Learning the Chess Openings

By Jef Kaan

A completely New Edition, (final corrections) April  2024, based on analysis with the latest top neural network (Nnue) engines (Stockfish 16 etc).
Structure changed, and most variations brought up to date with an proprietary,computer generated  opening database of more than two million
positions. Compared with many recent (paper) opening books,  the result, this E-book, is the only opening book that -most- chess players will ever need.

Contents:   in the 'royal game' of chess, an understanding of all the phases of the game, namely opening, middle game, and endgame, is important.
While the importance of the opening phase often is overestimated by beginners, at higher levels it can make the difference between a win and a loss.

  In this book  the beginner is given some general guidelines, after which the intermediate player is guided through the labyrinth of the many different opening variations. Finally the more advanced, chess 'club' players are shown how to develop a specialized opening set of opening variations, which is called a chess opening 'repertoire'.  With such a 'repertoire', the number of options during the opening phase is considerably reduced; another advantage is that gradually the understanding and in-depth knowledge of the preferred opening lines -and thereby the overall playing strength- is increased. And by reducing the amount of time required to study openings, one can allocate relatively more time to the study of other elements in chess, such as tactics (!),  positional understanding and the endgame.   Several opening repertoire choices, improved with top computer programs  are given, both for intermediate and advanced players (with 1.e4 resp 1.d4) which offers the advantage of recognizing that you only have to study your own 'pet' lines..  For more advanced players, 1.d4 is added for White as a positional repertoire and the French defense against 1.e4. In addition some promising gambits for White are listed in a separate chapter. Some improvements in modern chess opening theory ('novelties') are given to illustrate this choice. As result the book now is timeless reference guide, the only opening book a chess player will need until about IM level.  A 'must' for every serious student of the game. Author: ICCF correspondence chess master (CCM) J.E.F. Kaan,  has experience of more than twenty years in computer chess and opening-'book' preparation.  Comments on the content were given by IM E.Kislik,
and the book was edited by IM A. Battey and J.Keating.(professional editor).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jef Kaan
• Release date: Dec 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9781501483271

Book preview

Acknowledgements:

Editing: A.Battey (IM)  (Ch. 2, 3.1), J. Keating, USA (Ch. 1-4)

Chess Comments:  E. Kislik (IM),  M. van Vuuren (beginner's level)

Proofreading:  A. Schenning (Elo 2016)

Illustrations:  B.van Ierland

We further thank the following people for advice, assistance, feedback, comments or support: prof V. Neppe (about the book), W. Goudriaan (about chess), Lex Loep (about computer chess and analyzing openings,), Edwin Ferrante and Bander van Ierland for the book cover,  the Internet Chess Club (ICC) for using a computer account for all these years, and some other helpful people.

Algebraic notation (for beginners[1])

The squares of the chessboard are indicated by alphanumeric coordinates, a to h, horizontally and 1 to 8, vertically. Thus, 1.e2-e4 means the first move, at which a pawn moves from the e2 square to the e4 square (Note that we will use abbreviated move indicators. Instead of 1.e2-e4, for example, we will use 1.e4.) The chess pieces are indicated in English notation: Q means queen, R means rook, N means knight, and B means bishop.

So moving a knight from the square g1 to f3 at the first move is indicated as 1.Ng1f3 in long notation, and in short notation it is 1.Nf3. But if –after some more moves- there would be already another knight standing at d2, after Nb1d2, then Nf3 would be ambiguous, as the knight could have come from d2 or from g1. In such a case, in short notation it is indicated like Ngf3 or Ndf3 to make it clear which knight has gone to f3.

When including the move numbers, an opening sequence in short notation can go like e.g. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 a6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e5 6.Nb3 and so forth. This is the so-called abbreviated (short) notation, because we only indicate the resulting square, so instead of 1.e2-e4, the full algebraic notation, we simply use 1.e4.

When we only indicate a move for Black, for example because we assume that White has already played a move, it often is indicated with dots. So 1...c5 means a  move for Black in the above sequence, which after e4 would by definition indicate the Sicilian opening variation. For beginners, the coordinates for the boards -in the diagrams- are shown in the first chapters. For more advanced players this is not necessary, as by experience such players will be able to find the squares corresponding with the move notation by just looking in detail at the chessboard.

