I once got a really nice piece of advice from a much stronger chess player who took me apart by starting with the Orang-Utan opening (1. b4). He said:
"If your oponent plays something unorthodox or unusual, don't panic. Just play solid, careful chess. Don't try anything fancy, just stick to the basic principles and you can't go far wrong".
Good advice, methinks. I've not lost to the Orang-Utan since. Mind you, that might be because I've never seen it since 😉 ...
Originally posted by BigMickyeah, I often get myself in big trouble trying to 'punish' my opponent for 'inefficient' opening moves. usually the best course of action is to simply develop sensibly. good positions come to the patient.
I once got a really nice piece of advice from a much stronger chess player who took me apart by starting with the Orang-Utan opening (1. b4). He said:
"If your oponent plays something unorthodox or unusual, don't panic. Just play solid, careful chess. Don't try anything fancy, just stick to the basic principles and you can't go far wrong".
Good advice, ...[text shortened]... to the Orang-Utan since. Mind you, that might be because I've never seen it since 😉 ...
Originally posted by wormwoodI agree with wormwood. Learning lots of opening lines of play is of limited value unless one knows the reason's these moves are made.
well, now you start it over again, and this time learn WHY the other moves were inferior.
If someone steps out of book, this does not always mean it is a weak move. Seek to learn the reasoning behind the moves...in or out of book. 😏
Originally posted by afxhe was black...
Great game, qmac27!
You played very well and you nearly got him!
In move 33 you missed Rxe8 followed by the knight fork.
Ok, but why did you resign? The position is nearly equal,
but you have one pawn more and the better pawn structure
my flag didn't fall in that position. he had two pawns on h2 and g3 and my king was on g4 and pawn on h5. I had a rook left and so did he and his king was on e4. This was a drawn game but that is all of the notation that i had left to take. I was running out of time so I quit notation on move 33, but made it to mave 50 or something like that. My flag fell right before we exchanged the last pawn.
Openings are like guidelines, they are bendable but not always breakable. I have played many games on RHP and GK using a simple online database, I find a lot of 1500-1700 rated players on both sites that use databases and but do not fully understand the positions. The best examples result from Sicilian Yugoslav positions. For example:
[Event "Team match"]
[Site "http://gameknot.com/"]
[Date "2008.11.03"]
[Round "-"]
[White "itsyouiadore"]
[Black "neversurrender"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1954"]
[BlackElo "1733"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. Bb3 Qa5 12. Kb1 Rfc8 13. g4 b5 14. Bh6 Bxh6 15. Qxh6 Rxc3 16. bxc3 Qxc3 17. Qd2 Qc5 18. Ka1 a5 19. g5 Nh5 20. Bd5 Ra7 21. f4 Nc4 22. Bxc4 bxc4 23. Qe3 Ba4 24. e5 Nxf4 25. Qxf4 dxe5 26. Ne6 fxe6 27. Rd8+ 1-0
Black plays database moves until move 15, but because of a lack of understanding within the position black made s miscalculation on move 24 with Nxf4, that I think most stronger players would have noticed based on the position, as well 20. Ra7 opening up the back rank was also a mistake in this position... Rc8 would have been stronger...
[Event "League division C1"]
[Site "http://gameknot.com/"]
[Date "2008.11.05"]
[Round "-"]
[White "climb512"]
[Black "itsyouiadore"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1925"]
[BlackElo "1954"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 c5 8. dxc5 Nc6 9. e3 Bxc3+ 10. Qxc3 Ne4 11. Qc2 Qa5+ 12. Kd1 f5 13. f4 Nb4 14. Qe2 Nxa2 15. Qe1 Qa4+ 16. Ke2 Qc2+ 0-1
Understanding positional play is key and deviating from strong opening lines can put you in quite a mess...
So they key ideas like Woodworm was saying is to understand the key moves, we all make mistakes when we leave the database, but at least if we have a general understanding of why a certain move is made we can play within the strengths of the position. Basically, the only way to understand this is to study and obtain the proper experience at a stronger level against players who can capitalize on positional and tactical errors.