In early 2024 I decided it’s time to expand my chess repertoire.
Online blitz games had become repetitive. I felt like I “couldn’t get much” out of 80% of them as I was much better prepared in my openings than my opponents. I think blitz games are great for learning openings, but repeating the same ones I’ve used since I was 10 just didn’t feel useful anymore.
That’s when I decided to try something different.
I picked up two new variations — one for white, one for black — and ran a small experiment. With white, I followed someone else’s suggestion, like books, courses, videos.
With black, I tried to freestyle as I had some previous knowledge from the White side already.
As I have little time to play chess professionally, I had to stick to practicing online or wherever I was playing semi-important tournaments. Note that none of my practice games have been classical time control, which slowed down my progress significantly.
What worked
**Overall, I’m really happy I did this little experiment. My strategic sense improved a lot, thanks to new structures and dynamics I hadn’t encountered in my previous, limited repertoire. ** I consider my knowledge with the white opening to be much better so I’d generally call it a success. I believe having multiple sources of information (courses, youtube videos, books) and comparing the recommendations gave me a much better overall idea on the possibilities, pros and cons. Books specifically helped a lot understanding middlegame plans and common structures. Different styles and slight modifications also helped a lot because I was able to shape the lines to my personal taste. It was also very rare that I wasn’t satisfied with any of the options.
What didn’t work
It might sound harsh, but I’d call my black line a failure, given the time I invested. I never felt fully confident — even when I got “my positions” on the board, I couldn’t reliably challenge my opponents.
The root issue? I tried building the repertoire entirely on my own. While this DIY approach worked for one line in the past, it was simply too ambitious this time. As a 2100-rated player with limited time, I underestimated how difficult it would be to evaluate positions without expert input.
One conversation drove the point home. I spoke with a 2400-rated international master about lines I’d been struggling with, and he instantly pointed out more critical directions — often as early as move 4 or 5. His recommendations aligned with modern theory and were clearly stronger.
Lesson learned: Before you invest serious time into a new opening, talk to someone stronger. A few pointers from an experienced player could save you weeks or even months of dead-end study.