Moret - My First Chess Opening Repertoire for Black: a Ready-to-go Package for Ambitious Beginners

Vincent MoretMy First Opening Repertoire for BlackA Ready-to-go Package for Ambitious BeginnersNew In Chess 2017 2017 New In Chess Published by New In Chess, Alkmaar, The Netherlands www.newinchess.com All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher. Cover design:Volken Beck Translation: Tony Kosten Supervisor: Peter Boel Proofreading: Frank Erwich, Maaike Keetman Production: Ian Kingston Have you found any errors in this book? Please send your remarks to and implement them in a possible next edition. ISBN: 978-90-5691-764-3 Explanation of SymbolsThe chessboard with its coordinates: White to move Black to move King Queen Rook Bishop Knight ! good move !! excellent move ? bad move ?? blunder !? interesting move ?! dubious move White stands slightly better Black stands slightly better White stands better Black stands better + White has a decisive advantage + Black has a decisive advantage = balanced position unclear counterplay compensation # mate corr. correspondence jr junior sr senior Introduction A few months have passed since the first volume of this diptych was written and published. Hocine and Nicolas, the two young children who were starting chess and whom we met in the introduction, have begun to study the openings in a systematic and intelligent way in other words, without learning the first ten moves of a variation by heart.

Both have also competed in numerous tournaments to put their new theoretical knowledge into practice, and the results were not long in coming. Nicolas, in particular, has surged more than 500 points in Elo rating, and we will see him at work later in these pages for his first game against a grandmaster with an Elo over 2600. The ten-year-old boy won the opening battle, but nevertheless failed to make use of a good advantage and finally lost after a tactical blunder, proving that the opening is important (I would not say otherwise while writing a book on the subject), but that it is not everything. We will have the opportunity to discuss this again. I hope that those readers of the first volume that I have the pleasure to find here for the rest of our study have experienced the same progression as Nicolas and Hocine. I asked myself whether I should write a new introduction for this second volume.

I know from experience that this is not the part of a book that chess players are generally the most fond of, and that it is often skipped by readers in order to plunge as quickly as possible into the heart of the matter. Furthermore, I do not really have any new elements to add to the first volume. I will therefore simply summarize a few of the main points. Like its predecessor, this book is conceived in the form of a repertoire. It offers Black targeted systems against Whites main moves, and is not an encyclopaedic survey of all openings. Naturally, a large part will be devoted to 1.e4, which is by far the most popular opening for amateurs and club players.

The choice of openings (for the black side!) is undoubtedly debatable. I have deliberately avoided the major theoretical variations of the Sicilian Defence (against 1.e4) or the Kings Indian Defence (against 1.d4), which would have no place in a work mainly intended for amateurs or young children just starting out. And I have deliberately chosen aggressive variations. Playing aggressive openings allows the development of ones tactical vision in open positions, which can only benefit progression. Do not be afraid, or reluctant, to play some of the gambits in this repertoire, even though they may have a dubious reputation according to omniscient opening theory. I have bet on pragmatism and efficiency.

And this approach has been confirmed by the results of my students who have tested and adopted! this repertoire against opponents of their own level. There will always be time, later, to come to the main opening variations recommended by theory, which will inevitably require much more effort. Initially the goal must be to forge a digestible repertoire without expending too much energy on it, and above all by emphasizing understanding rather than memorization. This is undoubtedly the aim of this book, which is not intended to prepare masters, or even candidates to become masters (at least not right away!), but rather to offer ideas and points of reference to players young and less young alike! who engage in competitions and are not sure where to start studying openings. This book will also be useful for organizers and trainers of clubs who sometimes feel a little lacking when they have to teach openings to their students. I have kept the same framework, involving a collection of complete games, rather than the presentation of long theoretical lines which could prove indigestible for an amateur.

Rather than being able to recite the first ten moves of an opening by heart, it is far more important to know the typical middlegame plans that result from an opening, and above all the most common combinations and tactical themes. And it is only by studying complete games that you can discover these. Moreover, whenever possible, I have again mainly chosen to select young players games rather than games from grandmasters. There are at least two reasons: 1. I would not have much to add to grandmasters games, which have already been analyzed by illustrious authors and which can be found in many other publications. 2.

It seems profitable, at least at first, to study games by children and amateurs, with their characteristic faults, rather than those of grandmasters. The latter are often free from major mistakes, but are sometimes a little difficult to grasp for the layman. Obviously, as it is impossible to study an opening without drawing on the experience of the best players, some games from great champions are included in this collection. At the end of each chapter a series of exercises will test that the concepts discussed have been assimilated. An experienced player can try to solve the positions before reading the chapter. Solving these exercises will therefore also be a good way to work at tactics and the calculation of variations.

Work that must necessarily go hand in hand with the study of openings. With greater tactical skill it is possible that Nicolas could have capitalized on the advantage he acquired in the opening against the grandmaster. Now I wish you a safe and rewarding journey of initiation into the fabulous world of the openings. If, in addition to acquiring new knowledge, you have fun, then this modest book will have achieved its goal. Vincent Moret
Nancy, June 2017Chapter 1The Scandinavian: introduction and general ideas A player who is looking to build an opening repertoire with black must naturally first ask himself the question of what to play against 1.e4. The advance of the kings pawn at the beginning of a game is statistically the most played move at all levels.