Note that in this book, to distinguish the White from the Black repertoire, usually for White the moves are indicated in bold typeface when we are in the repertoire for White, and the Black moves are indicated in bold when we are in the repertoire for Black. The purpose of such highlighting of the moves is to facilitate the player in memorization of the specific moves, if he/she would like to master the repertoire in detail.

Therefore, an opening line in the repertoire for White might look as 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 a6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e5 6.Nb3. In addition, vice versa; for example: 1.e4 e6! (French), and so on. Besides giving a repertoire for beginning players, such a notation also is a unique element of this book; with -hopefully- significant didactic value.

Finally, when there is a choice for the opponent between various moves, thus leading to sub-variations in the repertoire, we have indicated such important moves by an underscore. For example at move 5 for Black in the above line, we can add another choice for Black, namely, the move 5...e6, instead of 5...e5. Which leads to other sub-variations.

As an example for 'beginners', at least in the opening theory, we show the starting position of the chessboard, after the initial White move 1.e4. It looks as follows:

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Fig.1  Starting position after White 1.e4 

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Note: The above diagram is given in 3-D perspective to enable a ‘feel’ of the real chess environment. In the rest of the book, the diagrams are given in 2-D however, which allows a clearer picture of the positions of the Black and White pieces. When it is Black's move, the diagrams are shown with Black at the bottom[2] for educational purposes, making positions easier to recognize when it is your move with Black, and thus easier to use in practical over-the-board play. Also, note that square A1 should have black color in the game of chess.

Preface

In this book an overview is given of the most important chess openings; whereby a selection, and improvement was made of those chess openings. both for (post-)beginners so-called home-players and intermediate players.  

For beginning chess players[3], not all material in the book may be easy to understand[4]. We assume that you know the rules of chess, but for absolute beginners, we refer to a beginner's book about chess in the bibliography. In chapter 3, basic varia- tions are given, which are worth studying for intermediate players to gain a useful introduction to opening theory.  Then in chapter 4, an advanced repertoire is given.

When reviewing current chess literature, we  find an enormous number of opening books[5], of which only a few range high in quality. To study them all would require not only an enormous amount of time, but also a lot of money to buy the most recent books to meet the needs of keeping constantly up-to-date on opening knowledge.

Thereby a unique and timeless 'repertoire' is given, carefully selected for  home player level (1.e4), or more advanced (chess club) players. For the latter,  besides a second, deep depth repertoire with 1.e4, an optional repertoire is given with 1.d4 (and some gambits, or general opening systems as well).

The most suitable opening moves at the specific levels were selected by meticulous computer analysis, and subsequent ´backsolving´, to determine recommended moves and to build up a rock solid B&W 'repertoire', for two categories of players. Whereby not only the opening names are mentioned of the main opening lines, but also of most the sub-variations. Not so much for historic interest, but more to assist memorization.

The opening variations were compared   with up to date opening books and actual GM games, resulting in  many opening novelties. Which has resulted in an ideal opening study book; with many diagrams to enhance memorization and understanding. As result it is the only opening book a chess player needs until about master level.

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The following encouraging feedback was  received already for an earlier version:

thank you for your good and serious work' (mr D, France).

looking at the sample, I think this is a very good book (F.M., Italy)

'your book is impressive' (message from dmbB(C) on the Internet Chess Club (ICC).

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Fig. 2  Artist’s (BvI) impression of  the 'trees of thought' in chess.

1. Purpose of this book

This book deals with chess openings; thus, it assumes that you are already familiar with the game of chess, especially its rules and playing methods. In addition, you can find the rules of chess as described by the International Chess Federation (FIDE) the internet.  For beginners we advise to look at some general chess books, aimed at lower levels, which contain explanation of the game of chess. For playing methods, we suggest a book by Edwards (2007), a good general introduction to chess in excellent full color with 3-D diagrams. It also introduces opening theory. In the game of chess, historically, the opening theory has enjoyed an important part in playing style and game strategies.

