Rheanna de Tejas Print E-mail
By Joel Benjamin   
June 10, 2006
Dear Joel,

Hi. I'm a B-player and I'm 14. I've intensively been studying the KID, KIA, Pirc, Benoni, etc., and I'm looking to branch out and try new openings. I tried the Sicilian, but it turned out to be too much studying for my hectic teenage life. I get the gist and am comfortable with the openings above, so I am looking for an opening that shares similar themes but also something different enough to keep me excited about studying. What would you suggest?

Opening selection depends a lot on style. Judging from that list of openings, I would guess that you don't mind getting into sharp positions. These openings all involve fianchettoes, so it would not be too much of a stretch to take up the Dragon Sicilian. That opening shares themes similar to the ones already in your repertoire, but will provide you with enjoyable studying. I know, you just told me you don't have time for the Sicilian. But studying the Dragon will not be nearly as labor intensive as you think. At the class B level, you do not need to have a grandmaster's grasp of the opening theory. The Yugoslav attack will require the most work, but you just need to play through a number of instructive games to get a sense of the important themes. Keep in mind that your opponents will not have an encyclopedic knowledge of your opening! A good book on the Dragon will provide you with all that you need to get up and running. The Dragon is pretty strategically straightforward - it doesn't involve mysterious maneuvering or complex pawn structures - so you can play it reasonably well even before you have studied it that much.

If I haven't sold you on my opening suggestion, I hope you accept my point about not fearing the mountain of existing theory on any given opening. It is a common misconception that you need to memorize all the lines to play an opening. You need a few specifics, but mostly you need to understand the strategy. Only when you begin to face master level competition do you need to worry about the minutiae of current opening theory.

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Joel Benjamin
 
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