How to Learn a Chess Opening
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ธ.ค. 2024
- In this excerpt from my twitch stream, I give my 4-step method for learning a chess opening or variation.
1) Gathering your Own Ideas: looking and thinking logically
2) Gathering your Own Ideas: blitz practice games
3) Gather Other's Ideas: look at GM games
4) Analyze: try out specific variations using the ideas that stood out to you.
Most examples used come from the French Defense. -- Watch live at / dpruess
Dear David, i started playing chess only a while ago and found your videos on youtube. I highly appreciate them and think, they are super instructive and helpful, to get a fundamental understanding of how to think in a chess game. Thank you very much!!!
This is so good. So bigly good. I just gained 5 IQ points that I had lost in the 80's.
Thanks! It's so great to find something you've lost, especially in your own brain :-)
Socialdogma ignore IQ , have fun playing and problem solving. Stop thinking about limitation and be more adaptable .
This is the most coherent lesson I have ever heard. Thank you.
This is just what I needed, I tend to be over-analytical and I want to dive into books and computers to find out the "best" openings when I really need to get my hands dirty, play a bunch of games and work it out for myself. I'm glad you touched on the practicalities of learning openings in random Blitz games at the end, for example if I want to play the Alekhine with Black I'm going to have to play a lot of Blitz games to face it 20 times as White! Many thanks.
you're welcome!
This was unbelievably helpful! Came in having no idea where to begin and what to study and left with a simple but thorough and efficient way to learn. Thank you so much! I really like the idea of ditching opening books and engine analysis and doing the hard work yourself instead.
very glad to hear it :)
This is good - I know a good number of openings but I never thought about them too much. Now I will try to understand more why it goes like it goes. Thanks for showing, subscribed.
@32:55 I would advance to e5 and encourage black to attempt a pawn avance on the king side as the rook and knight will otherwise struggle there. I would look to create a chain with c3 and consider 0-0-0 or remaining in the centre likely remaining in the centre will be best for white as black's natural counterplay is with the queen on the queen side. Black cannot 0-0-0 as it has to much space on front to the king and kingside is to cramped to 0-0 without a natural white attack so in this opening it would be best for both kings to remain in the centre. white queen side will be swiss chease, black will be to far advanced on that side, both king sides are less than ideal but the centre is safe.
16 min in and this already helped me so much
wow cant believeii missed this live, great to see you back David.
thanks :)
Very good lesson by IM David!
I personally watch a few GM games of an opening im trying to learn, see the piece placements, pawn breaks etc, then play that opening every game, to find a reply to dubious opening moves made by my opponent.
Its rewarding when your ideas work OTB, when when your ideas dont work, you find out something you didnt know before about the opening, by analysis afterwards.
But the method suggested in the video, while more time consuming, is also more sound!
Your method is also very good. It sounds like you are using your own ideas, and also getting ideas from watching some GM games, just like in my method.
Excellent. Changed my way of thinking about strategic games.
Very helpful video, thanks a lot!
you're welcome :)
Wow, I enjoyed this lesson. Great job
Awesome lesson thanks!
you're welcome!
@@chesscomdpruess that's really great stuff, better than most channels I'd say
Lately I've been focusing on the main lines of certain openings.
This video gives an entirely new perspective on my opening studies.
By the way, any suggestions on any books on Garry Kasparov chess books I could study from, as far as his games/openings.
Thanks much appreciated
I completely agree with you, a lot of things can happen in battle nothing goes according to plan. i not a good chess player but once i sacrificed my Queen but still win, by keep trapping his King. and it was the most satisfying win of my entire life. and the opponent did not even made a Blunder, he was one move away from defeating me but i did not let him make that move by keep checking him and at last with Knight Rook and Bishop i check mate his King.
This is just to good to be true and its free. Thx
You're welcome :)
55:25 Step 4: Analysis
Thank you so much, sir, that's exactly what I needed!
Glad to hear it! :-)
The issue I have is that everything works. Which one to choose aarghh!!
Thanks for the video!
But I am wondering, why you advice on playing blitz games as step 2. Why not standard 15/30/60 etc minutes?
Wouldn't it be better to have enough time to assess theoretical assumptions and reassess them if necessary?
