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Thanks, Charles!

I am way below 1500 but have benefited from those openings. The Stonewall I sort of understand. Not so much the Owen’s defense. However I’ve played both against OTB opponents as well as chess.com. I’ve been pleased by the results.

Focus on the principles rather than memorizing.

I enjoy the KIA and Stonewall because they generally limit black to a few sensible replies, and in most cases, the themes are fairly straightforward to understand. I like Pirc/KID for black because the themes are pretty similar to the KIA, just colors reversed. I agree with Charles that if you find a solid opening and then stick to trying…

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If KID/KIA is working for you and you enjoy it, I’d say stick with it! That being said, you could always try the Stonewall/Owen’s for 10 games each and see which you like better. Hope that helps!

Hallo everyone, after I received the course as a gift from my wife, her name Marianne was in the profile yesterday. Today I changed that, my name is Ronald, in case you are wondering why this post is not from Marianne. I thank everyone for the encouraging words. I don’t know my ELO, but I’m currently at 1486 on lichess and after adjusting… Read more

If you like the Owen’s as black then there’s absolutely nothing wrong with b3 as white.

First play yesterday Owen’s defense for black opening, and I win 😀 And like Nelson sayed, my opponent struggle on every move 😀

can also play the black/reversed version of the stonewall…bit harder to set up, but eg french opening transposes nicely!

So, last night I played the Ower’s. Love controlling the E4/D5 white squares. The knight on e4 is a monster. It opened lots of tactical possibilities, specially when opponent was not castled and his only option was queenside. @ChessVibes – Thank you for suggesting this opening.

IMHO, My understanding is that, by playing your best lines in the opening, you put yourself in the best position for the middle game. In contrast, if your opponent plays suboptimal, that should give you an advance in the middle game.

I always approached openings by not losing the game in the first 10 moves. After that, its chess.

The openings put you in a position to apply strategies and tactics Nelson teaches in this course. The openings he demonstrates are very powerful.

Yeah. Stay calm, do the basics.

It can be normal. If you’re thinking about more things during the games and getting into time trouble, then that could definitely happen. Or if you are using new openings but haven’t gotten familiar with them yet. If I was in your shoes, I’d analyze my last 10-20 losses very carefully and write down the main reason you lost in each of the…

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For far too long I oscillate, it’s normal..

Glad you’re enjoying it, Jeff! If you go to the “Bonuses” section of the course there is one called “Online Chess Mastery”. I think those videos will probably answer some of your questions regarding the Analysis tab and whatnot.

Awesome to have you here at 71 and starting out.

What I did: watch 1-3 videos a day, not everyday day. Play some bots or setup an analytics board. And play some real 15+10 games

Paul, start with module 6. Learning not to blunder is the single most important skill for amateurs like us.

Thanks guys, I’ve yet to pluck up the courage to play online against people, just against Stockfish and Maia but have started playing OTB at a local chess club. Won 1 lost 5 but that’s OK 😉 And yes, Edward, I think you’ve hit the nail squarely on the head. Maybe I need someone to hit me squarely on the head each time I make a dumb mistake!!

Hey Paul! Glad you’re here! I personally would watch a couple of lessons, and then play a game or two and try to implement what you’ve learned. Then rinse and repeat. That being said, there’s no “right” or “wrong” way, it really comes down to what you feel helps the most.

Thanks for responding so quickly. That’s what I thought, get one thing embedded at a time and avoid analysis paralysis.

Cheers