Maybe this is crazy, but I’m not writing about the World Championship today. If you want to read about it, you can literally anywhere else that covers chess. Instead I’m going to talk about a debate that seems to be constantly simmering on chess Twitter and has flared up once again: mainlines vs. sidelines.
I believe that a healthy combination of both is probably the way to go. Mainlines help instill good habits while sidelines offer surprise element which leads to some interesting games.
Great article! Have you considered doing this test among similarly rated players at every rating level: do the players who know more theory longer tend to win more? You can define "know more theory" by looking at all their games of certain opening (the Ruy Lopez, eg) and seeing on average how many moves of theory they do. Then, see their results in all Ruy Lopez games among similarly rated players
I think part of it is emotional. I've won games because of "traps" and been delighted and lost games in an unfamiliar opening that felt like I was never comfortable.
I have played the Dutch but give it up every once in a while, because some of my Dutch losses are PAINFUL. Overall, I do fine in the Dutch, but the losses hurt more.
I've been using the 1.b3. And alekhine's defense. I've risen from around 1000 to around 1400 on chess.com and lately I've been thinking about trying to focus more on studying opening principles. How important is it for me to learn different openings, whether they be main or sidelines?
I believe that a healthy combination of both is probably the way to go. Mainlines help instill good habits while sidelines offer surprise element which leads to some interesting games.
Great article! Have you considered doing this test among similarly rated players at every rating level: do the players who know more theory longer tend to win more? You can define "know more theory" by looking at all their games of certain opening (the Ruy Lopez, eg) and seeing on average how many moves of theory they do. Then, see their results in all Ruy Lopez games among similarly rated players
I think part of it is emotional. I've won games because of "traps" and been delighted and lost games in an unfamiliar opening that felt like I was never comfortable.
I have played the Dutch but give it up every once in a while, because some of my Dutch losses are PAINFUL. Overall, I do fine in the Dutch, but the losses hurt more.
I've been using the 1.b3. And alekhine's defense. I've risen from around 1000 to around 1400 on chess.com and lately I've been thinking about trying to focus more on studying opening principles. How important is it for me to learn different openings, whether they be main or sidelines?