Week 9: the best chess openings for 1000 Elo, according to my 40 games

Week 9 (March 4–10, 2024) was the first week I finished above 1000: 40 games, 18 wins, 19 losses, 3 draws, rating 982 → 1023 (+41), with a high of 1051. It also had the most blunders of any week so far: 92. Because I played a wide spread of openings, it's a useful week to ask the question every improver asks at this level: what are the best chess openings for 1000 Elo? My honest answer from these 40 games is below, and it comes with a big asterisk.

The week in numbers

The highlight was Tuesday afternoon, March 5: three wins in a row against danielnice, who was rated 1156 before the first one. I played those three games at 96.2%, 91.5% and 96.9% accuracy, with no blunders in any of them. The low point is in the same table: nine of my 19 losses came after the engine had given me at least an 80% winning chance, and the week ended with three losses in a row.

What worked, opening by opening

I grouped my games by the opening family the database gives them.

With White, the London setups were clearly my best: the same setup every game, with the bishop out to f4, and positions I understood. The other twelve White games, where my opponents took me somewhere less familiar, went 4–8. With Black, the Giuoco Piano was a problem again, one win in six games, while the rest of my Black games were fine.

So, the best chess openings for 1000 Elo, in my data? A simple, repeatable system with White, and fewer surprises with Black. Now the asterisk: 69 of my 92 blunders came in the middlegame, after the opening was over. The opening gave me playable positions; the middlegame decided the games. Both of the positions below are about captures, not about openings.

Two captures that changed the evaluation

Evaluations are from White's side.

Game #252: grabbing a pawn with the knight

With Black against alexsa0375 (954) the position was close (+0.90). I took a pawn on b4 with my knight. The engine's punishment is White's queen to b3: from there it attacks the knight on b4, which has no defender, with my bishop behind it on the same line, plus a loose pawn, and then the white bishop can take my knight on g8 with a threat of mate. +4.85 for White. Developing with the knight to e7 kept it level.

r . b q k . n r
p p p . . . p p
. b n p . p . .
. . . . . . . .
. P B . P . . .
. . p . . N . P
P . . . . P P .
R N B Q R . K .

White didn't find Qb3 (they gave a bishop check first, and I came out better), and I won the game.

Game #253: recapturing with the wrong piece

Against DannoG73 (997) I had White and was winning (+5.97): Black had just taken my knight on e5 with their knight. I had two ways to take back. I took with the bishop, and after the bishops came off the position was equal (-0.03). Taking with the pawn would have been a fork: a pawn on e5 attacks the bishop on d6 and the knight on f6 at the same time, and one of them falls.

r . b q k . . r
p p p . . p p p
. . . b p n . .
. . . p n . . .
. . . P . B . .
. . . . P . . .
P P P N . P P P
R . . Q K B . R

It got worse: after Black took back on e5 I didn't recapture at all, and was a piece down (-7.68). I resigned on move 11.

The lesson of the week

Before any capture, list every way to capture. In game #253 there were two ways to take on e5, and only one of them was a fork; in game #252 the pawn on b4 could be taken, but the question was what the knight would face on b4 afterwards. That one minute of comparison is worth more to me at 1000 than any new opening line. Openings got me a position; captures decided what happened to it.

All games this week

← Week 8: touching 1000 · Week 10: a short week at 1000 → · All weeks · Want this table for your own openings? Chess Coach's analysis groups your games the same way.