{"id":978,"date":"2021-04-23T09:22:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T09:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/?p=978"},"modified":"2022-06-30T15:21:55","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T15:21:55","slug":"why-study-chess-openings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/why-study-chess-openings\/","title":{"rendered":"Chess Openings: Necessary or Over-studied"},"content":{"rendered":"

⭐⭐⭐ Take 7 minutes to read and improve your chess game ➡️ : This article was first published on, and is Copyright of Chessquestions.com<\/p>\n

Many people wonder if studying chess openings is necessary or a waste of time. This blog post looks at both sides to answer the question for you. The first point that we will cover is why it is important to study chess opening theory in general. We then explore the benefits and drawbacks of over-studying your opening<\/a>, before concluding with some final thoughts on whether or not it matters which openings you know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studying chess openings has many important benefits for a novice player including gaining early advantage and control from the starting position, the ability to maintain strategy, to avoid novice traps, and not to waste precious time at the opening phase.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some novice players will learn and perfect just a few popular openings and perform very well, leaving others who constantly study opening at a loss as to why their chess abilities are not better despite studying openings constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This article will not delve into specific openings or their variation and is only about general chess opening study, Please head back to the main Chess Openings page where you can find lots more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Chess Openings to Study<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are scores of different chess openings available to study for your development. Whilst it is both interesting and impressive to study and learn them all by heart, there could be a case for taking too much time and getting rather too involved in the study of chess openings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a novice like me, the best chess opening to study is, of course, the one that I want to try to play next. The opening you choose should be studied in-depth and understood well before it has to be played in any competitive game, although you can try it out against a chess engine<\/a> or a friendly online game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once learned you will find you may get many different counters to your popular chess openings, and this is part of the process too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those with the idea of playing chess as a career<\/a>, there could also be an argument for studying common openings against particular opponents or styles of play that are more likely than others to occur during their game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study both White and Black Openings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One mistake that is often overlooked is whilst studying white openings, you may well become a relative expert in going first but what happens when coin toss determines you are playing black and going second, what do you do then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should spend an equal amount of time learning both the white and black openings and attack. Knowing all the possible chess moves<\/a> helps here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How Far Can Chess Pieces Move – Every Piece, Every Exception!<\/a><\/blockquote>