Opening Inaccuracies

Throughout my learning process, I have always been drawn to the study of opening variations. Many people would argue that the study of the opening in chess development is destructive to your game, proposing the question, "What do you do when your opening knowledge runs out?". I will answer this question with another belief contrary to modern chess development theory. The answer is simple; study the strategic principles which govern all chess positions. Learn about support points, how to limit enemy counterplay, how to use space to your advantage, ect. Don't listen to the guys that say you have to slave over a tactics book looking for pins, forks, discoveries and skewers, because then you are missing what chess is all about. If you know how to launch a vicious kingside attack but put no pieces on the queenside just because you don't know strategic principles, your opponent will just calmly tuck his king away with a queenside castle. The point I want to make is that if you know strategy, your pieces will be in the right spots and you will always have a plan once your opening knowledge runs out. And as an added bonus, it will be difficult for your opponent to exploit your Maroczy Bind when you've shoved a knight on d5.

So I have been browsing through opening databases for the better part of two years now (notice how I say browsing; you don't have to memorize lines 20 moves deep if you only run into them once in a while), and I began my chess learning by reading Yasser Seirawan's book Winning Chess Strategy (Strategies perhaps??). According to myself, I am well positioned for chess growth. I also reccommend playing a healthy amount of internet blitz chess (?!-more controversy) and whenever you lose quickly out of an opening, go look up the correct line. You may be surprised at how much this deepens your knowledge.

Well, it looks like I think that I have all the tools to play strong chess, but what happens when one of those tools fails? What if you loose your way because of a distraction or just plain forgetfulness? I have already shown you my hideous opening against Dalia Kagramanov (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 e6?) and I have made a few others in the dragon (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.O-O-O Rc8 11.Bb3 Nc4 12.Bxc4 Rxc4 13.Bh6?- in view of 13... Nxe4! (sorry for the long line)). When something lioke this happens, just fall back on strategic principles. Don't try to blow the opponent off of the board with tactics, because odds are the tactics won't work because your opponent will likely be more developped. In the opening, just take your time, you'll have plenty of time for the rest of the game.

Caro-Kann Defense

I thought I'd kick off this thing by discussing my favourite opening with the black pieces. The Caro-Kann defense is a super-solid opening that appeals to positional players and endgame specialists. I am no good in the endgame, but I feel strongly positionally rooted. Before I begin the discussion, I would like to address the question: "How do you choose an opening if you are just starting out?".
I have no definite answer, yet to choose an opening for black I can suggest that you first pick a first move with white. Either 1.e4 or 1.d4. Once you have chosen, look at all the main defences to that move. For e4, see the Sicilian, the Ruy Lopez, the French, the Caro-Kann, the Petroff, and the Scandanavian. Of course there are other choices, but I believe beginners benefit most fromm understanding the mainline openings. Choose one that has an appealing look or pawn structure, and run with it. Keep playing it no matter your results, stick to it and you will start to get a sense for the ideas involved.
So, back to the Caro-Kann. The idea of the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6) is to prepare 2... d5 to counter-attack in the centre. This plan is flexible, because it starts the formation of a strong pawn structure, and it allows for the light-square bishop to move, unlike the French. The most common way the game proceeds in the Caro-Kann is 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3(supporting the pawn) dxe4 4.Nxe4. The initial feel of the position is that white has much more control of the game, so I play here 4... Bf5(the Cappablanca variatrion) This kicks the Knight from the centre, and develops a pice. After this move, black should prepare to be stifled on the kingside by white's plan of h4 and h5 eventually attacking the light bishop, butblack has the better pawn structure and should head to the endgame through sound piece exchanges.
If my overview has not satisfied you, great! This shows that you have a thirst for learning about chess. I encourage you check out an opening database for more information.
"Without error there can be no brilliancy" (Emmanuel Lasker)