay, now you have an equal position where maybe you like your position, but what do you do? This is huge. You can play the opening perfectly and lose everything you had worked for with one move. Your ideal scenario should be that your opponent plays bad moves, but you need to know what to do when they play good moves as well. For this, I use lichess. I set up a study with chapters. Each chapter has a position that is thematic for the opening. Some chapters have positions that are thematic for the endgames. I then spend a little time analyzing some lines and I play against Stockfish at the max level with those positions. My goal isn't to beat stockfish. My goal is to actively study and develop my skill when the positions I want are eventually reached. That being said, I feel like a ton of people don't take advantage of being able to play the computer. You can set up different winning endgames, or drawn endgames, and develop your ability to actually convert. Stockfish won't let you convert if you play them inaccurately. You should play your dream positions against the computer as often as possible. Your goal shouldn't be to win as that is very unlikely. Your goal is to develop your understanding of the plans by having the computer crush you over and over again. I once went 40 moves in the Berlin Endgame against the computer at max skill (3000) before I made a slight inaccuracy and the computer destroyed me for it. The first time I tried to play the Berlin Endgame against the computer, I didn't make it 5 moves before the computer started destroying me. It is one thing to achieve the position you are hoping for out of the opening, and it is another thing to actually know how to play that opening. The great thing about the computer is that it will play whatever opening you wish. You can set up various positions where your opponent takes on various plans, and then play those out. So two big takeaways here, 1. Use lichess player database so you can determine statistical probabilities of certain responses thereby narrowing your field of study. If you play 1...e5 against 1.e4. Then you only really need to seriously study Nf3 and maybe f4. Nf3 happens over 10 times as often as f4 and the other options are even less frequent. Why study 2. Nc3 in depth if you will see it maybe 1/100 - 1/1000 matches? Get a basic approach and call it good. Serious focus should be on the most likely responses. A GM database wont help non-GMs to develop openings as we aren't playing GMs... We need to focus our study on the player pool that we are in. 2. Actually play your dream positions against the computer on a regular basis. Maybe one 10 minute match a day will do. You can also set up positions where a dubious move is played by the opponent and try to punish it against stockfish at max level. It is one thing to know moves out to a certain turn number, and it is another thing to actually know how to play the opening once you have it. On top of that, you can't solve all the problems over the board. Use the computer to help you develop your understanding of the openings. I think one thing that most of us struggle with is spending more time playing than we do training. Most of your time should be spent training if you want to improve. I would say 80% training and 20% playing. Simply playing the openings will help you get better at them over time, but it is not efficient to just wait for your opponent to finally play what your are hoping for. If you want a challenge. Try to play the Berlin Endgame against max level stockfish. It is such a weird position to play and goes against my natural inclination which is simply to attack hard. Kasparov had the same issue with this opening. So, I play this opening against the computer often to develop my understanding of this type of position. Oddly enough, I notice certain things popping up in other openings that remind me of this one and I am able to see a good move for that other position much easier. This is the great thing about actually picking positions to train with, and then training with them... Some of the positional ideas can be applied to other openings. When studying endgames, you don't study literally every endgame possible. You choose key endgames to develop your understanding of the ideas so you can apply those ideas to any endgame. The same should be done with openings. You don't just study openings so you get some position. You study opening so you can develop your ability to carry out specific thematic plans. Doing this will help you in other openings. Thus, you don't actually need to study a million openings. You just need to really deeply study a few. Make sure there are different ideas to study in the openings so you aren't overlapping too much. Example: You don't just study pawn endgames, you also study other endgames as well. The same is true with openings. I do KGA for initiative training among other things. I do benoni training for precision and playing tough positions. I do the Berlin Defense to train my ability to play solid and my ability to achieve a draw. I have reasons for each opening. I don't pick them based on my style... I don't pick them based on whether I like to play them. I pick them because they are forcing to some level and/or have themes that requires certain skills and understandings that I wish to develop. When studying fluid dynamics, you don't memorize all the words in the textbook. You attempt to actually understand the subject itself. When studying openings, you shouldn't memorize opening lines just to reach certain positions. That is a very incomplete approach and is the reason why so many people struggle in the middlegame. Reaching a position you haven't truly trained with is basically the same thing as reaching an unexpected position you haven't trained with. The only real difference is that your confidence will be higher in the first position. Love the channel. You are killing it with these videos. Beautiful thumbnails every time. I love it.

