Openings must be important to some but I have just started playing chess and have played the bishops opening and a couple others and the book tells you the moves but nobody tells your opponets the moves.

I have found that you must study opennings to get anywhere. I have found that I play the same two or three openning every single game. I then gain the advantage of already knowing what to do when my opponent moves. Thank you for the thought board

i could think of other terms like eclectic, reactive or beginners mind to label what you describe  but  i am tickled that the technical term is "romantic" -some are too lazy/busy/other  to learn the formal openings or are content to enjoy chess at a  low level of competence and understanding. from this group i suspect there are some who decide that their approach is so inspired that it is above  petty technical improvement.

funny that 33 pieces of wood can be the source of such a vast study and activity

I too play moves strategically. If you have got some guidances on openings, please share.

-KM

Hey JT,

This is quite a conundrum, whether to memorize the names the openings have or to try to understand the patterns... We need to get past opening theory to get to the tactical and positional play you love so much.... And to understand how to get there....

Knowing the names of the openings aren't important in and of themselves.... You can change the name to any opening pattern you like. But to communicate with other players and to learn from others it is important to have some knowledge of the names of the standard openings and some of the variations on a theme.... There is so much literature on each opening and of all the variations that it can seem incredibly daunting. But what I think is important is to recognize the different patterns in openings, how to avoid the traps, how not to make early mistakes, and how to take advantages of opponents early weaknesses and thus develop a strong position which can lead to some exciting (and dare I say, romantic) play.

Knowing openings and how they can evolve can be important also in noticing openings that transpose into other opening patterns. And then it becomes easier to see and discuss why the Reti suddenly transposed into a King's Indian offensive....

As peterwaffles said above, some of this is confusing (but little by little it becomes easier to comprehend and then eventually it falls into place.) At least some of it does....

My 2 cents:  I think its more important to remember what to do when someone comes at you with something. The names are still confusing for me but so were many things that sloooowly are becoming a bit less confusing.

Great pic by the way.