A Repertoire Of One's Own
In chess, the first moves of the game are called an opening. If you read the Chess Internet, you’ll learn that many of us amateurs focus too much on the opening - from the standpoint of pure improvement. Why do we do so?
The Opening is the phase of the game under our control. It is possible for a relatively experienced amateur to play the same moves a Grandmaster might play for the first, say, 10 moves. The relatively experienced amateur will never play a middlegame or an endgame like a Grandmaster.
It’s an easier subject to teach and, therefore, there are lots of courses that teach it.
Identity.
I think the third reason may be the most important one for us hobbyists. We want to have a space in our hobbies, a thing we do differently or like more than a good portion of other people who also like our hobbies. We want to have an opinion. I enjoy X’s paintings - yes, X is quite good, but I prefer Y’s work. (I assume people use the word “quite” when they talk about paintings.) For the art and chess species of aficionados, identity within the hobby is about having an opinion, preferences.
Openings give us a chance to grab a place within the chess hobby. I am a d4 player. This means I’m soft. Things like that.
It may not be the best use of our time for rating maximization, but no one has the goal of rating maximization. I want to see improvement, sure, but I also want a source of identity within the hobby. Chess player who plays the Jobava may not be as high on my list of identities as husband, son, or economist, but it adds a bit of color.
My Openings:
White: Jobava System - I also played the Botvinnik setups in the English for a while.
Black vs 1. e4: Scandanavian - this is the opening I’ve switched around the most over time. I used to play an e6-b6-vs-everything type setup. Then, I played a Pirc/Philidor for a bit. I played the Kan Sicilian after that. Before finally finding a home in the Scandi. My performance vs 1. e4 went way up after the switch. It clicked for me.
Black vs 1. d4: Slav, 4. a6 - The Chebanenko version. I’ve played it for a while, but this is the opening I’m least “booked-up” in. It’s my next project in chess after finishing up some learning in the Jobava.