Openings Englishtap

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(updated September 14, 2026, 4:20 pm, 2 days ago)

A good club activity is to select an Instructive Position and talk about it.
We recently had a consultation game where everyone spoke out and discussed their ideas, so that all could hear. This is a good way to share thoughts about positions and ways of thinking in chess

These opening pages are built around specific boards, not general essays. A position plus a short trigger sentence is what you can recognise with thirty seconds on the clock.

Limit the work to a practical number of patterns.

Feel comfortable as Black in a +0.6 position. That number is often just White’s extra space. It is not a reason to change openings every day. Stay in a line until you have lost from the same pattern twice for the same reason. With Black, a +0.6 you understand is worth more than a +0.2, which you met with Black only this morning and will misplay on move twelve. If a new engine wrinkle does not earn a board and a trigger sentence, it does not enter the repertoire.

Adventures Alekhines Defence Atomic Benko Gambit Benoni Bishops Opening Bogo Indian Brilliancies Budapest Gambit Caro Kann Catalan Centre Counter Centre Game Colle System Dutch E 4 Irregular Elephant Gambit English Opening Fianchetto Adventures French From's Gambit Froms Gambit Grob Grunfeld Defence Horwitz Irregular Openings Italian Game King Up For The End Game Kings Gambit Kings Indian Kings Indian Attack London System Maroczy Bind Misc Nimzo Indian Old Indian Petrov Philidor Pirc Modern Polish Ponziani Queens Gambit Queens Indian Reti Opening Nf 3 Ruy Lopez Scandinavian Scotch Sicilian Unusual Openings Veresov Vienna
1. Opening Transpositions 2. Opening Trap Miniatures
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