On my previous blog about the journey of a chess novice I discussed briefly about Opening Book.  Most chessplayers have different levels of chess trainings and education, and also levels of aptitude for the game.  Some seem to be born gifted, some endowed with photographic memory.  Still others are fortunate enough to travel abroad and participate in international competitions.  For a novice, most may just want to play chess for fun, without putting into much emphasis on improvements.  I have seen some beginners joined chess.com, but some 'greeters' were of high rating, and these beginners soon leave their account, because the feeling of being a loser is just too embarrassing.  Most beginners or new in chess are not familiar with Ratings.  I hope then that chess.com will add some parameters for newcomers to fill out.  For example:

O - Are you new in chess?

O - Have you played chess before?

O - Do you play chess on a regular basis?

O - Are you a member of a chess club?

O - Do you have an official chess rating?

Now, as new members pick the option that describes them, a Greeter will be matched against them based on the greeter's rating level.  In the case of new in chess new members, they will be matched to a chess machine that plays like a monkey (knows how to move pieces and knows the rules, but picks random playable moves).  This way new in chess new members can have a good feel because of a good start.

The point for novice players who just play for fun is that losing is no fun at all.  In the former chess website I joined in several years ago I had a friend there who at present date his total games are now approximately 11,000+.  But his rating just hovered there at 1200+ but below 1300.  Perhaps he just got accustomed to losing.  Some term this as he had just reached a plateau.  One may blindly say that he had reached his peak, but I doubt that he had already tapped his true potential.  Building a chess system is important ( a book by Aron Nimzovitsch 'My System' would be of great help ).  Building a chess book repertoire is even more important.  This way you can save time in the opening phase, especially if you plan to join a tournament that uses chess clocks.  You can't waste energy trying to figure out your next move in the opening, save them for the middlegame and endgame.

In case you already have a database of your games, you can save them in PGN (portable game notation) format and use a PGN reading software application so you can assess your play, like what your favorite opening moves are - based on their frequency.  Eliminate the poor moves, and find the strongest reply to each of your opponent's replies.  This is called the Branching Technique, and don't you memorise opening variations you will or may never use in actual play.

I suggest that you download a copy of Chess Position Trainer, look for its latest version - just google it, the software's for FREE.  This is a great tool for handling openings training because a lot of options can be done, you can start building an Opening Tree right away based on your available PGN, and you can also start training for one or whole repertoire or just one line, your choice.  You can begin on scratch, or you can set it up to jump on the worst positions where you make mistakes.  The applied technique is Memorisation by Repetition.  So there.  One more big plus of this software application tool is that it is capable of displaying a Transposition of variations.

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Now for a demonstration of building and improving a personal chess book:

This is a game between Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov.  This happened in 1975 (Gary was about 12 years old back then) at the Young Pioneers Palace.  This was the very first time Gary Kasparov faced Anatoly Karpov (who will be crowned World Champion a few months later that year).  Here's the game.

Garry Kasparov lost this game to Anatoly Karpov.  Okay, from this game let's have a tree:

1.e4 c5 (this will be our main move in reply to 1.e4)

2.Nf3 d6

2.Nc3 Nc6

2.c3 e6

We provide Kasparov's replies to each of White's possible 2nd move, and we continue from the game's 2.Nf3 d6...

3.d4 cxd4

3.Bb5+ Nd7

3.c3 Nf6

Each branches must be memorised, now we proceed our study of our game's main line:

4.Nxd4 Nf6

4.Qxd4 Nc6

There are other playable moves available for White and Kasparov has responses to them as our database of Kasparov's games allow.  For now to make it short I've removed the less important lines.

5.Nc3 a6 (Kasparov's favorite reply to 5.Nc3 is the Najdorf Variation 5...a6)

Kasparov has other weapons too, in response to 5.Nc3 he can also play:

5...e6 (Scheveningen)

5...Nc6 (going for the Taimanov)

5...g6 (Dragon)

For now, we copy his Najdorf variation.

6.Be3 e6

6.Be2 e5*

6.Bc4 e6

Let's stop at the sixth move for now.

Our main line is typed in bold, the other moves were called branches.  We prepare a move for each branch, and it is important to understand the ideas for each move.

Kasparov post-analysed this game.  Made some improvements.  So when they played again in the 1984 World Championship, in Round 5, try to spot which move Kasparov prepared against Karpov:

Our memorised main line in playing the Black Sicilian Defense is 1.e4 c5  2.Nf3 d6  3.d4 cxd4  4.Nxd4 Nf6  5.Nc3 a6  6.Be2 e5.

In this game Garry Kasparov now switches to the more dynamic 6...e6.

From then on, Kasparov had played 6...e6 more frequently than 6...e5.

So our new main line would be 1.e4 c5  2.Nf3 d6  3.d4 cxd4  4.Nxd4 Nf6  5.Nc3 a6  6.Be2 e6.

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Tactical skills, Middlegame strategies and Endgame techniques are essential part of chess study.  There are many roads in chess, called variations, and by streamlining we can navigate even in complex positions.  If you can memorise variations from move 1 to move 25 (though I discourage a novice to do so, but move 1 to 6 or 12 should be a good start), your chances of securing the victory right from the beginning will make big impact on your chess playing days.  The deeper your Opening Repertoire is, your success becomes proportionately bigger as well (that is, if your deep variations are based on the strongest lines).

In the above games I should note that I'm not saying that 5...e5 is poor and that 5...e6 is stronger.  What I am trying to show is that Kasparov must have felt more comfortable in the following variations after 5...e6.  It's just too difficult navigating in a new place, whereas in contrast it's too easy to move around in your house even when the lights are off.  So when you're building your Opening Tree in your repertoire, just get the feel of the position.  Once you've done that, you're on your way.