[@heinzschmidt29]

Hey! I know it's been a year since you wrote this comment but I just wanted to thank you! That is probably the longest and most helpful comment I've ever seen!

[@aservantofelohim]

Fantastic video man! Awesome stuff!

[@chaimrochlitz8523]

Tnx so much!! I’ve started watching you when you were still at the beginning, and you’ve bolstered my chess play tremendously!! Really appreciate your passion and creativity, keep em’ coming.

[@r0yce]

The part at 21:55 is literally my problem. I have no idea how to punish bad moves or why bad moves are bad moves. Opening theories tend to skip that part.

[@DS-bz4mz]

I know it's been 2 years and I'm not even a good player, but I think that in the opening phase of the game, unless it's a total blunder, it's about sticking to the principles. Just playing solidly, taking the space, coordinating your pieces etc. As you climb the rating ladder, you're gonna incorporate more advanced concepts like spotting pawn breaks, taking advantage of your opponent's poor piece coordination or middle game plans. If you stick to the chess principles, you're gonna kind of passively capitalise on your opponent's mistakes.

[@LeonEdwardsGoat]

Its not about the opening theory then. If they play bad moves no opening theory will tell you what to do (too much to memorise), you just have to be the better player.

[@MLarios97]

Opening theory covers the optimal moves for both parts. Therefore if the opponent plays something different, you now know that it's a sub optimal move and have to look for a way to punish. If opening theory were to teach you how to counter every possible bad move then chess would just be a game of memory, which would make it pretty lame.

[@pokey5428]

"They will know you are a maniac!" Great line.

[@AnnoShark]

Great content. I think you're on to something with this analytical approach. Thank you for sharing your steps. This kind of content is very hard to find although many people like myself are looking for it. I'm looking forward seeing you making progress. Keep the great work up!

[@HangingPawns]

Thanks a lot:) I'm glad you find my videos useful!

[@richardfredlund8846]

very interesting. I've been playing chess for a long time but never managed to learn much in the way of theory. This video is the best I've seen about how to learn openings. Thank you.

[@richardfredlund8846]

I should add that one thing that occurred to me when you were talking about how to systematically learn the openings. (which is excellent), is that it might be useful to play some of the positions you end up ... from position against stockfish a few times to get a feel for what the strategies are.

[@FriedChickenMaster]

This is the best advise I have ever heard and I have watched tons of videos and ready a lot of books . This type of structure and gradual improvement is much welcome because of how much info there is. Keep up the good work ! More like this please ! Also , have you used Chessable for any of your training ?

[@HangingPawns]

Thanks for the feedback! There will be more videos like this in the future:) No, I haven't used chessable yet, I will check it out.

[@phillipbroughton3086]

This makes so much sense. Now I’ve decided to pick one opening as white. Either 1e4, 1d4, 1 Nf3 or 1c4. I go with 1e4 purely based on Fischer’s ‘Best by test!’. You don’t need them all. Same with black, one opening against each of the above and try to master it. It certainly cuts down your workload. Avoids being a Jack of all trades and master of none!

[@mariogilligan841]

I wonder how somebody could learn the openings in a better way! Thanks again!

[@wilsonkurien369]

And you sir, thank you for bringing an introspection inside me

[@arymondtech1327]

Thanks im starting to love this game again! where to start to study i guess i keep on playing again. i just want to say i love your video thanks man.

