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for specific opponents. They analyze the openings of their own games looking for surprises that a well-prepared opponent might try to use on them. In other words, they not only work on their opening repertoires but also study the repertoires of their opponents. A good chess player tries to disrupt your games as much as possible, so you must be aware of this when you build up your opening repertoire.

Once in a tournament I told a player which opening he could expect to face from his next opponent in the tournament. The reason is that I had played a game against him and also seen a few of his games, so I had an idea of his style. The player prepared for the opening which both of us expected his opponent would use. To our surprise, however, his opponent used a different opening. This shows that no matter how extensively we may prepare for a particular opening, there is no guarantee that our opponent will use it. For this reason, it's a good idea to be flexible and accept that our opponent may surprise us. Fortunately for the player who faced an unexpected opening, he still managed to win.

An opening repertoire is necessary to become a great player. The moves that grandmasters make aim to obtain the maximum benefit out of their opening repertoires. They're the result of their extensive preparation and their moves are often so subtle that they're difficult for lower-level players to understand. A grandmaster make may a move in the opening whose relevance is only clear several moves later. For that reason, it's better to use an own opening repertoire which is your own and you understand well rather than a complex opening of a grandmaster.

Do not try to build a repertoire by learning openings where your main objective is to have a won game after only a few moves. This is playing for tricks and might lead to a few won games, but will not increase your overall knowledge much. Your objective in the opening should be to develop a game which makes you comfortable. It should also be to get games where you are exposed to the largest number of possible types of positions. Then you'll be on the road to mastery.

If you play tournaments, a good idea is to note your win and loss percentages with different openings. You can then see which openings are the most successful for you and develop those. Analyzing the openings of top players and developing a keen ability to recognize patterns in your openings are also vital for building up your opening repertoire.

Learn more about this author, Les Zsoldos.
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