A month ago I wrote an article about which games to analyze and because it received some positive reactions, I decided to write a second one. Some people asked me what exactly I meant with openingideas which I casually mentioned in my previous article.
So in this article I will explain my working-method and share a few secret opening-ideas (well obviously not so secret anymore as otherwise I wouldn't discuss them here). I did doubt a bit about writing this article as Brabo told me that his own articles are used to prepare against him. Therefore I only share ideas of openings which I don't play or stopped playing a while ago. In this article I make a split between opening-ideas for myself and opening-ideas which I use as starting coach.
So in this article I will explain my working-method and share a few secret opening-ideas (well obviously not so secret anymore as otherwise I wouldn't discuss them here). I did doubt a bit about writing this article as Brabo told me that his own articles are used to prepare against him. Therefore I only share ideas of openings which I don't play or stopped playing a while ago. In this article I make a split between opening-ideas for myself and opening-ideas which I use as starting coach.
Opening-ideas for myself
When I search for opening-ideas then I try to look for new type of positions or at least less played positions which my opponent likely didn't study deeply. Those positions often have their own specific pawnstructure but I also like it when a different plan must be executed. Below I give an example of such idea. I summarized the different lines so you could play it if you are interested in it. The idea is 6.Nd2 which is only the 5th most popular move but before you look at this idea, try first to check which type of positions arise in the mainline. Normally I study this mainline much deeper so this can be useful for you to do at home as this will improve your understanding of the opening.
Such opening-idea doesn't occur randomly. Often I use chessbase 14 to find interesting moves which are less popular but still contain poison. In the picture below you can see how such search looks like in chessbase 14. In the upper-window on the left you see a list of the different moves played in the position on the board with their respective popularity and score. Below you immediately find a list of games played by top-grandmasters with the chosen position. In the upper-window on the right you can find the evaluation of the engine for the 3 best moves.
Positions which I like, are stored to investigate more closely. Often I start the search without an engine but I always check it afterward with an engine to see if it is not refuted. I still use Stockfich 10 as I didn't download yet leela. It often takes 2 hours to find an idea and then I still need to work out the details. Sometimes I also just look at recent games and bump against something fresh and interesting. However important is when building a repertoire that you put special effort into the different transpositions and move-sequences. I wasn't ready to play against the different types of the stonewall as you need to have an idea prepared for all of them. 1 of the more clever systems is the triangle in which black is offering to play the noteboom and if white avoids this then he should take into account a stonewall or a semi-slav. This is of course annoying and generates a lot of extra work. I could of course try to study the complexities of the noteboom but that is against my ideology of the openings. After some research I encountered the idea below.
Positions which I like, are stored to investigate more closely. Often I start the search without an engine but I always check it afterward with an engine to see if it is not refuted. I still use Stockfich 10 as I didn't download yet leela. It often takes 2 hours to find an idea and then I still need to work out the details. Sometimes I also just look at recent games and bump against something fresh and interesting. However important is when building a repertoire that you put special effort into the different transpositions and move-sequences. I wasn't ready to play against the different types of the stonewall as you need to have an idea prepared for all of them. 1 of the more clever systems is the triangle in which black is offering to play the noteboom and if white avoids this then he should take into account a stonewall or a semi-slav. This is of course annoying and generates a lot of extra work. I could of course try to study the complexities of the noteboom but that is against my ideology of the openings. After some research I encountered the idea below.
Opening-idea 2 is about 8.Qb1 in the triangle, this idea I discovered as I wanted to play myself the noteboom which I find one of the most interesting openings in chess. My main-book for the triangle recommended a very nasty position for black against 8.Qb1 which the engine also doesn't understand very well. So I considered this side-line to be very interesting for a practical game of chess.
Unfortunately I don't have enough flexibility in my repertoire to give you ideas for black. Still I can recommend you to look for such ideas in the games of FM Arno Sterck. He is one of the most underrated players in Belgium but he is one of the main reasons of the success Bruges is experiencing in the interclubs. One of his most recent victims was against the team of eurochess. So his opening-ideas are definitely worth a look!
Unfortunately I don't have enough flexibility in my repertoire to give you ideas for black. Still I can recommend you to look for such ideas in the games of FM Arno Sterck. He is one of the most underrated players in Belgium but he is one of the main reasons of the success Bruges is experiencing in the interclubs. One of his most recent victims was against the team of eurochess. So his opening-ideas are definitely worth a look!
Opening-ideas for my students
I don't have yet permanent students but I do sometimes give some classes to young players often rated between 1500-1900. At tournaments I also often help 3 players to prepare for their games (I am still looking for some children in the Belgium youth-championship so if you are interested please contact me). I also have rearranged my opening-ideas recently for them. Today I find it more important to use ideas in which you know what to do. This is something which is important for any level of play. I have learned this from the very experienced and excellent coach, FM Roel Hamblok. This is however contradictory to what my own coach Bruno Luyckx (the most motivated chess-coach I have ever met and it would definitely be interesting to write once an article about just him) has taught me. Despite I practically accept anything of Bruno, I do prefer to understand positions above creating chaos. So I will try always to look at openings or ideas with a limited number of pawnstructures. Pawnstructures are in fact the base of any opening and more broadly of chess itself. Below you can find an idea (which I found by using chessbase independently) against the caro-kan for white. It is nothing special but it is very easy to play for white. Ideal for a young student!
To conclude I want to add that openings aren't the only thing we should study but it is the domain which allows you to master rather easily with the current strength of engines and database. It allows you to ask annoying questions to the opponent from the start. An idea doesn't need to be a refutation. The most important is to take your opponent out of his comfortzone by letting him play non-standard pawnstructures of which you are pretty sure that it wasn't studied yet in detail.
Sim Maerevoet
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.