Thread: Free chess openings resources

I haven't played in a while as well - last time online was about 5 months ago, and real chess even longer than that - and actually because I won half of my tab was paid for by the owner of this bar

I am on the chess team at school, I would be willing to play, but I prefer longer games than 5/3, mabey aroudn 15 minutes or 10, but more than five. That is too fast, doesn't create tactically strong games, just traps and memorization of openings really.

>I am on the chess team at school, I would be willing to play, but I prefer longer games than 5/3, mabey aroudn 15 minutes or 10, but more than five. That is too fast, doesn't create tactically strong games, just traps and memorization of openings really.<

I disagree...if you have two players, who are relatively at the same level, than it is a great experiance. 10 minute games are way too long IMO. I could play long games but only not online.

5 minute games are never 10 moves, unless one of the players is really bad. I actually just played two (5/5) games on yahoo (I like their facelift btw), and both were around 50 moves - granted about 15 were closing since I forgot how to close with a rook and bishop only - but finally figured it out btw, I won both

When i was actively playing i used this place:

http://www.ex.ac.uk/~dregis/DR/openings.html

In reply to the original post, there is a pay site called www.chesspublishing.com, where IM and GM players host sub-sites within the site. Each sub-site is dedicated to a particular branch of opening theory. When you subscribe, you see all updates going back to when the site started in 1999 (new updates are published monthly). It costs about $100 per year. I have a subscription and I personally think its a great value. They also have a set of message boards similar to CBoard, and you can get good advice and even analysis there also--that part is free.

I would not recommend Nunns openings, even though I have it. It's just a bunch of variations, almost no explanation. Probably the worst way to learn an opening. But once you know some stuff, its a great resource that can point you in the right direction.

On the other hand, you could go to www.newinchess.com, which is not for players just starting in chess, but rather the site for a magazine dedicated to the latest news in chess. They have an online database that you can search (free). I go there to learn new openings--just enter the opening moves, do the search, and play through 20+ games entirely. Eventually you start getting the ideas, even if noone explains it to you. Also www.chessgames.com is another online database, but they charge something like $20 a year to do specialized opening searches. Another online database is www.chesslab.com, but I always had a problem with their Java applet taking up 100% of CPU, so I stopped using it. Finally, there is www.chesscafe.com, which is a lot of articles on various chess topics. You might want to look at the Kibitzer series, becase many of those articles look at specific chess openings (usually gambits).

As far as books, I don't really know of a single book that teaches everything well...usually there are specialized books for each opening. But if you are willing to read more than one book, I think a great series is the "Starting Out..." books (they are supposed to be good for players below Expert strength). Also, you may be interested in checking out www.jeremysilman.com, where there are many book reviews, and articles on opening, middlegame, and endgame. Also a free site.

BTW, Anyone play on ICC?