Opening knowledge pitfalls

Heisman advises that the first time in a game your opponent makes a move that is not in your opening book, you should take a fresh critical look at the position. It's one of those times you need to drink from the well of The Think.

Oddly, when I feel I am "booked up" on an opening, and my opponent plays out of book early on, I often panic. I don't calmly evaluate the position, but often freak out, thinking "Crap they have me out of book."

There are a few reasons this is a mistake.

My main opening lines are fairly sound. When my opponent plays out of book it is often because they don't know the opening, or at least aren't playing the best line, and have just weakened their position. Instead of assuming they have some pet line prepared to devastate me, I should see if they have just missed a basic tactic, examine which squares and pieces they may have made vulnerable, etc.. In other words, start playing chess.

Worse, I sometimes don't even notice they pushed me out of book, and I just continue with my usual plans without looking at how their deviation from my preparation influences the position.

For instance, I was playing the Caro-Kann as black when white moved his Bishop to d3 (a common theme). However (perhaps because of his own narrative demons) he did it too early (black to move):Instead of grabbing the juicy pawn with Qxd4 I played some "normal" developing move (Nf6) in the Caro Kann without even slowing down to look for basic tactics. I could have had a pawn for free, and a beautiful position, but because I was locked into a Caro Kann way of thinking (which is usually a fairly quiet game), I failed to look for, and take advantage of, an early gift.

Good players exploit weaknesses in the opening. As Rowson would say, they don't let their little opening narratives get in the way of seeing what is actually happening over the board. Let the position, not all your book knowledge, tell you what your plans should be.

Keeping this in mind in a subsequent game, I actually got it right. I played the Smith-Morra gambit as white, and black played an early d5, which is usually a mistake in the SM because it leaves f7 vulnerable. The position was as follows (white to move):This position is not in my opening knowledge, but especially in the Smith Morra there is a kind of grand system where you castle kingside, move your Queen to e2, and rooks to the open files on c1 and d1. My initial candidate moves were all part of this general schema.

Luckily I remembered the lesson from the Caro-Kann, and I let myself drink The Think, and came up with Qd5! (mate threat at f7). I went on to get a nice miniature (the game concluded 7...Qc7 8. Qxf7+ Kd8 9. Qxg7 Bf6 10. Qf8#). My move violated the principle 'Don't move the queen too early', but when mate is in the air, nothing else matters!

Note this is an example where my knowledge of the opening actually helped: the principle, 'If black plays an early e5 in the SM, then attack at f7' actually helped me find the right move.

Chess is complicated.