Struggling in the Opening in tournaments, any help? • page 2/2 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

I need help preparing the opening. Since I am almost 1900 right now, my higher rated opponents are outplaying me in the opening. Can anybody offer help?

Play better? I could not resist. I'm sure the internet police will be pounding at my door soon.

Describe your study sessions is a better way to get advice on improving that. I can only share what I do.

I am in the same ballpark you are from a chess skill perspective; I try to:

Hammer themed tactics one at a time in a rotation,
Endgame studies (100 endgames you must know, broadly, along with Kasparyan's Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies and The survival Guide to Rook Endings by John Emms, because, you know, Rook Endings, which is excellent) and
A tight and small opening repertoire, and
The "flavor of the month" strategic play. October is IQP month. I have a good-sized list somewhere on my comp, flag my kindle books for that flavor, and walk through them as far as I can get in a month. Rinse and Repeat.

I play mostly OTB locally, not online here nor on chess.com. I'm older so I suffer from ageist issues that affect chess. I'm as good as my age and 145 IQ lets me (IQ is probably irrelevent) and pounding my studies faithfully. It is what it is. There is comfort knowing you are probably not going to exceed certain plateaus. False expectations kills motivation.

As for preparing openings, Spaced Repetition is the way to go. You can do it mechanically or use something like Chessable online. There are enough free courses there so you do NOT need to pay anything. I would add an actual book with positional assessments in the variations you are studying.

HOWEVER, seems like your middlegame is the culprit to me, not your opening play. One game you played ...Nh7? and dropped the exchange on e7 for no reason where ...Bc8 was calling your name. You spent nearly a full minute on that move that loses immediately to a simple exchange tactic. No Bueno.

@MrPawnWoodward said [^](/forum/redirect/post/7fA73g86) > I need help preparing the opening. Since I am almost 1900 right now, my higher rated opponents are outplaying me in the opening. Can anybody offer help? Play better? I could not resist. I'm sure the internet police will be pounding at my door soon. Describe your study sessions is a better way to get advice on improving that. I can only share what I do. I am in the same ballpark you are from a chess skill perspective; I try to: * Hammer themed tactics one at a time in a rotation, * Endgame studies (100 endgames you must know, broadly, along with Kasparyan's Domination in 2545 Endgame Studies and The survival Guide to Rook Endings by John Emms, because, you know, Rook Endings, which is excellent) and * A tight and small opening repertoire, and * The "flavor of the month" strategic play. October is IQP month. I have a good-sized list somewhere on my comp, flag my kindle books for that flavor, and walk through them as far as I can get in a month. Rinse and Repeat. I play mostly OTB locally, not online here nor on chess.com. I'm older so I suffer from ageist issues that affect chess. I'm as good as my age and 145 IQ lets me (IQ is probably irrelevent) and pounding my studies faithfully. It is what it is. There is comfort knowing you are probably not going to exceed certain plateaus. False expectations kills motivation. As for preparing openings, Spaced Repetition is the way to go. You can do it mechanically or use something like Chessable online. There are enough free courses there so you do NOT need to pay anything. I would add an actual book with positional assessments in the variations you are studying. HOWEVER, seems like your middlegame is the culprit to me, not your opening play. One game you played ...Nh7? and dropped the exchange on e7 for no reason where ...Bc8 was calling your name. You spent nearly a full minute on that move that loses immediately to a simple exchange tactic. No Bueno.