Chess Opening Theory

Chess Opening Theory Table
Chess Opening Theory For Beginners
Chess Opening Theory For Beginners
Chess Opening Theory Table

Chess Openings The first few moves in the chess opening lays the foundation for every chess game. Most of the chess openings have been named and analyzed for hundreds of years. It is important if you want to be successful in chess to be familiar with some of the most popular openings and understand the theory behind the moves. Internet play, and usually with players who do not study opening theory. And at one time or another, all players, from Grandmaster to novice, have fallen for a chess trap or sprung one on some unsuspecting opponent. I have arranged the material alphabetically by opening name.

The Sicilian defence is undoubtedly the most popular opening in modern chess, to such an extent that it makes up a quarter of all games in the Chess Informant database. It is the most successful of all Black's defences to 1.e4, although this success has resulted in the opening accumulating a large body of opening theory. First analysed by Italian players in the 16th century, the Sicilian was considered an unorthodox opening throughout the 19th century, and even into the 20th century as 1.e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5 remained the most popular way to open the game. It wasn't until the 1940s and 1950s, when many dynamic openings such as the King's Indian were being explored, that the Sicilian defence took centre stage. Since then, its popularity has never declined.

Games starting with the Sicilian defence are divided into two broad categories - the Open Sicilians, where white plays a quick Nf3 and d4 and attempts to open the position to take advantage of Black's slow development (as the move 1... c5 does nothing to help develop Black's pieces), and the Anti-Sicilians, which consist of various other systems played by White to avoid the huge amount of theory associated with the Open Sicilian. In this tutorial, we will be looking at the Open Sicilian, while the Anti-Sicilians will be covered separately.

The Najdorf Variation

Although such a hugely complicated opening as the Najdorf could never be covered adequately in 20 games, never mind two, these examples should illustrate the cutthroat attacks that can arise.

J. Polgar vs Gelfand, Novgorod 1996

The best way, in my opinion, to learn opening theory is to study a chess database. Chessbase has a free one online, and so does chesstempo. Look up games that match a particular position of your choosing. See what moves strong players play (also look at win percentages). There is a large body of theory regarding how the game should be played in each of these phases, especially the opening and endgame. Those who write about chess theory, who are often also eminent players, are referred to as 'theorists' or 'theoreticians'. The English opening is a flexible choice for white. The English often transposes into openings normally seen after 1. D4, either exactly or with slight variations due to move order. You can also enter a 'reversed' Sicilian defense if black responds with e5, where white is playing the Sicilian defense with an extra tempo.

De Vreugt vs Naiditsch, Corus B, Wijk aan Zee 2003

The Dragon Variation

Here are some examples of attack and counter attack in the Sicilian Dragon from master play.