If you want your boy to lose interest in chess, than one of the surest ways is to start with a repertoire. At that age, I would limit any opening theory to the general rules. Usually at that age they can make quick progress and even more motivation from "direct applicable" practice. Ie tactical tricks, which they can use in their own games and which can be done in an easy format (a move is good or not). You can also see this when you see kids that age repeat cholar's mate, even after it didnt work in the last 10 games. Because they had direct success they'll keep repeating it, until they themselves beat one of them off.

PANFR wrote on 04/02/12 at 16:02:21:

Absolutely!  And it's in the repertoire, too..
But it doesn't mean that it can't fit for a 7-year old boy.. 

He-he, guys, look at the variety of openings he chooses for now! 



Wow, we already play Ruy Lopez. 
The next one with white:



I doubt he knows he played an opening called The Scotch Game.. 

Omg, now I see he played another opening at his previous tournament (Wow!  )



Four Knights ?! 
Well, that's a profound knowledge of chess openings! 
(What can I teach him about the openings?! He played almost everything already!  )

SWJediknight wrote on 04/02/12 at 13:17:19:


Personally I think 7.Nbd2 and 7.Bd2 are about equivalent - Black has more than one way to fully equalise, but he has to be accurate. That's straying a bit from the thread topic though.

In the 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Nf3 move-order White also has to be aware of 3...c5!? (which isn't as bad as it looks, and will tempt a lot of novices).  3...Bb4+ 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3 is best met by 5...Nc6 and we have the main line of the Goring Gambit.  I use this move-order a lot with White and don't think there's much wrong with it objectively, but I tend to agree with TN that the "standard" order 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 is probably more suitable for novices- at that level you don't run into too many problems with Petroffs, Latvians and Elephants.

I also agree with the 7.Bd2 line of the Giuoco Piano.  Again I see nothing wrong objectively with 7.Nbd2- indeed in my opinion it's probably White's best way to generate play at high levels- but the theoretical objections to 7.Bd2 are hardly going to be an issue at novice level.

Also, once the junior player reaches a relatively high standard there's nothing to stop him from refining the repertoire by smuggling in the move-order 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Nf3 and replacing 7.Bd2 in the Giuoco Piano with 7.Nbd2.

I recall finding the line with 4...Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.Re1 d5 7.Bxd5 Qxd5 8.Nc3 highly attractive when I was a junior player, due to the very "visual" nature of the tactical play.  As an aside, in about a decade of sporadically using that line with White, I have yet to encounter an opponent who got as far as 8...Qa5 or 8...Qh5, and that includes some games played at club level- so again I would tend to agree with the lack of need to know theory beyond 9.Nxe4.

I intend to teach my 7 year and a half old son to the following 1.e4 e5 opening repertoire for white:


I would like to stress that this repertoire is aimed for an almost beginner who doesn't know more than 4-5 opening moves up to date. And the teaching process would be long, not less than 3 months or so..
My intentions are to let the boy play an open tactical game with free piece development, thus cultivating the knowledge for the importance of chess tempos. I want to present him an 1.e4 e5 repertoire which doesn't pretend for an advantage, but for soundness. My aim is to avoid the strategical positions after say 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 (Bc5) 4.d3.. I feel my other choices can be Ruy Lopez Exchange 4.Bxc6 (good for starting with Spanish, but not too good for opening the position and with too much strategy in it...and what's more giving the bishop pair  ), the classical Four Knights (too closed in my opinion) or the Scotch Game (not so tactical and too much theory for a small boy)..
So I pled my case.., any opinions?