Popularity of various openings

[Roger de Coverly]

ChessBase have been running some articles on this

http://en.chessbase.com/post/popularity ... -over-time

The graphs are very pretty, but I note in the small print that chessgames.com was used as the data source. It's always struck me that site is by no means comprehensive and somewhat ad hoc in what gets included and what doesn't. Why didn't the researcher use ChessBase's own commercial offerings which at least attempt to be more comprehensive and have been collecting games since the 1990s?

There's an observation that 1. e4 e5 is on its way out. If so that can only be because players are avoiding 1. e4 if they suspect a Berlin or Petroff in response.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Why so? It sounds as though Blacks are also doing their part by avoiding 1....e5 when they do get to face 1 e4.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Or maybe it is some with White deliberately not choosing 1e4 against known 1......e5 players?

[Roger de Coverly]

Or maybe it is some with White deliberately not choosing 1e4 against known 1......e5 players?

That seemed to be a trend in the Candidates tournaments which was that if White wanted to play for a win and Black didn't, 1. e4 was best avoided because of the Petroff, Berlin and arguably the Marshall.

The statistics are of a wider range of games than just the really top players. Playing 1. .. e5 is a bit specialist as you have to know at least one defence to all the "other" tries. Maybe it has become less popular at lower levels.

Checking the most recent season's 4NCL, nearly half the games started with 1. e4 . Of these, the reply 1. ..c5 represented 34%, 1. .. e6 19%, with 1. .. e5 18% and 1. .. c6 10%. So overall 1. e4 e5 was about 9% of all games.

[Niall Doran]

I think players with Black would do well to adopt 1. ...e5 against 1. e4. I personally know roughly how to play as White against 1. ...c5, 1. ...e6 and 1. ...c6. But even though 1. ...e5 appears more frequently than the Caro-Kann, I'm not really prepared against it as it can still branch off in lots of different ways, so I've more or less decided to wing it against this opening.

I'd imagine I'm not the only one in this boat.

[MJMcCready]

In any case, if the source of the material is electronic, then it is only a small sample of the total number of chess games played, as most games do not make it all the way to an electronic format. At best you have a general trend amongst those rated above 2000 or thereabouts. I don't think you'll find many players in the 1000-1800 bracket avoiding 1 e4 because of the Berlin.

[Niall Doran]

Correct ! As a 1700 player, I play my normal game against the Berlin, which is probably wrong as there are probably many ways Black can exploit this and take the advantage.

Hmm… maybe I should play the Berlin as Black.

[Barry Sandercock]

It depends what your normal game is.

[MJMcCready]

It's probably a good choice at club level too as your opponent is likely to switch off, and your endgame will surely improve.

[Barry Sandercock]

What do people think of the Sniper Opening ? It seems to me to be just either an accelerated Dragon or a variation of the Modern Opening and no better and no worse than these.

[MJMcCready]

Never heard of it. The difference between professional and amateur players regarding the openings is that they don't tell you very much about professional players since their repertoires are broad but amateurs rely on a few openings which are chosen to compliment their style. At sub 2000 level 1 d4 tells you that your opponent probably isn't a tactician.

[Michael Farthing]

Never heard of it. The difference between professional and amateur players regarding the openings is that they don't tell you very much about professional players since their repertoires are broad but amateurs rely on a few openings which are chosen to compliment their style. At sub 2000 level 1 d4 tells you that your opponent probably isn't a tactician.

Got me down to a T .

[MJMcCready]

Nothing wrong with sticking to what you know and love, its not as if your opponent will prepare beforehand.

[Roger de Coverly]

Nothing wrong with sticking to what you know and love, its not as if your opponent will prepare beforehand.

It very much depends where and who you play. Local league opponents will no doubt be familiar with your style and pet openings whilst 4NCL and Congress opponents may have game collections built up over the years. There's even a ChessBase app for mobile phones.

It's always a slight worry when you discover that your opponent does something a bit off-beat that's supposed to be dubious, particularly if they have played it repeatedly. You have the dilemma as to whether to dodge it, or take it on. Personally I can find a bit of pre game database research rewarding as there's loads of playable ideas not documented in books that most people have read or even seen very often in British chess.

The Sniper is a name coined by FM Charles Storey to a plan where Black plays g6, Bg7 and c5 in the first three moves almost regardless of White. It's popular with players from his part of the world, the North East. As Barry suggests, transpositions are possible to almost any line where Black will play those three moves. One of the more independent ideas is where White captures the c5 pawn and then Black gives up the dark square Bishop on c3, thereby leaving White with tripled c pawns. I believe top players consider the position to favour White. There was a Hawkins - Storey game from the 2013 British Championship which may be an illustrative game of how to play the position as White.

[Ian Thompson]

What do people think of the Sniper Opening ? It seems to me to be just either an accelerated Dragon or a variation of the Modern Opening and no better and no worse than these.

Never heard of it.

Well if you've got a spare £999.99 lying around you could read all about it.