[@jamesreed4483]

I think you are going to have a very interesting and long chess life. You present well and are interesting to listen to. One thing came to mind after watching this video is the idea of retaining the information. If you had studied that odd looking ...b5 move a year before the game chances are you would have forgotten your analysis. Happens all the time. There are many ways that are suppose to help retain these important memories. One of the most popular today is the idea of spaced repetition where after some short but optimal length of time you are forced to review previous studies. The training method at Chessables is a good example of this. You cannot expect to study once and retain forever. You need to keep circling back and reviewing. Best of luck to you.

[@samcatsam]

dude, Stephan, you're hella great at this.

[@CastroMKE]

This video was great. I know the common ideas of the French Defense, but when you said list all the variations before you can get to your golden position I found 5 common sidelines, and another 5 uncommon sidelines. I can see now why my games as Black have higher loss rate now. I've been playing the sidelines with the same ideas as the mainlines and reviewing just a couple GM games I'm like, wow! Amazing tips, man. I appreciate your work.

[@CastroMKE]

oh and that's just leading into move 2. lol

[@ZachMay569]

I am inspired to start building a repertoire. Thanks again

[@financnyminimalizmus3621]

This is just the greatest channel of all time. Thank you Stjepan!

[@divukman]

Helps a lot and makes a lot of sense to me! I will try to do that!

[@suryavajra]

This is an awesome framework. I’m gonna start my own indepth study tomorrow.

[@StreamingStronghold]

Best video ever about opening repetuars thanks

[@griffisme4833]

I've chosen: For white: Vienna after e4 e5, Alapin after e4 c5 (I've also studied what to do against the Scandanavian, French, and Caro-Kann) and for black: Sicilian against e4, dutch against d4 and I have studied how to play against the English and Reti as well as briefly looking at PET openings like g3, b3 or b4.

[@AndrewWCarson]

It's interesting that you attribute your loss to b5 in that game to a preparation problem rather than a calculation problem. I would never blame one of my bad moves on preparation failure unless my prep was outright wrong.

[@sachiperez]

I've played chess very casually throughout my life, but i've never studied chess. It seems overwhelming....

[@fakecubed]

Study the basics first. Understand the reasons why so many openings are obsessed with center map control. Understand overprotection and good positional play. When you've got a solid foundation in solid chess, it becomes a lot easier to learn openings because you can often figure out immediately what the point of the moves are. Then you're not just memorizing moves as some rote exercise, but developing a true understanding of the openings and what the objectives are. Then, it's just a matter of learning the various traps... the correct moves become almost obvious to you without even needing to specifically memorize them, because you know what you're trying to accomplish. I never really studied tactics. I sort of picked them up over a lifetime of casual play, but if your tactics are lacking, especially in identifying tactics that might be used on you, it's worth making a bit of a study. The best part of playing solid positional chess is it largely inoculates you against tactics, and you'll only run into trouble if there's a particular trap in a position you just aren't aware of and haven't calculated.

[@neach-brathaidh-fala]

Thanks Stjepan, as a low rated player I have often wondered how to prep for bad moves when I am trying to follow an opening I am learning. This gives a good method of preparation. All the best on your journey!

[@HangingPawns]

No problem! I hope it works for you. And thanks, all the best on yours too!

[@jaydub2971]

I started getting better when I forced myself to limit study to the English as White, the Pirc against 1.e4, and the Old Benoni against 1.d4. Good advice, particularly regarding preparation against non-engine moves.

[@carltonace1606]

I also have chosen one opening for each inevitability. For white, I stick with the Scotch Game, and if confronted with a Sicilian, I play the Alapin. For black, e4 is meet with the Petrov (which is nice if I have to play against it with White) and d4 is meet with the Dutch. I'm glad to see this is advised by another chess player!

[@dkpandey1996]

This is the kind of video I was looking for! I have been struggling with my opening and needed some advice. Thank you for making this video; I'm sure this will help me improve my game.

[@rishabhsolanki7595]

Are you at beginner or intermediate? And do you like keep practicing one particular opening at the beginners level or how? Please help I want to learn

[@dkpandey1996]

@@rishabhsolanki7595 Yeah, I'm intermediate level. One of the ways I learn an opening is to play more and more games with it, then analyze them. I find it easier to understand the ideas first, from books or videos, then try to implement it in my games instead of just memorizing lines directly. It takes some time, but gradually you become comfortable in those types of positions and your play improves.

