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Any advice for a 2200 player looking to broaden their repretoire?

as the title states, I am rated 2200 rapid, and I am looking to broaden my opening repertoire from my currently very surprise reliant repertoire, to more mainline openings, mostly so that preparation against me becomes more difficult, but also to get comfortable with a wider range of positions.
At the same time, if I just jump in to a completely random opening every game, My opponent will have a significant advantage due to me being inexperienced in the opening,which will probably result in me being dead lost by like move 7, or being significantly down on time, none of which are ideal ( I have tried and miserably failed this strategy ).
So what I want to do is learn openings one by one, maybe not in depth knowledge, just the ideas/plans for each side and refutations some gambits my opponents may try.
But there are still a lot of questions I have.
where do I learn new openings ( as of now, the YT channel Hanging Pawns is the best I know of ) how should I practice? how do I decide what openings to learn? how deep should my knowledge be? etc etc etc...
All advice is welcome, and I would highly appreciate any ( free ) resources I could use.

as the title states, I am rated 2200 rapid, and I am looking to broaden my opening repertoire from my currently very surprise reliant repertoire, to more mainline openings, mostly so that preparation against me becomes more difficult, but also to get comfortable with a wider range of positions. At the same time, if I just jump in to a completely random opening every game, My opponent will have a significant advantage due to me being inexperienced in the opening,which will probably result in me being dead lost by like move 7, or being significantly down on time, none of which are ideal ( I have tried and miserably failed this strategy ). So what I want to do is learn openings one by one, maybe not in depth knowledge, just the ideas/plans for each side and refutations some gambits my opponents may try. But there are still a lot of questions I have. where do I learn new openings ( as of now, the YT channel Hanging Pawns is the best I know of ) how should I practice? how do I decide what openings to learn? how deep should my knowledge be? etc etc etc... All advice is welcome, and I would highly appreciate any ( free ) resources I could use.

This may help.

[This](https://lichess.org/video?tags=advanced/opening) may help.

In his book on the Queen's Gambit Accepted, Maxim Dlugy starts with a short chapter summarising the main variations. After reading this, he recommends playing 50-100 blitz games online with the opening to gain practice. In a few days, you'll be familiar with the popular variations and you can look up the details of any you're unfamiliar with.
You can apply the same strategy to learning any new opening. Play casual blitz games if you're worried about your rating.

Two important pieces of advice:

  1. You cannot swim without jumping into the water. At some point, you have to stop worrying about your inexperience and play the new opening.
  2. Do not underestimate your intuition. Nobody gets to 2200 rapid without gaining a lot of chess wisdom. There shouldn't be any opening where you are 'being dead lost by like move 7', trust your instincts.
In his book on the Queen's Gambit Accepted, Maxim Dlugy starts with a short chapter summarising the main variations. After reading this, he recommends playing 50-100 blitz games online with the opening to gain practice. In a few days, you'll be familiar with the popular variations and you can look up the details of any you're unfamiliar with. You can apply the same strategy to learning any new opening. Play casual blitz games if you're worried about your rating. Two important pieces of advice: 1. You cannot swim without jumping into the water. At some point, you have to stop worrying about your inexperience and play the new opening. 2. Do not underestimate your intuition. Nobody gets to 2200 rapid without gaining a lot of chess wisdom. There shouldn't be any opening where you are 'being dead lost by like move 7', trust your instincts.

@JEEprep2374 said ^

as the title states, I am rated 2200 rapid, and I am looking to broaden my opening repertoire from my currently very surprise reliant repertoire, to more mainline openings, mostly so that preparation against me becomes more difficult, but also to get comfortable with a wider range of positions.
At the same time, if I just jump in to a completely random opening every game, My opponent will have a significant advantage due to me being inexperienced in the opening,which will probably result in me being dead lost by like move 7, or being significantly down on time, none of which are ideal ( I have tried and miserably failed this strategy ).
So what I want to do is learn openings one by one, maybe not in depth knowledge, just the ideas/plans for each side and refutations some gambits my opponents may try.
But there are still a lot of questions I have.
where do I learn new openings ( as of now, the YT channel Hanging Pawns is the best I know of ) how should I practice? how do I decide what openings to learn? how deep should my knowledge be? etc etc etc...
All advice is welcome, and I would highly appreciate any ( free ) resources I could use.

do you like play otb a lot, or just online?

@JEEprep2374 said [^](/forum/redirect/post/e7yiL9Cd) > as the title states, I am rated 2200 rapid, and I am looking to broaden my opening repertoire from my currently very surprise reliant repertoire, to more mainline openings, mostly so that preparation against me becomes more difficult, but also to get comfortable with a wider range of positions. > At the same time, if I just jump in to a completely random opening every game, My opponent will have a significant advantage due to me being inexperienced in the opening,which will probably result in me being dead lost by like move 7, or being significantly down on time, none of which are ideal ( I have tried and miserably failed this strategy ). > So what I want to do is learn openings one by one, maybe not in depth knowledge, just the ideas/plans for each side and refutations some gambits my opponents may try. > But there are still a lot of questions I have. > where do I learn new openings ( as of now, the YT channel Hanging Pawns is the best I know of ) how should I practice? how do I decide what openings to learn? how deep should my knowledge be? etc etc etc... > All advice is welcome, and I would highly appreciate any ( free ) resources I could use. do you like play otb a lot, or just online?

"my currently very surprise reliant repertoire"

  • Some dubious openings no longer work from a certain level.

"more mainline"

  • More mainline means more theory.

"preparation against me becomes more difficult"

  • You can play at top level with a narrow repertoire of solid openings. Like Vachier-Lagrave: Najdorf, Grünfeld, Ruy Lopez.

"being significantly down on time"

  • That is the lesser evil.

"refutations some gambits my opponents may try"

  • That is less important: as you get better, you will face less refuted gambits.

"where do I learn new openings"

  • From a data base.

"how should I practice?"

  • Play and analyze lost games.

"how do I decide what openings to learn?"

  • There is a trade-off between sound with lots of theory and less sound with less theory.

"how deep should my knowledge be?"

  • One move deeper than your opponent.
"my currently very surprise reliant repertoire" * Some dubious openings no longer work from a certain level. "more mainline" * More mainline means more theory. "preparation against me becomes more difficult" * You can play at top level with a narrow repertoire of solid openings. Like Vachier-Lagrave: Najdorf, Grünfeld, Ruy Lopez. "being significantly down on time" * That is the lesser evil. "refutations some gambits my opponents may try" * That is less important: as you get better, you will face less refuted gambits. "where do I learn new openings" * From a data base. "how should I practice?" * Play and analyze lost games. "how do I decide what openings to learn?" * There is a trade-off between sound with lots of theory and less sound with less theory. "how deep should my knowledge be?" * One move deeper than your opponent.

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