Learn the basics of each opening - ie the tactical & strategical points & goals of your opening choice. Know & understand what white & black are trying to do in that opening in the key variations. All lines & variations have their roots in the basics. Lines & variations can go obsolete but basic principles dont.

Spend more time on this aspect. Once you become more  aware of the potential & subtleties of that opening, then start exploring the other variations & sub variations. & the more you play thro them with understanding the more you will gradually commit them to memory. Blind memory work will not get you anywhere.

Remember this also. which is even more important,  winning or losing is heavily dependent on how you handle the middlegame. So be sure that you spend more of your time overall on strategic & tactical techniques.

p/s You want to adopt the Najdorf I see? Daniel King's 'winning with the Najdorf' is excellant. - More words less variations.=> better acquaintance.

I agree with that. Playing the moves on a computer is not enough to me either. The problem is that I am more used to the magnetic board. I am one of those that read chessbooks during bedtime.. lol

Note that the real chessboard is used to "store" it in your brain. I have noticed that a magnetic board or a screenboard work less well for remembering. I dont know why, but I suspect it is having to do with really having to make the move.

If you are hardcore serious about drilling specific opening lines (ie, memorizing them) ChessPositionTrainer is free and it's ok after you figure it out...  www.chesspositiontrainer.com
Someone mentioned this above.

Be sure to use the latest of the 2 (or 3?) beta versions of CPT.


A more fun and practical way to "study" openings is to open your database and filter your opening games that end 1-0 and 0-1 in under 25 moves.   These miniature games will give you a crash course in what NOT to do, and how to punish inaccurate play by the other side.  A good method is to guess the moves by the winning side before you play them, looking for tactical strikes...

The latter is my preferred method of learning openings, and it doubles as tactics training.

Nowadays you can do it on a computer. But what I do is get a book (if you dont mind writing in them) and/or sheet of paper and pen. Then get a real chessboard with the correct colouring (dont play white side when you study your black opening). Play through the lines and make notes, preferably with some text.
Especially with really complex variations like I have done with the Möller attack in the Giuco make sure you write important things down at certain positions. Eg in that opening there is a point where black can stop one idea and allow the other or vice versa. When I started writing down why, it stuck so that I even remember it now some 10 years later.

Btw also with computer use a real chessboard even if that is slowing you down.

Well, the simple answer is to concentrate on those occurences when the 'standard move' must/should be replaced by an exact move order to avoid a specific idea.

The more theoretically important/(common in top GM practice) a variation is, the more such specific cases tend to arise, so you could choose to steer towards less intense lines where understanding is more important than memorisation, like e.g. KIDs with the more positional and logical  Na6 instead of the sharp Nc6.

Hi everyone, this may be a silly question but I couldn't help but ask.

Even though I love chess, my free time is severely limited, :((.

I am OK in positional play, endgames and tactics, so lately I have decided to build an opening repertoire as well.

I know that some of you will tell me not to spend much time on that, but I am determined (for various reasons) to focus on that for the next 3 months and see what happens.

So, if you take my comment above as a given, note also the following:

a) I have decided on an opening repertoire. This includes (again for various reasons) some quite theoretical lines (Najdorf, KID), covers for all possible answers (Alekhine, etc.), and also notes some alternatives or pet deviations that I like. 

b) I have also ranked all these lines and I am currently doing some research on some of these. In some I have had practical experience, in others not at all. I tend to easily understand & remember the positional aspects of each of these lines so that is not a problem.

c) The problem is how to memorise some lines (I mean, remember tons of specific moves or move orders) and how to maintain this knowledge.

[color=Brown]So, Is there any specific trick that you wizards use?[/color]

Thank you all!

[i]P.S.1: I have 5-10 hours / week to spare on chess studying.
P.S.2: Only a reminder: I am asking specifically “how can you make effective use of your book/home opening analysis” and not “if you agree with me spending time (including memorising) on opening preparation, depending on my strength, time, etc.” (which I think is a completely different topic)..[/i]