[@rishabhsolanki7595]

@@dkpandey1996 could you recommend any books? Also thank you so much ☺️

[@dkpandey1996]

@@rishabhsolanki7595 I haven't really gone through any openings' book yet, but I find books by Yasser Seirawan and Jeremy Silman very instructive and easy to understand. My System by Aron Nimzowitsch is also a good read.

[@timmarshall4881]

Thank you for your honesty and thoughts.

[@nahweh5938]

I like your approach to opening study and opening prep. After 16 months how have you altered the method presented here?

[@balloe3466]

Of course you've got a video on this. Thanks, you're an amazing help.

[@rhempo]

This video was exactly what I was looking for, thank you for sharing and reading my mind! :D I really appreciate that you don't suggest any shortcuts but instead propose an actual study plan to get better. I love to study and I'm extremely methodical at it, but I didn't know (nor did I actually find anywhere) how to approach the openings in an effective way. I feel very motivated! I'm a new gamer, but I'm studing it every single day for two months now...just, I kind of lacked some sort of a structure in my studies about openings. Very nice job mate, cheers.

[@HangingPawns]

Great to hear that mate! Glad this helped to get you motivated and gave you an idea of a structure! Good luck studying and let me know how things go!

[@HangingPawns]

Great to hear that mate! Glad this helped to get you motivated and gave you an idea of a structure! Good luck studying and let me know how things go!

[@scoobydoo89765]

I found your advice very thought provoking and I will follow it

[@aidenmalan4151]

very nice video my friend I havent commented in a while bit best believe im still your number one subscriber keep up the good work on the videos this is your year. I'll drop a challenge on lichess sometime soon as our chess calender year is about to start too in SA

[@HangingPawns]

Hello Aiden, nice to hear from you again! Drop that challenge:)

[@gamingcollection270]

Thank you for all the tips and hints you did give me. I hope it will help me with building my own solid repertoire.

[@whoadityanawandar]

Thank you for all your content. All the good luck from India. We understand the hard work you are putting in.

[@markn3586]

I think your method of developing the opening repertoire is a great idea. It can get a bit complex after a few moves. But still, it's better to have thought out what to do ahead of time in your opening instead of trying to figure it out over the board when you are on the clock. I have found that using the Chess Openings Wizard allows me to build my repertoire with your idea in mind by building it up over time. I have started with the moves needed to get to my "dream" position and then start adding additional deviations from that. Good luck with your chess development

[@fazariro]

You really told the right approach. Thanks

[@SuperSaniyat]

I mostly play c4 and d4, but your video and messages are still instructional...!

[@lonewolf5238]

All I can say is I wish I had the benefit of this wisdom and guidance many years ago when I was still a believer. Back before I gave up competitive play and turned my back on the game. Now I have returned to chess for the mental workout. But it is a decision that I still regret: the path not taken.

[@davidf3877]

Very interesting system. Thank you!

[@ALTTABINMAINMENU]

If you have to study how to punish bad moves one at a time, it probably means the opening is bad and/or you don't understand main ideas. The problem with all these dubious gambits like Deutz is that they're bad, but club players also suck at defense, so they kind of work. Also it looks a bit inconsistent that your black repertoire is very solid and calm (Semi Slav and Karo-Cann), but your main white opening is all of a sudden a d4 gambit in an open game...

[@HughMyronGains]

phenomenal video. thank you

[@Molb0rg]

Nobody tells you what to do against bad moves - exactly. It took me a month to realize that simple thing.

[@vjaric]

Odličan video. Hvala ti!

[@shamsrizvi6324]

Thank u so much.because of your channel my chess is improving

[@paulmagoto8994]

Very good advise. Thank you

[@subhashchesslover4210]

Sir thank for the ideas, it helped me a lot

[@sauravanand9100]

Thanks a lot. Big fan of your work.

