Somebody wanted plain and simple advice. Here it is: Buy a book.
Everything else I'm about to tell you is my own subjective opinion. Take it or leave it as you see fit. But if you want a pre-packaged opening repertoire you can learn and play, then go out, find a decent repertoire book, and follow it.
I would bet that most of us have cobbled together our repertoires in bits and pieces. We pick openings that our chess heroes play -- there was a time in the US, when almost everyone played 1.e4 after Fischer and 1.d4 was considered an opening for old men. We pick openings based on games that we come across. We pick up ideas from opening books.
There is no magic bullet. The never ending search for just the right opening that, if only you could find it, would turn you from patzer to Grandmaster? Forget it. Pick something reasonable. Stay with it. Only way to really learn the plans, the typical tactics, the usual endgames, etc. Think it was Botvinnik who said that you don't find novelties in new openings, you find them when you are playing your old opening for the 1,000th time. Switch only when it stops working or you get bored.
BTW, the only way to really learn or master an opening is to play it OTB, face-to-face, in tournaments. With decent time controls. Over and over. Under pressure. Sorry if this offends anyone, but don't come here whining about your opening repertoire if all you're doing is playing speed chess on the internet or fiddling with your grandmaster 2009 software thingy.
What to play? Only you or perhaps your coach can decide. Why come here and ask a bunch of people who don't know you and have never seen you play to pick your openings for you? Play over games, try things out for yourself -- see what you like and what you don't. Don't get hung up on whether its +/=, = or =/+ -- until you are at least a master and an opening edge is more likely to count for something. More important to get a position you understand. Better to be slightly worse and know what to do, than to be equal and have no clue.
All that said, I do think that when it comes to chess that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Easiest to learn Black defenses -- 1) classic openings where you occupy the center with pawns, then 2) hypermodern openings where you occupy the center with pieces, finally 3) openings that give up the center. So I personally think beginners and those with no time to study, probably better off with 1.e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5, as easier to learn and handle, but I am not dogmatic about it. If the KID floats your boat, by all means go for it.
Use common sense. Hard to jump in and master the Najdorf in one go. Even Kasparov had trouble keeping up with two big Black defenses at the same time. Granted, you don't need to know as much theory and keep up quite the way he did, but if you think you know the Kings Indian because you can get to move 5 or 6, then you are mistaken.
One idea: Look for stepping stones or sidelines that you can play until you get your footing. For example, try the Meran with the Cam Springs until you're ready to add the Moscow or Botvinnik. Try the Laskers before the Tartakower. Try the Modern Schevy before the Classical.
Another idea: Look to economize. If you play the QGD, then meet the English with 1..e6 and 2..d5. No need at class level to start trying to learn a whole new defensive system vs the English. Use your time where it counts. If you see 1.e4 in a large percentage of your games, work on your 1.e4 defense. Will pay more dividends than spending weeks on the From Gambit vs 1.f4. (Unless you find the From fun, in which case ...).
You get the idea.
Rant over. Feel free to resume your normal programming.
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Openings for adult class players (Read 182710 times)