White is generally believed to have a slight advantage in the opening. This also appears in the statistics from hundreds of thousands of GM chess games, where White on average wins about 55% of the time. Both 1.d4 and 1.e4  offer advantages, whereas the statistics indicate a slightly higher advantage for 1.d4, but e4 seems to be catching up. It will become clear that 1.e4 is the most suitable  for beginners[6]. We also give two repertoire's for White with 1.e4, one for intermediate players and one for advanced players. 

The reason that e4 has so far scored slightly worse statistically than d4 is probably because of the Sicilian defense, 1...c5. The ‘Sicilian’ is difficult to play with Black, especially for beginners, and often leads to tactical games. Therefore, the White score against the Sicilian defense probably is worse than in the event of perfect positional and tactical play.   Thus, by paying sufficient attention to the Sicilian for White, the player using White could improve his play when choosing a repertoire with e4. Moreover, by doing so, this player can expect to improve overall winning chances. 

Because 1.e4 usually leads to open games, it will provide excellent opportunities to get experience in tactical play, thereby gradually helping the player to learn better tactical skills. The basic repertoire presented in chapter 2 is rather simple, preferring narrow variations where possible, instead of wide and complicated ones.   As a result, this repertoire is dependable and easy to learn. For advanced players, we will later develop it more thoroughly in specific chapters to prove that an advantage−though only a slight one−can also be obtained with 1.d4, even against well-prepared opponents.

Besides being sharp and effective for average chess players, this repertoire will be useful throughout a chess player’s 'career'.  The reason for this is that it is generally advisable to make a fundamental choice: Do you want to be an e4 player or a d4 player? In addition, even when you do not play 1.e4, you will often face it with Black.  Unless you are as the person displayed below, it is almost impossible to memorize most important variations for both e4 and d4 systems. Thus, it is easier with a repertoire  based only on e4 or d4.

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Fig.3. GM Magnus Carlsen  

Having made such a repertoire, you will also be offered the opportunity to analyze your chosen variations in greater depth than when broadly studying a comprehensive opening book, such as NCO (J. Nunn et al. 1999) and all its variations (e.g., 1.c4, 1.Nf3, and 1.f4).

Using a very large opening book with almost 30 million positions, made with the Bookbuilder[7] program, the author has analyzed 1.e4, as recommended for beginners, against almost all possible Black responses. This includes solid defenses, such as the Petrov and Ruy Lopez. Therefore, when our repertoire is used, 1.e4 will offer excellent winning chances for either the best tactical player or the best prepared one.

For the tactical player, 1.e4 is the best choice anyway because it usually leads to open games.  Average players will find helpful a broad introduction to recommend specific variations and moves with diagrams and opening lines in chapter 3.

For other players, this book will be helpful for preparation, even if the advanced player may wish to extend his repertoire gradually to include more details than discussed in chapter 4 of this book, and possibly even switch to using 1.d4 instead of 1.e4 (chapter 6).  The variations given should provide many opportunities for the advanced player to undertake further study[8]. In addition, a general understanding of a certain opening method, plan, and strategy is much more important than simply knowing which moves to play. For average players who tend to overly memorize variations, this is of particular importance.

Readers can find further background information on this subject elsewhere, such in [Watson 2006][9].  So listing games is outside the intended scope of this book because it is mainly limited to basic theory. We will explain later (see the appendix) that fundamentally the 'best' lines are not much different because we found that chess is a draw with perfect play.

Nevertheless, depending on playing level, a chess player is advised to make a ‘repertoire’ choice[10] to achieve the best results in both the short and long terms in the game, while gradually improving in tactics and overall mastery. The intermediate/advanced  chess player, using a repertoire as given in this book, can quickly learn most things necessary about opening theory. Readers will save countless time and money on all kinds of opening books and/or attempts to reinvent the wheel (i.e., a self-developed opening ‘repertoire’), thus enabling them to spend more time on the more important study of tactics and the middle game.

In addition, the player should also not neglect study of the endgame[11]. Therefore, the purpose of this book is two-fold. First, by having selected the 'best' opening moves available in either the 1.e4 or the 1.d4 repertoire, the player will be sure to learn good opening moves[12]. Secondly, by showing clear diagrams, turned upside down when it is Black's turn, the reader will quickly absorb the necessary knowledge. Therefore, we sincerely wish you good luck in applying the knowledge of this book to your practical play of this 'royal' game called Chess.

