value of opening repetoire and how to build effective repertoire

[Uri Blass]

Interesting discussion! Personally, I find it more comfortable to use a visual aid rather than relying on another screen or software during my games—it's less distracting and more intuitive.

In my experience, studying openings visually using clear opening trees significantly improves memorization and overall understanding. Rather than memorizing countless variations, decision trees help instantly grasp essential starter chess moves and strategic ideas.

I even created some chess opening posters based on this visual learning method, incorporating Lichess popularity data and win-rate stats. It's been a game changer, especially for beginners and intermediate players building their opening repertoire.

If you're curious to see how visual opening trees look in practice, check them out here: https://mychessposters.com. I'd love to hear your thoughts or experiences with similar approaches!

I see that all the options are for lichess elo below 2000 when my lichess elo is higher(more than 2100 in blitz).

[Uri Blass]

I practically have chessbase17 but I do not know how to use it for opening learning and if it is better than what I have.

I got an email about update for bookbuilder from SourceForge <noreply-updater@sourceforge.net> but it seems that I cannot get it because my evaluation period of a week ended and I do not like to pay for something that I am not sure if it is better than what I have.

This is not a problem of money and I plan to pay more for a programmer who is a chess player who is going to do what I want him to do.
He said he does not promise that it is going to help me to improve my playing strength and he claims it is not clear for him that my ideas are going to help me to improve but he is going to do what I want him to do.

[jefk]

got an email about update for bookbuilder from SourceForge <noreply-updater@sourceforge.net> but it seems that I cannot get it because my evaluation period of a week ended a

this is a bit strange. maybe you registered your email with sourceforge,
and indeed i uploaded a small update (and a new development version);
but the one week evaluation is not needed anymore, because the registration codes(pl
are in the readme, and you can register within seven days and then use it permanently
https://sourceforge.net/projects/bookbu ... e/download

Besides that there now is a development version, for which there is no evaluation period and
thus no registration is needed anymore; the book training feature has less bugs, but the opening
names sometimes are a bit messed up if it says 'could be a transposition to etc (opening name).
https://sourceforge.net/projects/bookbu ... e/download

anyway, meanwhile personally i simply am building a repertoire with the Chessbase online opening
repertoire feature, don't even need Chessbase for that (but Fritz comes in handy)

have fun with that programmer
(playing games on lichess, and looking at their database would be a more
effective method to learn/adapt your openings imo, but it's all up to you ofcourse;
maybe you become the next Kasparov

[Uri Blass]

got an email about update for bookbuilder from SourceForge <noreply-updater@sourceforge.net> but it seems that I cannot get it because my evaluation period of a week ended a

this is a bit strange. maybe you registered your email with sourceforge,
and indeed i uploaded a small update (and a new development version);
but the one week evaluation is not needed anymore, because the registration codes(pl
are in the readme, and you can register within seven days and then use it permanently
https://sourceforge.net/projects/bookbu ... e/download

Besides that there now is a development version, for which there is no evaluation period and
thus no registration is needed anymore; the book training feature has less bugs, but the opening
names sometimes are a bit messed up if it says 'could be a transposition to etc (opening name).
https://sourceforge.net/projects/bookbu ... e/download

anyway, meanwhile personally i simply am building a repertoire with the Chessbase online opening
repertoire feature, don't even need Chessbase for that (but Fritz comes in handy)

have fun with that programmer
(playing games on lichess, and looking at their database would be a more
effective method to learn/adapt your openings imo, but it's all up to you ofcourse;
maybe you become the next Kasparov

I do not plan to become the next kasparov but I hope to get a significant improvement(2200 fide rating or 2400 lichess blitz rating is clearly good enoigh.
I play games and analyze them but it is not enough for me to improve and my best lichess blitz rating is only slightly above 2200 and most of the time I am below 2200 lichess rating.

I will need to wait at least one month from now to get the software I want but I do not pay before I know I get it.

[jefk]

best lichess blitz rating is only slightly above 2200 and most of the time I am below 2200 lichess rating.

than your rapid rating also will be quite good i presume, and at such levels (i'm still trying
to get there, i admit, first with rapid, where i crossed 2000 a few times) i think a well studied opening
repertoire (with deep variations) can add more than 200 points; reason is not so much the specific
opening moves, but after a while you get a feeling of the specific variations you study, eg. (specific)
Sicilian(s) with Black, including plans strategies, pawn structure, typical tactics (often) and endgame
play (more rare) eg comparing with -slow-master games.

hope for significant improvement(2400 lichess blitz rating is clearly good enough.

Should be possible (+200 -250) , first with rapid, but after a while the increased mastery of
specific variations will also pay off in blitz, i guess.

maybe you can let us know later how your new revolutionary opening software will work
(and if it works for you)

[Uri Blass]

best lichess blitz rating is only slightly above 2200 and most of the time I am below 2200 lichess rating.

than your rapid rating also will be quite good i presume, and at such levels (i'm still trying
to get there, i admit, first with rapid, where i crossed 2000 a few times) i think a well studied opening
repertoire (with deep variations) can add more than 200 points; reason is not so much the specific
opening moves, but after a while you get a feeling of the specific variations you study, eg. (specific)
Sicilian(s) with Black, including plans strategies, pawn structure, typical tactics (often) and endgame
play (more rare) eg comparing with -slow-master games.

hope for significant improvement(2400 lichess blitz rating is clearly good enough.

Should be possible (+200 -250) , first with rapid, but after a while the increased mastery of
specific variations will also pay off in blitz, i guess.

maybe you can let us know later how your new revolutionary opening software will work
(and if it works for you)

Yes my rapid rating is above 2300 in my secret account and I believe 2400 in rapid is clearly easier than 2400 at blitz.

The comparison claims that 2405 blitz is equivalent to 2415 rapid but I do not believe in it and I suspect that the data is based on players who did not play enough rapid games and basically strong players more often play blitz and not rapid so I am more interested in blitz rating.

https://chessgoals.com/rating-comparison/

They claim
2205 blitz is equivalent to 2260 rapid
2270 blitz is equivalent to 2310 rapid(meaning 65 elo improvement in blitz equal to 50 elo improvement in rapid and if I divide the numbers I get 65/50=1.3)
2330 blitz is equivalent to 2370 rapid(60 elo in blitz equal to 60 elo rapid(60/60=1)
2405 blitz is equivalent to 2415 rapid(75 elo in blitz equal to 45 elo rapid(75/45~1.667)
2495 blitz is equivalent to 2485 rapid(90 elo in blitz equal to 70 elo rapid(90/70~1.286)

Even if the formula is not exactly linear I believe it does not make sense that the difference in the calculated numbers goes significantly up and down.

[Uri Blass]

I see they claim that RD<150 are relatively active players and I disagree.

I did not play recently rapid with my old account for rating(games against LeelaQueen Odds are not for rating) but my RD is 119.57 that is lower than 150.

https://lichess.org/@/uriblass/perf/rapid

My last game in rapid for rating with my uriblass account is from february 2024.

I will not be surprised if players who improve in chess often stop to play rapid and improve in blitz so their rapid rating is misleading.