CHESSIGMA
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Fixing one opening properly

Most repertoire problems are one line, and fixing it is an evening's work rather than a project.

6 minute read

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Find the line, not the opening

"I am bad at the Sicilian" is not actionable. "I score 30% in one specific line after six moves, across eleven games" is — that is a position you keep reaching and keep handling the same way.

Your own repertoire already names these. Start with the one you have played most, not the one that scores worst, because a line you meet twice a year is not worth an evening no matter how badly it goes.

Fix the line you reach often, not the one you lose worst.

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Three moves deep is enough

The instinct is to learn the line deeper. Usually the mistake is earlier and shallower than that: you are fine until move six, and the game goes wrong because you do not know what the position is *for*.

Look up the plan rather than the moves. Which side of the board are you playing on, which pawn break is yours, and which piece is the bad one — those three answers cover more games than ten moves of memorised theory.

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Then stop

One line, fixed, and then back to playing. A repertoire rebuilt in a week is a repertoire you have not tested, and the games you play with it are the only thing that will tell you whether the fix worked.

Put it to work

The honest test of a lesson is whether the thing it warns about stops appearing in your games. That is what the trainers measure.