Pattern recognition, when you play the same opening a few dozen times in blitz you see how the same or similar pawn structures form and that the minor pieces often end up on the same squares time after time. This means you can bring your pieces out almost without thinking and save time in 'real' games not wondering whether a bishop should go to e2,d3,c4 etc...
Hi Yevgeniy, sorry for not answering for so long. I suggest blitz games because you are not yet assessing how good your ideas are. You are just gathering ideas. It's like a brainstorm phase. And playing blitz games lets you get in a dozen games in the time it could take to play one serious game. So you can get 50 ideas to pop out of your head in a couple days, and even just in a blitz game, you'll start to have some instinct as to which ideas are worth investigating more or not.
Later you progress to analyzing and assessing which ideas really stand up to scrutiny.
This is gold
Great video. As a kid I got to 1600 rating. Picking chess back up at 54 to see if I can get back to that rating. This really helps
I bet you can! Glad you like the video.
Your three tips here are invaluable. 1: you should be taking back pieces not attacking first. 2: try and take the centre with your knights. 3: focus on the centre of the board with the pawns
This very helpful thanks so much
I love it thank you and this a nice video
you are a great teacher
thank you, that's very kind.
46:10 He be roasting us.
;-)
Great video David. Subscribed and plan on perusing your channel further. You mentioned this was a segment of a longer presentation. Are the other segments here on youtube as well? Maybe links to the other segments in the description would be helpful . Again, thanks for your insights!
Hello david. This is your worst enemy
Hi Marcus. My worst enemy is not a person.
This is a great video, really, thanks!
how many moves do you recommend going into depth on. For example with my opening, Ruy Lopez, do I just look at 3 moves after Bb5 and their different lines or do I go further in the game say five more moves or less?
I know your question was directed to Dave.
Though if I may say, go as far as you can in the variation of the opening in question.
If you cannot as long as you can find the most forcing moves well after your opening calculation/system.
Did you give the answer for h4h5 French yet? I guess white is better with the weakened g5 (and sometimes g6) square.
I think 4.Nc3 is best with hopes of 4...Nf6?! 5.Bg5. Now 5...Bb4?? (5...Be7 6.e5 is just a better Alekhine-Chatard for white) loses a piece because there is no 6.e5 h6 anymore. Against 4...Bb4 I'd try 5.Bd3 dxe4 6.Bxe4 Nf6 7.Bg5.
No, I have not yet, but I'm glad to see you asking about it and giving your answer. Here are some of the main points to me:
1. White is usually stronger on the kingside in the d4-e5 pawn structure. So pawn moves on the kingside will tend to favor white.
2. Exception to that is black blockading on f5 and g4, but with bishop locked in on c8, this is less likely.
3. White can attack h5 to get black to play g6, and thus weaken kside darksquares even more. (weakness breeds weakness)
4. The g4 and g5 squares are weakened. This is not symmetrical as the e6 pawn keeps the black bishop from helping take advantage of g4.
So, the inclusion of h4-h5 helps white tremendously, especially in any variation where white plays e5. After 4.Nc3 both Nf6 and Bb4 look bad (I'm leaving out some brief calculations), so black's best is probably dxe.
Hi David, just discovered your channel and I'm thoroughly impressed with your recommendations for improvement and your depth of thought. Plenty here to chew on.
Interesting observations regarding where the knight will go once white has committed to the queenside fianchetto at around 5:00 ... my observation in return would be - really? Plenty of absolutely mainstream openings where the kingside fianchetto is complemented by a knight on f3/f6, where it stays put until it finds something better to do (Reti/English, Catalan, KIA for white, King's Indian, Grunfeld, Leningrad Dutch ... )
So specifically, I was wondering what you made of Jobava's treatment of 1.b3, where he often sets up with a N on c3, Q on d2, pawn on d4, castles long and takes things from there. Why does this feel so unorthodox, while doing the same on the other side (Bg2, Nf3, and potentially e4) is absolutely standard?
Obviously, i don't expect you to be able to definitively answer this. Just interested in your thoughts.
Cheers
Hi Matt, in a lot of those openings you mention with Nf3, Bg2, the player is actively looking for a chance to reposition that knight. e.g. Ng4-e5 in the Benko/Benoni, Nh4-f5/Nh5-f4 in the KIA/KID, Ne5 in the Catalan, Ne4 in the Leningrad Dutch, Nxd5 in the Grunfeld.
