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From	Message
chess4him 31-Aug-13, 16:59	How to "Open" a game for those under 1400! Hmmm....really can't say "...for beginners", can we? Many people starting out may play at a higher rating without learning the fundamentals. That "gift" is not for most of us. Especially for me, I started out and played for many years without reading a book, getting a lesson or even practicing tactics puzzles! Really, I didn't even know puzzles existed! just like this club, I have enjoyed going back to learn the fundamentals and basics. A recent learning "wow" moment for me was looking at a recent list of the basic opening principles. These 10 principles listed the top three as Develop, Develop and Develop. The original opening principle list I remember in the past did not emphasize developing, no more then being just one of the principles. Good stuff, I think. If you are well under 1400, or feel like a "beginner", then I must encourage you to work through this study!! www.chess.com When you work through it, let me hear from you!!! More discussion to follow!!
shamash 05-Sep-13, 14:30	it's not about the rules of chess, it's about the rules of Winning Can we learn from children? You bet! And I think the best advice on playing chess, and how to open a game, is to be gleaned from Karpov's account of how he as a child began to play chess. Karpov became the most successful player in winning chess tournaments, ever. Karpov found that as beginniner what counts is not learning the rules of chess but learning the rules of winning. Now one aspect of utilizing the rules of winning (which tactical_abyss is an ace at! as were David Bronstein and Emanuel Lasker), is to size up your opponent and his or her competitive personality in deciding what move to select. This notion is often stated as: play the player, not just the position. And that advice works not just in the opening phase, but in the middlegame and endgame phases as well. p.s. that "Develop, Develop and Develop" rule IF followed slavishly is garbage. GARBAGE. If you sincerely want to win, you do not "develop" your pieces like wooden pieces of furniture. You "deploy" your pieces like weapons on a battefield. .
chess4him 14-Sep-13, 13:53	Deploy, Shamoy, Petroy... It is a good thing that I know you Shamash, or I would have heeded your advice as contrarian, even warish! Hmmm, is that a word, contrarian or warish?? Allow me to remind you, my friend, and to many of our new players, that experts, like yourself, have forgotten what is is like to be a beginner. Too many commas? Hmmm, let me explain... As a professional trainer, I learned. In order to train effectively, you must put yourself in the learner's world. As a chess learner, You will first learn that all rules have exceptions, and you will learn that lessons are ideas. Your comment begs the learner to learn advanced concepts before grasping basic concepts. I respectfully disagree. The Develop, Develop, Develop concept is ground-breaking!   I will include another link, www.chess.com That helps the learner truly understand the opening principles and also help the opening ideas! Now, as a more experienced player, I look forward to your "ideas" of opening prowess. In fact, many who read this post may be interested as well to follow your advice! Could you provide a few links or resources that marry your ideas? As always, I truly appreciate your inputs comments. I wish more people had the drive that you have to post and share. joe
chess4him 21-Sep-13, 04:07	Opening Principles IM Daniel Rensch wrote an excellent article explaining "why" developing the pieces is crucial to an opening and the three exclamations of the first three principles. www.chess.com The idea of develop, develop and develop, as IM Rensch explains in detail, and I say broadly, is that developing your pieces can be broken down into who, what and where. One of the mental characteristics that helped me get past the 1200 mark was realizing that I had to get past the desire to play those players I could beat and leave those "quick mates" behind. So, IMO, I say that owning the opening principles is "maturing" in chess.
johnclark 22-Sep-13, 09:13	No Need to Reinvent the Wheel... It's more difficult to win from a losing or weak position and there is little that is more frustrating for me than to find myself down in the opening and playing from behind throughout the rest of the game. My advice to a 1200 player who wishes to improve his rating is to crack open a book and get familiar with a recognized opening to his liking. This is not to say one should ignore tactics nor debate the merits of one over the other, just that one should not ignore an important part of the game that can quickly be improved.
chess4him 22-Sep-13, 16:37	A correction, again! Thanks John! Speaking of books, I just received "discovering chess openings", by John Emms. Great for someone who believes their rating is under 1200, but also for those improving players! I wanted this read to regain those principles I was never taught and learned from playing. Great beginning book and lots of openings! I am also taking a class, "Opening Proficiency for 1200 -1500 level students". Ideally, everything a 1200 - 1500 players should know! This book is the class textbook along with many other videos and tools. The correction is for my last post...should read "...what, where and why"!.

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