How do you guys study openings?

[brownieattack]

I got MCO 15th edition over the weekend. Previously, I've had virtually no opening repetoire but I realize now how important it is to get at least an equal position out of the opening. I started today analyzing the first 2 columns of the non-3...a6 Ruy Lopez lines. And it took 30 minutes, going over main variations OTB and doing the side variations/analysis/calculations on the laptop. Surely there has to be a better way?

(On a side note, I learn better going through moves and analysis in books with real pieces instead of computer programs, which is why databases are iffy)

[KyleJRM82]

Option 1: Play a lot of chess games. After each game, look up your opening and see where you varied. Try to understand why.

Option 2: Play over a lot of master games. Last year, I made it a goal to play over every game Fischer ever played as white in major competition. By the end, I had a competent Ruy Lopez in my repertoire.

Option 3: Watch some videos explaining the basics of whatever opening you prefer.

Use your MCO as a reference to look up openings after you play them. Don't try to just dive in and learn straight from it. That'd be like trying to learn a language by reading its dictionary.

[John_Douglas]

Your best bet will probably be to learn by trial and error. Read up on a few openings, play a few games using those openings and then go back and compare your moves to the book, try to understand why the book moves are better.

Playing over master games is also very important. And it's useful to check databases. Sometimes you see a position in a book that is evaluated as equal or better, but a database search shows that strong players are avoiding the position. There's usually a reason for that.

I also like playing blitz games on the computer - I take an opening position and play Blitz games from both sides - it helps you to get a feel for what is happening in a position - especially the tactical nuances.

[AmarilloJim1]

The first thing I do is keep an updated database....every week I go the website, The Week In Chess, and download the latest games into my reference database in Chessbase...

Then I filter the games at the starting point of the opening I'm considering learning, and play through quite a bit of games rather quickly trying to determine several things:

A) Is this a specific line I'd like to play given my playing style?
B) Would learning this line help to strengthen a weakness I have?

For example, I may select a variation that usually ends up in an Isolated Queen's Pawn position, if that's something I'd like to work on, etc.....

Once, I selected the variations within the opening, I find a player or two that's an expert in the line....games of players I'd like to follow, etc....I filter the games of those players where the color I'm playing wins the game....I create a PGN file of the games and import the games into a program called BookUp (some people use chess position trainer)...

After I import the games, I prune the variations so I only have a file containing the specific variations I'm learning...from there...I practice the variations...at that point it is memorization...

When I'm trying to understand the opening better, I play through hundreds of games in my database quickly and try to determine the middlegame motifs and endings that might arise from the position...

I do a little more too, but I have to get back to work now...good luck!

[Al Mirpuri]

Does anyone memorize model games for the opening they are playing?