As for the Jobava set up you mention, it does seem weird. I guess it's not so much weirder than the KIA, but potentially it has a couple small disadvantages relative to that. 1. You have to move your queen before castling. 2. in the KIA/KID you often have a plan of f4 to make a head duo with your e4 pawn. In this cast, you would have to play Kb1 and Rc1 in some cases to get a similar strength of c2-c4. 3. In the KIA/KID you often attack the opponent's king on the kingside; in this opening you would be less likely to attack the opponent's king on the queenside as they will likely castle kside.
As you say, I can't definitively answer these big questions; there are lots of different factors, advantages of having a knight on f3/c3 v. disadvantage of having a bishop blocked on g2/b2, and on and on in greater detail. But those are hopefully a couple helpful thoughts.
I finally found your channel david hahaha
:-) well done!
Good video
outstanding lectures you are very intelligent sir high quality vidoes and instructive ones.i had never seen that type of vidoes before and method are just awesome.
thanks :)
can you recommend some good free-programs that can help someone to learn openings
Gothic Zwo scid_vs_pc
Okk sir what is your email ??thaks for your time
May I ask the software you're using to drag, drop, preview places?
I did this one on lichess.org. So the software is all just online, and free to use.
Thank you! And when you show the circles where you might put a piece, or highlighting certain pieces in play- how is that done? Forgive me if its obvious- even if it is, might make a good video..!
Right-clicking or right-clicking and dragging. :-)
What's the chess interface you're using?
flawless vidoe great contribution
thanks :-)
dear sir i dont know your gmail that is why i have sent you private message on chess.com if you like you can take my test also thanks for your time
I like your method but its just not practical if you are aiming to be competitive. I like that it provokes thinking about what you are doing and why you are doing it, but it just takes too much time and i dont find it efficient trying to discover what has already been discovered.
I think its good if you are trying to teach a casual player or a child an opening so they dont start making pointless moves which don't fit their plans as long as they get out of the theory.
I liked your take on comparison it was clear and i agree its a very important skill.
Nice vid overall :)
Thoughtful comment. I wonder what you mean by "competitive"-- 1600? 2000? 2600? I think this approach is particularly suited the stronger the level you intend to compete at. Doing this work takes time, yes. But getting good takes time. You're not going to be a master overnight, so it's fine if you need to study your openings for a while to get them to that master level as well. Additionally, doing the work suggested in this video will help get you to that level you are aiming for. I don't think it is often more efficient to use shortcuts and copy stuff without understanding it. You are just creating holes in your knowledge, which you will have to shore up later on, and which are weaknesses in the meantime, not only in your current performance, but also in your ability to build further knowledge on what you already have. Cheers, D
sir please give Mei coaching I am 2200 rated
please send me a private message with your email address if you want to discuss private lessons.
Okk David sir I will reply on Chess.com
I thought you made a joke about Overwatch
I contacted various coaches but no one is helping Mei
98% of chess is made of good, solid, logical moves. Graeme Buckley
David, so this is where you've been hiding... Haven't seen any videos on chess.com lately. You have your own channel now. Cool.
Haven't been hiding :-) I didn't do any for quite a while (various reasons). Just started trying out twitch this past week, and figured out i can send clips straight to youtube.
Right. but I have a job, I don't have enough time. :)
I hope it's rewarding :) There's lots of wonderful things to do other than learning chess.
But I do think if you have a little time for studying chess, you are better off doing a small part of my method than spending that time trying to memorize moves from an opening book. This learning process I'm suggesting does not require that you put in a set amount of time or that you "finish" learning a particular opening. It's just a way to improve over time.
David Pruess Hey sir, I watched almost all your videos. Great job keep it up !!
thanks :)
Not to be pedantic but since you are a teacher and so you are going to pass down your terms: fianchetto should be pronounced fianketto.
Hi. I know! I started off saying it the other way as a kid, and it's hard to switch after years. I say it both ways now back and forth, probably always will.
It can be pronounce either way - see www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fianchetto .
confusing crap
Wow, this is amazing content. Thank you!
thanks! you're welcome :)