Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

dwheeler.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 135 posts

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#71

Post by toolslive »

bluGill wrote: post #37
idealism wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you're saying and agree, although I may suggest that 1700 number come down a bit to maybe 1200. I'm around the 1000-1200 range (just picked it up again recently) and I'd say most of my peers on Chess.com around that range have definitely studied openings and present sneaky traps consistently in the first ~5-15 moves. Playing as black for me is the real driving force for me to study openings because…

But you only need to get a bit better to see through the common traps even the first time. The very first time I saw a scholars mate attempted against me I thought the moves were weird and made the obvious tactical response, only end up down a pawn. I was annoyed at being down a pawn afterwards and looked it up the opening, and only then did I discover the so called trap that I unknowingly didn't fall into because th…

Hold on... you're 2500?

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#72

Post by Nemerie »

idealism wrote: post #18
metroholografix wrote: post #5

Below 1700 or so, openings are mostly a waste of time and tactics rule the day. Learning the basic opening principles and two basic opening moves that you keep playing (one for white, one for black) and focusing on tactics [1][2] is in my experience the fastest way to advance. After 1700 or so, specific openings can be studied. I suggest playing d4 instead of e4 as white (avoids dealing with the Sicilian) and as blac…

I understand what you're saying and agree, although I may suggest that 1700 number come down a bit to maybe 1200. I'm around the 1000-1200 range (just picked it up again recently) and I'd say most of my peers on Chess.com around that range have definitely studied openings and present sneaky traps consistently in the first ~5-15 moves. Playing as black for me is the real driving force for me to study openings because…

I guess it also depends on what openings you play as black. For Caro-Kann or French defense you probably only need to know some good spots for the pieces and some typical plans, but if your reply for 1.e4 is e5 (which seems to be the most popular response among beginners), then you'd better be prepared for King's and Danish gambit, Italian or Two knights defense and so on, because in all of these openings it's easy to get mated in 20 moves while making only seemingly logical moves or get into a situation when you have to find the only defensive moves, while your opponent just throws pieces at you and keep making new threats.

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#73

Post by ummonk »

metroholografix wrote: post #5

Below 1700 or so, openings are mostly a waste of time and tactics rule the day. Learning the basic opening principles and two basic opening moves that you keep playing (one for white, one for black) and focusing on tactics [1][2] is in my experience the fastest way to advance. After 1700 or so, specific openings can be studied. I suggest playing d4 instead of e4 as white (avoids dealing with the Sicilian) and as blac…

You can get pretty decent payoffs tactically just from learning common opening traps as well as common plans of development / attack though.

Particularly if you are weak tactically, you're going to walk into opening traps / blunders if you aren't aware of them.

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#74

Post by ummonk »

toolslive wrote: post #71
bluGill wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you only need to get a bit better to see through the common traps even the first time. The very first time I saw a scholars mate attempted against me I thought the moves were weird and made the obvious tactical response, only end up down a pawn. I was annoyed at being down a pawn afterwards and looked it up the opening, and only then did I discover the so called trap that I unknowingly didn't fall into because th…

Hold on... you're 2500?

I doubt it. Actual 2500 rated players aren't looking 15 positional moves ahead during a game.

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#76

Post by toolslive »

jmgao wrote: post #65
Buttons840 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the major chess websites and organizations use a similar Elo-like rating system where 1500 is about the 50th percentile. So, roughly speaking, 1700 probably means "when you're at the 70th percentile of active chess players". One example: https://lichess.org/stat/rating/distribution/blitz

Ratings on chess sites are massively inflated compared to USCF/FIDE ratings. 1700 on lichess is probably somewhere around 1200 USCF.

I bet "The queen's gambit" Netflix series is causing inflation as well.

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#77

Post by ummonk »

yodsanklai wrote: post #48
metroholografix wrote: post #5

Below 1700 or so, openings are mostly a waste of time and tactics rule the day. Learning the basic opening principles and two basic opening moves that you keep playing (one for white, one for black) and focusing on tactics [1][2] is in my experience the fastest way to advance. After 1700 or so, specific openings can be studied. I suggest playing d4 instead of e4 as white (avoids dealing with the Sicilian) and as blac…

> Below 1700 or so, openings are mostly a waste of time Why? I'm not at that level but I'm sure it can't hurt. I'm not talking about spending hours studying openings, but simply being able to name things is helpful. That way you can pick new ideas along the way, memorize past mistakes more easily, communicate with other players. And it doesn't take much time to know the first few moves of the most common openings.

I think the problem happens that a lot of players start learning theoretical opening lines 10+ moves deep, when they really should be focused on just the first few moves and basic patterns / ideas from there along with traps.

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#78

Post by hcnews »

lcuff wrote: post #10

My advice to beginners is to not stick with one opening, but to play them all. Include wild openings like the Kings Gambit and Danish Gambit, as well as strategic openings like the Queen's Gambit. You will be out of 'the book' very quickly, and that's actually good. You'll be learning to play, rather than recall. Another piece of advice: Study endgames before openings. Learn about K + P vs K, the elementary mates, (K…

> My advice to beginners is to not stick with one opening, but to play them all. Include wild openings like the Kings Gambit and Danish Gambit, as well as strategic openings like the Queen's Gambit. You will be out of 'the book' very quickly, and that's actually good. You'll be learning to play, rather than recall.

This is opposite of general advice. Beginners should play only one white opening and 2 black openings (d4/e4 response) mainly so that they can focus on middlegame and endgame instead.

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#79

Post by Nemerie »

metroholografix wrote: post #5

Below 1700 or so, openings are mostly a waste of time and tactics rule the day. Learning the basic opening principles and two basic opening moves that you keep playing (one for white, one for black) and focusing on tactics [1][2] is in my experience the fastest way to advance. After 1700 or so, specific openings can be studied. I suggest playing d4 instead of e4 as white (avoids dealing with the Sicilian) and as blac…

By the way, if the goal is to get better at chess and not just have some fun, a huge waste of time is playing blitz and not analyzing your games. There are so many people who played thousands of blitz games online with no improvement whatsoever.

Re: A Beginner's Garden of Chess Openings (2002)

#80

Post by nijaru »

uberdru wrote: post #42

I will never forgive Netflix for letting the Scholar's Mate out of the bag. You should learn that from a parent, aunt, or uncle. It is an initiation.

I remember the first day of chess club in elementary school another kid played this against me. I hadn't seen it before playing with friends or family, so I failed to counter it. It's been years, but I always remember it. Thankfully it has never gotten me since!
Post reply on HN