[@jonathandoe1367]

Your training method sounds very interesting. I'll keep it in mind as I'm studying, but I'm currently learning the basics.

[@rishabhsolanki7595]

What opening you play as beginner?

[@jonathandoe1367]

@@rishabhsolanki7595 I actually haven't played in a little while, because I've been busy with other things and I haven't had anyone to play, but I really like the English as White, and the Caro-Kann as Black.

[@saikalyan1025]

He is a humble guy although he has a lot more knowledge than me (if u r a lower rated player like me), i have recently noticed that whether it is agadmator or this guy, these chess guys are very realistic, pragmatic and hate boasting. They will talk about their successes like nothing has been achieved and about losses like a lot need to be improved.

[@alakamyok1261]

Second chess KZbinr that i ve ever followed. Discovered your channel just 2 days ago. Your videos are well thought and helpful. You are very professional , loved your channel. I strongly recommend you to have some help with the audio, white noise and sometimes swallow noise disturbs a bit. I am sure subscribers can help with that. Thank you for amazing videos.

[@ivyzhang450]

Hey! Just wanted to say that your videos are such a great source of information and I've been enjoying them :) I had one question, so I’ve been stagnant at around 1600 and I’ve heard and read how playing the Sicilian and Ruy help expand your knowledge so I was thinking about changing to that. Do you think it’s worth changing my repertoire of the Reti/Petrov for this to try and expand my horizons? Thanks!

[@HangingPawns]

Well, any sound opening is ok definitely, so 1.Nf3 and the Petroff (which Caruana has been employing with great success) are no exceptions. The Ruy Lopez and the Sicilian are definitely much broader though, and they are sure to expand your knowledge. I would suggest you study them for at least a few months before switching. Choose lines and variations that suit you, learn the sidelines and ways in which your opponents can avoid what you want to play and only then try them. And good luck!

[@ivyzhang450]

Oh, forgot to say! I really have not picked openings yet. I kind of just bounce around openings... how do I pick what openings to start focusing on? I would love to follow your method and see if it helps me as well :) I don't feel good in my black openings but I also haven't studied them a lot but they just don't feel that good. I'm not sure how to explain the feeling but would love to see your opening on this!

[@ivyzhang450]

@@HangingPawns Thanks so much! I'll be sure to study the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian for a few months then :) Excited to start, and keep us updated on how the training goes for you!

[@HangingPawns]

@@ivyzhang450 I'm subjective - pick the CaroKann:D No, really, you have to browse through a lot of games and see which openings seem interesting. Pick a few, go more in depth and then choose one to master:)

[@ivyzhang450]

@@HangingPawns Sorry for bothering again, but did you mean to study what I'm currently playing or to change to the Ruy Lopez and Sicilian now? I think it was a bit unclear or maybe I just didn't understand what your first comment was saying.

[@ramprasadshendge3897]

Much helpful Keep making such a valuable videos Thanks for ur great job

[@FarmgateCottage]

Great video

[@MSA-uj7cp]

THANK you. You are the Arnold Schwazzenneger of Chess.

[@Josh-dm8qi]

I am very excited to keep up with your progress.

[@climbscience4813]

I really like this method. To me that's a bit like solving tactics, which is also mostly about punishing bad previous moves. Just here you also have some not so obvious moves in there...

[@spd7693]

"I am more afraid of an opponent who has performed the same kick in 1000 games than the one who have performed 1000 kicks once." Bruce Lee.

[@baskarsathya9]

i hope you get something in return for sharing what you know to so many, so freely - youtube hopefully pays you based on the traffic here, you are a budding chess learner's dream come true teacher....just the right amount of information, in an amazing "i am still learning" tone and the right amount of practical game time challenges (like what to do against bad moves!?) and so much more...that accent too...too good ! :)

[@filipefhn]

I love this channel. I learned a lot from it and I go the the opening videos series as reference a lot. I'd love if those series expanded to cover on what to do when opponents do "bad" moves in certain positions. As a low ELO Alekhine's Defence player, I get to see a lot of weird stuff happen, even tho I like to learn from mistakes, I can't really find material from other players on how to push advantage on bad moves. I guess I need to buy some chess books on the subject or something like that.

