With countless opening strategies and variations published in must-read chess books, magazines, and even online, beginners can easily get overwhelmed with the sheer number of possibilities, let alone the amount of moves they need to master. Memorization is the age old trick to learning these opening variations, even though many players admit that it is somewhat counterproductive and quite honestly, a bore. Not only can one’s memory play tricks and mix things up, but some variations may also lead you to a devastating loss with just a minor slip or a small mistake. Additionally, even if you have perfect memory and can reproduce every variation you have ever read about, there is still the danger of losing your grip on the game, especially when the opponent has some pretty clever counter attacks. Memorizing openings is therefore not the best way to learn chess strategy as you may not be quick to figure out what you are supposed to do next after the play has been made.
With the help of an online chess coach, you can possibly develop a good learning strategy to follow so you can know about and use openings more effectively in actual games. In any case, you will have to put in time and work if you want to be an expert in a particular variation. You want to dig deeper into the moves and take them to heart if you want them to become part of your system. A good learning strategy is to study a bunch of games by strong chess players who are experts in the opening variation you wish to learn. This way, you can take a look into their actions, move by move, learn the basic ideas, get the general feel of the opening, and build on your style and approach to the opening.
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