http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/-t1.htm Discuss any general issues about the opening course Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:21:14 GMT 10 http://i88.servimg.com/u/f88/13/78/00/75/chesss12.gif http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/-t1.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/e4-vs-d4-or-c4-t193.htm fanat I'm hearing all the time that people should play open games at the start of their career to improve tactics. I'm thinking of trying out e4 to improve tactics (which definitely needs lots of improvement) and improve my attacking chess. At my level I don't need to know tons of opening theory as most of my games are decided in the late middlegame or endgames. So a question for more experienced players - how much truth is there in the benefit of playing open games? Should I answer e4 ... Opening Course: General Discussion Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:21:14 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/e4-vs-d4-or-c4-t193.htm#1651 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/e4-vs-d4-or-c4-t193.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/for-anyone-who-has-month-10-and-beyond-t192.htm Bilbo What are the annotated games and examples for the 1.d4 openings in Months 10-13 like? Do they have well annotated games for all, or most of the 1.d4 openings? Is there a nice amount of material, how many games are we talking each month? I've worked through all of their Indian Defences 1.d4 Nf6 now, from the Dutch to Kings Indian and whether it's a great module or a poor one really depends on how they follow up the last 3 months. I'm hoping we will get at least 2 or 3 model games ... Opening Course: General Discussion Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:55:22 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/for-anyone-who-has-month-10-and-beyond-t192.htm#1649 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/for-anyone-who-has-month-10-and-beyond-t192.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/french-defence-lines-by-ics-t182.htm fanat I've just started Month 9. I'm not doing the work for the main module just yet but ICS started to cover the French Defence in detail and I am definitely starting to take a look at this. My question is for the people who saw the material ICS provided for the French Defence in Month 9. I don't have a lot of experience with the French but it seems that the lines ICS recommends are a bit aggressive vs. the main lines? Am I impression correct? What does everybody think about the French ... Opening Course: General Discussion Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:28:50 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/french-defence-lines-by-ics-t182.htm#1586 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/french-defence-lines-by-ics-t182.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/danish-gambit-t169.htm HangingKing I'm wondering why so much people are playing the Danish Gambit as white, i.e. giving d4,c3,b2 pawns in exchange of freedom of movement on queeside. I ask this because i find a lot of opponents playing it against me, and it's generally not very successful. Here is the typical way i answer to it, giving chess with bishop, and take the knight in order to avoid let the bishop hanging if white queen gives check, then defend with the knight manoeuver Nf6,Ne4,Ng5 on the kingside. After that the ... Opening Course: General Discussion Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:30:55 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/danish-gambit-t169.htm#1497 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/danish-gambit-t169.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/have-they-changed-recommended-openings-t121.htm hoopy ]]> Opening Course: General Discussion Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:04:08 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/have-they-changed-recommended-openings-t121.htm#897 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/have-they-changed-recommended-openings-t121.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/browser-version-of-openings-vs-pdf-t148.htm Bilbo Does anyone use the browser version instead of the pdf's to study the openings? I was just looking at the Dutch today and loaded up the browser to play through the moves automatically. Anyway I noticed the content is actually changed slightly. Nothing really new added but the online version reads more naturally like somebody who understands English properly has written it. I've not looked at the other openings on the browser yet but I'm curious to see if there are any differences, ... Opening Course: General Discussion Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:09:05 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/browser-version-of-openings-vs-pdf-t148.htm#1250 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/browser-version-of-openings-vs-pdf-t148.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/opening-advice-t126.htm fanat Now that ICS revised their opening material and came up with Scandinavian/Center-Counter for month 4 I'm seriously thinking of learning it. My main objective is to learn some ok openings that don't require massive theory so I will have time and concentrate more on other ICS material + endgame and tactics. With lots of opening theory to learn this is just not going to happen. We all have work/family. I was learning French little by little but looks like ICS will go into the French starting ... Opening Course: General Discussion Tue, 23 Jun 2009 19:29:54 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/opening-advice-t126.htm#943 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/opening-advice-t126.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/i-think-they-have-finished-it-t119.htm hoopy ]]> Opening Course: General Discussion Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:55:34 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/i-think-they-have-finished-it-t119.htm#894 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/i-think-they-have-finished-it-t119.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/anyone-know-what-month-they-cover-qga-for-white-t77.htm Blue Devil Knight
I really like how their repertoire hangs together with nice transpositional possibilities, in particular their response to the Slav and to QGD have many points of transposition.]]> Opening Course: General Discussion Wed, 20 May 2009 13:06:34 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/anyone-know-what-month-they-cover-qga-for-white-t77.htm#513 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/anyone-know-what-month-they-cover-qga-for-white-t77.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/i-am-now-ahead-of-the-game-t123.htm hoopy
But good to finally feel I am not as far behind as I thought!!]]> Opening Course: General Discussion Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:37:47 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/i-am-now-ahead-of-the-game-t123.htm#900 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/i-am-now-ahead-of-the-game-t123.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/new-opening-program-index-t120.htm hoopy
Comment "requires NO excellent memory"

Anyone who has been doing the openings agree? I am doing 2 hrs a day & feel it is not enough to keep up.