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Fig. 4  Artist's intermezzo

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2. The opening phase (beginners)

When playing chess, all players need to well understand and accept that all phases of the royal game are important: the opening, the middle game, and the endgame. Although beginners often overestimate the importance of the opening phase, at higher levels a mastery of the opening in detail will indeed often make the difference between a win and a loss. In this book, the player is gradually acquainted with the opening theory as the explanations of various key principles, which for every level − beginner, intermediate, and advanced − will be given in progressive details.

2.1 General opening principles

Whereas chess players knew the importance of the opening phase for centuries, the kind of advice given for its success has varied over the ages. Various grand masters gave good and general advice in How to Open a Chess Game (Evans et al. 1974). Some general recommendations aimed at beginners, are given in Ward (2000), wherein a complete list of various opening variations is given, with no recommendations, however, for preferences. The unique approach in this book is to emphasize specific variations in a so-called repertoire for both White and Black, depending on the level of play.

We start by mentioning the most common general guidelines for opening play.

These guidelines, also mentioned in The Ideas behind the Chess Openings (Fine [rev] 1989), are certainly useful for beginners, and they follow:  

1. Start the game with 1.e4. This leads to  ‘Open games’ (tactics!), and also tries to keep the (positional)  advantage for White.

2. Move knights before bishops, alternately.

3. Try to aim for the center.

4. Don't move the same piece twice[13] after each other[14] (5. Do not make two pawn moves after each other[15]).

6. Don't move the queen too early the center[16].

7.Protect your king; usually 'castling'[17] is the best way for this (and connect the rooks).

8. Try to control the center of the board.

9. Don’t sacrifice any piece without a reason, including pawns.

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Although general guidelines as these can

be useful for beginners, practical play makes it clear that such rules first are simplifications, and secondly, often have exceptions.  Besides the above nine rules, it usually is advised to 'connect' the rooks (7B) on the first line[18], which implies the queen is played to the second or third rank, sometimes even further away. 

First, a beginner could look at some basic chess openings with 1.e4, using recommendations given in the following paragraphs. By using such opening methods in practical play, a player will develop intuition about general opening play. In addition, eventually the chess player will become more comfortable when playing the sidelines of such openings, for example, when Black deviates from the main lines. In the following, we will give principal variations with some basic descriptions, mainly for beginners. 

Against 1.e4 we advise 1...e5 for Black instead of the Sicilian (1...c5), which according to former Dutch world champion Dr. M. Euwe[19] would be the strongest response to 1.e4. Nowadays however, a lot more theory has been developed in the Sicilian, and as a result, it is very difficult to play for Black. The postcard photo below shows GM Max Euwe:

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Fig. 5. Former World Champion, Dutch GM Max Euwe (1901-1981)

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The reason for our choice of 1...e5 as the first line of defense is that the Sicilian is certainly not an easy variation system. In addition, most chess players can expect to see 1...e5 more often than ...c5 in the earlier stages of their chess life. So the sharp Sicilian is only recommended for  'expert level' players and is outside the scope of this book as a choice for Black. Beginners and intermediate players can best simply choose 1...e5 with Black instead of...c5 as they aim for open games.

2.2 How NOT to play the opening

To avoid some pitfalls, traps, and to illustrate what happens when a player applies unsound principles to the opening, what follows are  some examples not to play the opening. First, we will show an extreme example of how a beginner player may handle the opening.

Let us assume the game begins with 1.g4?, an overly aggressive move that is not in accordance with the opening principles we discussed in chapter 2.1. This move weakens the king's position and the kingside, does not develop a piece, and does not fight for the center.

Therefore, we are  justified in attaching a question mark to this move because this 'flank opening'[20], the so-called 'Grob' (defined by 1.g4), neglects White's king safety.

