My initial trouble in games, especially when playing real people in real time, has been in knowing, understanding, and remembering openings. In fact sometimes my trouble has even been in recognising openings, making sure I don’t have e4 reactions to d4 openings. It has been quite regular for me to be way out of my depth and behind in development (and even in material), by move 6, although I sometimes managed to sneak out of squeaky-bum situations thanks to gifts from my opponents.
It hasn’t helped that I have shackled myself by playing on Gameknot for five long years. Not that there’s anything wrong with Gameknot, other than the fact that there is a link to their opening database on every game page, no matter whether you are playing Team, Tournament or League games. So you will find yourself playing opponents who seemingly know several Ruy Lopez variations up until move 8 or 9 but couldn’t recognise a mate-in-one if it jumped though their laptop screen and punched them in the face. It’s a site for casual players, in other words, fun to play on but as good for your brain as candy floss is for your digestive system.
After a while, well, after several years, I got embarrassed by not being able to figure out what I should do next, after 3rd or 4th moves. What embarrassed me the most was Fritz taking minor pieces without fear of retaliation after I had moved supporting pawns or not seen an obvious danger. This was more to do with being a complete bloody prat than with lacking knowledge, but I realised if I knew what the right moves were in each situation then I’d be safer from such occurrences and maybe the understanding might eventually follow.
And if it didn’t then at least I was losing my way in double figures and not desperately trying to compensate for my idiotic shortcomings as soon as I’d made move 3.
So first I figured out some Spanish moves after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3Bb5, although the complications from that set of openings still makes my head hurt. Then I realised my opponents were looking at my results with that and going for 1 ...c5 as Black, or with 1 d4 with the White bits. I couldn’t get away with being solid on one or two openings, I had to know the principals, I had to understand the moves.
I’ve come a little way since then, but when I’m over the board or on a blitz time control I sometimes panic and forget everything I’ve learned (or memorised), as this odd little Playchess game illustrates. My black move 6 is the work of a man who is about to run naked through the streets shouting something incomprehensible about faked lunar landings and shooting JFK. However, in a nice piece of luck for me, white’s move 14 was the work of someone who would listen to that naked shouting man...
So it’s not enough to know your opening, you’ve got to understand it and remember it too. Jeez, maybe I’d be better off sticking to Angry Birds...
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