Sharing Tips on How to Improve (General)

by Tony Kosten , France, Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 11:51 (6423 days ago) @ mindcramp

? With respect to openings, many writers and coaches recommend adopting a
? narrow repertoire and sticking with it ("...one reply against 1.e4, and
? one against 1.d4"). I think that this approach is good for short term
? results, and of course it is better than jumping around the book
? haphazardly. But in the long term, I think this can limit one's progress
? as a chess player. Could get boring, too.

I didn't know that a lot of coaches recommend sticking with one opening, this sounds very lazy to me, and what do you do if the opening doesn't suit your style and stops your progression?

? (B) Do the narrow repertoire approach for a year or two, but add something
? new every year, while keeping the old.

This sounds like a fairly sound approach to me. This is the basically the method I have used to play almost every opening over the years - if I feel happy with the positions I get, and score well, I tend to keep the opening in my repertoire, and if it doesn't work for me then I never look at it again! I once studied the Sveshnikov for many months, played it in a club match, got a horrible position that I only just drew, and then never touched it again!

? The purpose is to become acquainted with a greater range of structures and
? plans.

Yes, this is very important if you want to improve.