Black responds in normal fashion with 1...d5 (1...e5 also would be good), and subsequently White decides to bring out a piece which gives the resulting position:

Now, let us assume the game continues with Black playing the provocative 2...e5?! (provocative because white can take the pawn). Being a materialistic player, like many beginners, White does not hesitate to take the pawn, and grabs it quickly with 3.Nxe5. Black continues with 3...Nc6, which brings us to the diagram:

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A complete beginner might try to protect his centralized knight with the terrible 4.f4??  This move is a blunder because it allows black to land the devastating 4...Qh4# mate. Therefore, although in the above example White could have played 4.Nxc6, it is better to open the game by moving a center pawn two squares. However, as the next example shows, this is not a full-proof way to avoid disaster in the opening. 

In this next example, both sides have started the game by moving a center pawn two squares forward (1.e4 e5). After these moves, the aggressive White player plays 2.Qh5, and in doing so violates the opening principle of not bringing the queen out too early in the game.

He is tempted by the prospect of achieving the so-called Scholar's Mate[21] which happens after Bc4 and Qxf7# are played. Obviously, Black has reliable ways to deal with this superficial threat. On the beginner level, however, this quick checkmating scheme catches many players out.

This opening after 2.Qh5 sometimes is called the  Patzer [22] opening, which already indicates it is not so good.. It is a speculative move, which White plays in the hope that Black will try to chase the queen away with 2...Nf6? After which White can take the pawn on e5 with 3.Qxe5+. It is best to be patient and simply to play 2...Nc6!. Now White can continue the attack by aiming at the square f7 after 3.Bc4, see diagram: 

The disastrous 3...Nf6?? would lead to the 'Scholar's mate' after 4.Qxf7# but Black can easily defend with a better move, namely, either 3...g6 or 3...Qe7!.  After 3...g6 the White queen is driven back, and thus has lost a 'tempo', where-after Black can continue development by playing ...Bg7 (except if there is 4.Qf3, when Black must again deal with the threat to f7 by playing 4...Nf6!). And after 3...Qe7!

The pawn on f7 is defended and Black prepares to drive the White queen away while developing a piece with ...Nf6. So after for example 4.Nc3 Black now can safely play ...Nf6 chasing the White queen away again.

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Black will get a better piece development due to the time White wasted playing Qh5 and then retreating that queen, and therefore Black should obtain the better chances in the game.

What has gone wrong for White? White has not followed the general opening principles given in sub-chapter 2.1, and has brought the queen too early into play. In doing so, he wasted valuable time in the opening and squandered the advantage of the first move.

So when following these guidelines for opening play one could think to have already enough understanding of the opening phase to start a decent game. After all, the sole purpose of the opening is to reach a 'playable' middle-game, right?

Well, this is not true, because experience has taught that in such situations the player often will encounter unpleasant and highly tricky positions, as a result of an unsound attack, a blunder, or a trap by the opponent. For example, if White after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 plays 3.Bc4 (at higher levels we  recommend 3.Bb5), following the general rules, and aiming for the Italian opening, which will be shown later as part of the Black repertoire (at intermediate level):

Therefore, White now would expect Black to play 3...Bc5, or possibly 3...d6!? After which play for White would not be so difficult. But now we assume that a game is played, where to White's surprise, Black responds with 3...Nd4!?[23] Which is a trap for the White player, especially a beginner who does not know this gambit, because it looks that White now simply can take the Black pawn on e5 with 4.Nxe5?

As shown below:

Now Black plays 4...Qg5!  attacking both the knight on e5 and the pawn on g2 simultaneously. Now a well-known mistake would be to play 5.Nxf7?? After which Black can easily win with the move 5...Qxg2. Also 5.Ng4? would be wrong[24]. So the only playable move for White is 6.Bxf7 but then after Kd8! 7.0-0 Qxe5 Black still gets a slightly better game.

Therefore, we see that besides knowing the general rules, in addition some knowledge of specific variations and moves is needed; or at least highly useful and recommendable, even at beginner level.

However, a complete knowledge of all relevant variations[25] is almost impossible and not efficient, especially for beginners. Nevertheless, by choosing specific lines for Black and White, the player can drastically reduce the number of variations that must be known.

For a further general understanding, we refer to some general opening books as given in the bibliography at the end. For absolute beginners probably (Edwards, 2007) would be most suitable.

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2.3 Advised openings (beginners)

Although tactics, planning,

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Based on extensive research in computer chess