One of those rainy days when I played too much chess on the internet instead of spending it with my kids, an opponent made a remark - "The opening I used this time is one that I am trying to master from a book".
Since restarting on my chess journey, I've been trying to (re)learn openings as well.
One way of learning openings is by playing solitaire chess. The thought is to play through master games and try to predict the move. I try to predict for both Black and White and try to reason out why my move is different from that of the masters. This exercise seems to work better for me when I predict middle game moves than opening moves. However, it does have some benefit in learning opening moves as well.
Another, and probably more common way, is to pick up a book and walk through the book lines. One tries to memorize the lines and surprises as outlined in said book.
Such methods raise a concern in patzer territory where I belong. My opponent (or myself more likely) has diverged into variations not covered by the book lines or master games long before the opening is considered complete. The memorized lines are not particularly helpful when my knight is blocking a pawn break considered critical in the book :)
I do not suggest that book's are unhelpful. Nor am I against learning general outlines of playing an opening. All I suggest is that "mastering" book lines or learning from master games has a place in chess learning - but that I'm not at that place (rating) yet. (Hmm.. This is closed thinking and I may well need to keep reevaluating this statement.) What I've found helpful are books that give broad outlines of attack plans, pawn breaks and so on. I've found that while I may fumble my way through the opening the first few times, I eventually do learn what works for me. Further, such plans take me into middle game and get me a playable game. And this may be sufficient for people in my rating range at the class level.
For every book that helps me, there are a few that don't. In general I like the Starting Out series from Everyman. And no, I do not have any monetary link to Everyman. Be aware that there are other series of books from the same publisher that take for granted the first 9 moves - like the first 9 moves are not even part of the opening. If you want to find someone who can screw up in the first 9 moves - your search has ended. You have found me :)
To bring it back to the point of the post... Is it appropriate for me to "master an opening" from a book? The answer's got to be "not at this point". But there's plenty else to be learned from books other than book lines.
Since restarting on my chess journey, I've been trying to (re)learn openings as well.
One way of learning openings is by playing solitaire chess. The thought is to play through master games and try to predict the move. I try to predict for both Black and White and try to reason out why my move is different from that of the masters. This exercise seems to work better for me when I predict middle game moves than opening moves. However, it does have some benefit in learning opening moves as well.
Another, and probably more common way, is to pick up a book and walk through the book lines. One tries to memorize the lines and surprises as outlined in said book.
Such methods raise a concern in patzer territory where I belong. My opponent (or myself more likely) has diverged into variations not covered by the book lines or master games long before the opening is considered complete. The memorized lines are not particularly helpful when my knight is blocking a pawn break considered critical in the book :)
I do not suggest that book's are unhelpful. Nor am I against learning general outlines of playing an opening. All I suggest is that "mastering" book lines or learning from master games has a place in chess learning - but that I'm not at that place (rating) yet. (Hmm.. This is closed thinking and I may well need to keep reevaluating this statement.) What I've found helpful are books that give broad outlines of attack plans, pawn breaks and so on. I've found that while I may fumble my way through the opening the first few times, I eventually do learn what works for me. Further, such plans take me into middle game and get me a playable game. And this may be sufficient for people in my rating range at the class level.
For every book that helps me, there are a few that don't. In general I like the Starting Out series from Everyman. And no, I do not have any monetary link to Everyman. Be aware that there are other series of books from the same publisher that take for granted the first 9 moves - like the first 9 moves are not even part of the opening. If you want to find someone who can screw up in the first 9 moves - your search has ended. You have found me :)
To bring it back to the point of the post... Is it appropriate for me to "master an opening" from a book? The answer's got to be "not at this point". But there's plenty else to be learned from books other than book lines.