]]> Opening Course: General Discussion Sat, 20 Jun 2009 13:00:51 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/new-opening-program-index-t120.htm#895 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/new-opening-program-index-t120.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/the-catalan-t110.htm hoopy We've talked about helping each other on this forum. I need some help!! I've now played the Catalan closed twice now & immediately I have been taken out of ICS "book". Anyone know reponses to 1) d4 Nf6 2) c4 e6 3) g3 d5 4) Nf3 Be7 5) Bg2 a) ....c5 b).....b6 Neither seem mentioned in ICS. c) Also why is 3)....D5 forced according to ICS? Is it simply to prevent e4? Thanks all you opening buffs!! I will respond in ... Opening Course: General Discussion Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:06:55 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/the-catalan-t110.htm#814 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/the-catalan-t110.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/openings-module-updated-t75.htm Bilbo Just wondering if the rest of you have noticed they have changed the opening module again. Now in my Month 1 section I have all the rest of the 1.e4 reportoire, the Scandinavian, Pirc, French, Caro Kann etc. They have included the complete Ruy Lopez and Sicilian reportoire in Month 2 as well. This is much better, the course is following some logical order again now. Anyway if you havn't noticed yet check it out, nice to get the completed 1.e4 reportoire now especially for those ... Opening Course: General Discussion Mon, 18 May 2009 13:41:58 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/openings-module-updated-t75.htm#487 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/openings-module-updated-t75.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/time-to-be-controversial-t108.htm hoopy I'm going to say something good about the opening stuff. Elsewhere on the forum I have criticised what I saw as weak the 100's of games supposedly demonstrating the 5 middle game pawn structures. I confess that I learned nothing from them. Likewise I have felt that the openings are a little simplistic with many missing variations. Strangely I find that reading the "to do's" especially in the Catalan stuff has been a great teaching aid in this aspect of the course. They ... Opening Course: General Discussion Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:42:49 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/time-to-be-controversial-t108.htm#798 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/time-to-be-controversial-t108.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/the-openings-module-seems-poor-to-me-t60.htm Bilbo I've not started studying the Openings Module yet as I havn't had the time but the content doesn't seem to be nearly as good as the main module. Month 3 just has around 12 pages on the Najdorf. For $15 that's over a dollar per page I don't play the Najdorf anyway so I guess it wouldn't matter how many pages there were but it better be some quality recommendations and explanations on there to justify that price. I think the main module so far is superb and well worth the money, ... Opening Course: General Discussion Sat, 09 May 2009 04:23:09 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/the-openings-module-seems-poor-to-me-t60.htm#377 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/the-openings-module-seems-poor-to-me-t60.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/when-do-they-cover-sicilian-for-black-t86.htm Blue Devil Knight I am thinking of taking up the Sicilian. Does anyone know what month they start with it? Opening Course: General Discussion Thu, 28 May 2009 17:09:04 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/when-do-they-cover-sicilian-for-black-t86.htm#624 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/when-do-they-cover-sicilian-for-black-t86.htm http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/what-to-do-with-openings-stats-t66.htm HangingKing Well, this is a general question about openings. Even if we try to concentrate on specific openings, it nevers goes the way we like it, and we go into many many variations. I noticed that examining my stats from about 2 years of "15 0" games on ICC, i though i was doing more or less the same things but in fact it goes into lots of branches. Here is my stat file --> http://zwim.free.fr/utils/openings_stats.txt This is quite hard to get through this kind of data, and ... Opening Course: General Discussion Wed, 13 May 2009 02:05:57 GMT http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/what-to-do-with-openings-stats-t66.htm#424 http://icsdiscussion.forumotion.net/opening-course-general-discussion-f10/what-to-do-with-openings-stats-t66.htm