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play well in the positions that arose. As a general principle, if you are having fun in your middlegames, you are probably playing the right sort of openings.

Aim to play systems that follow a general plan or strategy without the need to memorise long variation. By studying the games of strong players, you can then become familiar with the types of position that normally arise and the standard strategies used in such positions. An exception to this is that you need to make sure there are no nasty opening traps to avoid. For example, another good line for White against the Sicilian Defence is 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. This move promises an interesting game and avoids a lot of tricky lines for Black that would need to be learned. However, even this line is not without its pitfalls. After 3..Nd4 4.Nxd4 exd4 5.0-0 White has already made a firm start to the game and has good prospects. However, if Black instead plays 3e6 4.Nc3 Nd4, then 5.Nxd4 is now bad, because of 5..exd4 6.Ne2 Qg5 and White now has some problems. The main thing about knowing opening traps is being aware of how to avoid them, bearing in mind that they can also be used in your favour once in a while. A golden rule though, is never to play opening lines solely aimed at setting up traps. You should always aim to play openings that are good, even against the best responses by your opponent.

Chess books can give lots of useful guidance but beware of books with titles that make any suggestion of a claim that you can win by playing a particular opening. Authors of such books often make exaggerated claims about the strength of the lines they recommend in order to boost sales. Ultimately, there is a series of good moves that will be an effective antidote to any opening system and sometimes your opponents will play such a sequence of moves, either because they learnt them beforehand or because they were good enough to work them out at the board. Either way, you must expect that this might happen whenever you play and be prepared to get on with the game. Once again, what matters most is that you feel happy with the type of position on the board, even if objectively it is equal. Also, on the subject of books, it is important to be aware that there are many moves recommended in apparently reputable books that are plain bad, even losing. Such mistakes are more likely due to carelessness than deliberate intent and the advent of computer analysis has tended to eliminate such errors, but I strongly advise against

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