[@inbikewetrust]

I found this very helpful. Thank you!

[@AnxiousMumblecore]

Great video, I think it's really important to focus on a low mumber of openings and dig deeper into them. I like your approach to opening repertoire development. The idea of Caro-Kann / Slav as black is really great. One thing regarding its potential of transposition - I saw that idea that I really like and currently don't see any drawbacks of it which is to play 1... c6 against both e4 and d4 if you feel that you're better in Caro-Kann than Slav and would like to transpose - chances of getting Caro-Kann from such move order are >20% even for highest level and for ~1600 ELO it's closer to 40%. When you start with 1.d4 d5 then 2.e4 is a different beast as 2...dxe4 can happen and black is better (so as stats show, white won't play 2.e4 and will rather go with 2.c4).

[@joonas9983]

this was very good and useful video👍

[@andystarr5799]

Very insightful, thank you and good luck on the road to GM.

[@connected_passed_pawns]

04:07, The way he said it, it seemed like he is gonna say, "whoever challenges me while I am recording the video, I am gonna find you out and you will be in trouble. "

[@sriyash260]

Great Video as always! Thank you.

[@HangingPawns]

Thank you and no problem:)

[@flicker6741]

Nice vid dude, keep it up!

[@petrosstefanidis6396]

That was very instructive! I always thought chess was much more about improvising. I didn't know strong players have been studying games 20+ moves deep in. That partially explains how they can move so fast in tournaments etc.

[@kaan_isik]

Their coachs note the positions the opportunities who will play with his/her player even a couple months. Well, I'm not surprised actually but this is insane. Especially by comparison with our games.

[@belemusic]

You're plan sounds really good, I may just be afraid I could forget a lot of moves if I just study them but then dont have time to play them in games or such. Right now Im practicing the italian (which is easy cause you reach it so often with lower rated opponents) and after every game I take a look on the move that my opponent made which I didnt know theory about and then I start to learn the variations of this line. I also use matches against the computer a lot to quickly simulate different variations against an opponent of various rating levels. I dont know if this is the best way, so I could imagine implementing parts of your suggestion. Which is really clever, now that I think about it is to choose only one first move with white and one for every first move of white with black and basically be prepared for everything all the time. Thanks for the tip :)

[@sumeetbhattacharjee]

Hi, I regularly see your videos I am trying to build an opening repertoire as you have explained. My question is how and where to make that 26-move deep analysis tree against each opponent's moves. Should I use Excel for that? or should I take pen-paper to write those trees of variations. I am really struggling to understand how to write & how to represent that. Please help & suggest. How do you do it?

[@zebady999]

Very helpful thanks

[@HangingPawns]

That's great to hear. No problem:)

[@chilogutierrez8760]

Here is what I play… As white…. 99 percent of of games are the Italian with the intent to go into Evans gambit. Black against E4 is the Caro Kann d4 is the Dutch. I sprinkle in from time to d5 against E4. The best thing I found is to take the initiative as black while hopefully catching your opp off guard. Players study a lot against the Sicilian…. And there is sooo much theory behind it. The caro kann is simple and not as much theory. Same with the Dutch… most low players will expect maybe a Indian type set up and you throw em off with the Dutch which they probably haven’t prepared for

[@patrykarciszewski5495]

I wish I had known Your chanel earlier. Amazing content. Thanks for sharing Your knowledge

[@soffmusic9655]

Brilliant.

[@seand8534]

Great video! Thanks. Your channel has increasingly become my favourite chess channel. I do agree in principle with not initially using engine analysis, however, analysing games and possible variations with Houdini was the main training tool that helped me win the u120 division at the British Chess Championships in 2015. Really enjoying your videos

[@danielroberger1497]

Great advice.

[@HangingPawns]

Thanks:)

[@gentelmanfrog3271]

thank you so much!