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You’re studying chess openings the wrong way (do this instead)

@practicingalways said ^

HI IM, I remember seeing your name in tournaments like long time ago (Back when Max is still FM) when I was having tournaments in aussie, good to hear you're an IM now, when you mention about calculation and time management, I was like oh that's my main weakness atm too XD Good to know you managed to overcame it somehow

Hi, haha that's a long time ago. In terms of time management and calculation, they might still be my top 2 areas to work on :) but definitely have improved - tough step is acknowledging those as main weaknesses and that long term you're just throwing away a lot of games and potential for growth if you ignore it too long! Most of the time, once you start thinking about how to improve it and just doing things about it regularly, making it your focus for tournaments etc. and you feel small progress on it bit by bit it becomes fun working on it.

@practicingalways said [^](/forum/redirect/post/xH64ZfNj) > HI IM, I remember seeing your name in tournaments like long time ago (Back when Max is still FM) when I was having tournaments in aussie, good to hear you're an IM now, when you mention about calculation and time management, I was like oh that's my main weakness atm too XD Good to know you managed to overcame it somehow Hi, haha that's a long time ago. In terms of time management and calculation, they might still be my top 2 areas to work on :) but definitely have improved - tough step is acknowledging those as main weaknesses and that long term you're just throwing away a lot of games and potential for growth if you ignore it too long! Most of the time, once you start thinking about how to improve it and just doing things about it regularly, making it your focus for tournaments etc. and you feel small progress on it bit by bit it becomes fun working on it.

@frentz said ^

#1 Reach middlegames you’re happy to play, and
#2 Learn something from every game.

This is good clarity. But, winning the game and learning from the game are not the same -- and often somewhat at odds.

The more you are happy to play the position, the less you may gain from the experience (and I am speaking as someone who contentedly plays some of the same openings now for 10 or 15 years of blitz :-).

If the goal were to build a better chess player, we should take an aggressive "tilt" to this recipe -- like 80% learning, and 20% comfort (=winning right now).

That's a good argument and perhaps something I need to explore deeper & write about too, thanks. Probably need to find a balance that works for you for learning & long term improvement, it's important to go deep on some parts of your repertoire to build that relative expertise (if you keep jumping between openings, sure you'll learn but you won't get good enough with it) but yup as you say, at some point you might not be learning anything new and get too comfortable playing the same things.

@frentz said [^](/forum/redirect/post/92dhNBNg) > #1 Reach middlegames you’re happy to play, and > #2 Learn something from every game. > > This is good clarity. But, winning the game and learning from the game are not the same -- and often somewhat at odds. > > The more you are happy to play the position, the less you may gain from the experience (and I am speaking as someone who contentedly plays some of the same openings now for 10 or 15 years of blitz :-). > > If the goal were to build a better chess player, we should take an aggressive "tilt" to this recipe -- like 80% learning, and 20% comfort (=winning right now). That's a good argument and perhaps something I need to explore deeper & write about too, thanks. Probably need to find a balance that works for you for learning & long term improvement, it's important to go deep on some parts of your repertoire to build that relative expertise (if you keep jumping between openings, sure you'll learn but you won't get good enough with it) but yup as you say, at some point you might not be learning anything new and get too comfortable playing the same things.

I was facing the same issue, and wondering what I was doing wrong as I was MEMORIZING the file, but not understanding it. This blog really helped.

I was facing the same issue, and wondering what I was doing wrong as I was MEMORIZING the file, but not understanding it. This blog really helped.

@datajunkie said ^

HI IM, I remember seeing your name in tournaments like long time ago (Back when Max is still FM) when I was having tournaments in aussie, good to hear you're an IM now, when you mention about calculation and time management, I was like oh that's my main weakness atm too XD Good to know you managed to overcame it somehow

Hi, haha that's a long time ago. In terms of time management and calculation, they might still be my top 2 areas to work on :) but definitely have improved - tough step is acknowledging those as main weaknesses and that long term you're just throwing away a lot of games and potential for growth if you ignore it too long! Most of the time, once you start thinking about how to improve it and just doing things about it regularly, making it your focus for tournaments etc. and you feel small progress on it bit by bit it becomes fun working on it.

yes I'm still working on it since in rapid you don't have much time to think like in classical time controls, it's a process I guess :D

@datajunkie said [^](/forum/redirect/post/QVALsniK) > > HI IM, I remember seeing your name in tournaments like long time ago (Back when Max is still FM) when I was having tournaments in aussie, good to hear you're an IM now, when you mention about calculation and time management, I was like oh that's my main weakness atm too XD Good to know you managed to overcame it somehow > > Hi, haha that's a long time ago. In terms of time management and calculation, they might still be my top 2 areas to work on :) but definitely have improved - tough step is acknowledging those as main weaknesses and that long term you're just throwing away a lot of games and potential for growth if you ignore it too long! Most of the time, once you start thinking about how to improve it and just doing things about it regularly, making it your focus for tournaments etc. and you feel small progress on it bit by bit it becomes fun working on it. yes I'm still working on it since in rapid you don't have much time to think like in classical time controls, it's a process I guess :D

If I got a penny every time someone told me I was studying the openings wrong...

If I got a penny every time someone told me I was studying the openings wrong...

Thanks for your effort in writing this exceptionally good and easily understandable article.

Thanks for your effort in writing this exceptionally good and easily understandable article.

Amazing, and finally a post that isnt authored by ai.

Amazing, and finally a post that isnt authored by ai.

@OneoftheTwo said ^

I was facing the same issue, and wondering what I was doing wrong as I was MEMORIZING the file, but not understanding it. This blog really helped.

Glad it helped!

@OneoftheTwo said [^](/forum/redirect/post/O32Wcz9A) > I was facing the same issue, and wondering what I was doing wrong as I was MEMORIZING the file, but not understanding it. This blog really helped. Glad it helped!