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There's nothing better for a player's confidence than to obtain a position that they understand and just "know" how to play. A player whose repertoire regularly leads to these types of positions will be a formidable opponent.

While I think that opening theory, for the average player, is over-rated and over-utilized, I believe that this study, if done properly, can be beneficial. I'm going to explain how I used study of one defense to become a better chess player.

My basic premise is that for a player to truly "own" a defense, they must use that defense as a vehicle to expand their overall chess knowledge. This will require a real chess investment – much preparation, time, and effort will be required. However, the payoff can be significant.

I think that the player that puts in the time and effort required will become a better chess player. They will be better not only in the opening but in other stages as well, because to truly "know" their defense they will have to learn a lot about middlegames and endgames along the way.

The defense that I like to call "mine" is the Pirc Defense. I have been playing it for 20 years, and I can probably count the truly awful positions I've obtained from it out of the opening on one (ok, maybe two...) hand(s). I've played it against grandmasters, international masters, masters, experts, and class players. I have a decent plus score with it against players rated over 2200 and a strong plus score against players rated over 2000. It has served me very well over the years.

One of the benefits of truly "knowing" a defense is that, once you've built a solid foundation, it takes much less work to maintain it. I also play the Sicilian Defense, and I spend much more time on it than I do on the Pirc, even though these days I usually reserve the Pirc for my strongest opponents. I've done so much work in the past on this defense that I feel confident in my ability to work positions out at the board.

What follows are some steps I would suggest for a player seeking to make a present defense "their" defense. I would offer a couple of caveats. First, one must already have at least a general knowledge of a defense before embarking on this program. You have to already have the basics in place. Second, you should be sure that the defense you're going to invest all this time and effort in is worth the trouble. In other words, make sure it's really the line you want to play (at least some of the time) for a long time.

STEP ONE: Gather and Catalogue Information

When I started playing, computers were definitely not in the typical home. To collect my chess information, I used a big loose leaf, three ring binder. I got lots of notebook paper, dividers (to separate variations within the defense), and dividers with pockets to hold photocopied articles or other things that I wanted to keep stored.

Even though I now own three computers, I still have my loose-leaf, three ring Pirc binders. There are now about three of them, and I still take them to tournaments with me sometimes. If you don't have a computer (and even if you do) I would suggest that you start in this less technological way.

Later (or sooner, if you're adept at using the computer for chess study), you can do the same things (and more) on the computer that you can do with your binder. One program that's quite useful for developing your repertoire is Bookup. I've used it for several years and think quite highly of it.

STEP TWO: Find A Role Model

To really understand how to play a defense, you need to find a strong player (the stronger the better) whose games you can study. When I was growing up with the Pirc, there were a host of these players who regularly played it. I looked carefully at the games of Jan Timman, Vlastimil Hort, and Eugenio Torre. They were all world class grandmasters who made their living with the defense.

Gather as many games as you can find of these players with your defense. Look for annotated games by the players themselves. They will be especially helpful for understanding your defense. Play over these games – the whole game – and then, at the end, write a brief synopsis of the game. Why did black (or white) win? What were the relevant features of the position? What plans did both sides create/attempt to create? What questions did you have or moves that you didn't understand? Also note any tactical or strategic tricks or maneuvers that were utilized in the game (i.e., minority pawn attack, exchange bishop for knight for pawn structure, sacrifice pawn for development, etc.). Put all of these in your notebook in the section on the specific variation of the defense.

Another useful exercise is to play solitaire chess with your role model's games (this works best with annotated games). You take the side of your role model, and cover up his/her moves. You make the move of the opponent and then seek to find the right move for your role model. After selecting your move write it down and any supporting analysis, then uncover the move played and compare. If there are notes, compare them to your own thoughts. Then repeat this exercise with the remaining moves. This exercise will get you more involved in the game and also improve your analytical skills while you learn the opening.

Your goal here, of course, is greater understanding of the typical plans and play for both sides in the variations of your defense. As you acquire more and more of these games, you will start to see recurring themes, and, when you're confronted with positions in tournament games, you'll likely find the right move – even if you don't know that it is "book."

As an example:

Dave Schmidt (2055) - Bauer (2212), Dubuque Open 1990, started 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 c6 6.a4 0-0 7.Qd2

You won't find this position in an opening book, but white's setup doesn't look illogical. However, there is a problem, based on the fact that the queen and king bishop occupy the best alternate squares for the knight on f3. Black can now strike back in the center:

7...d5! 8.Bd3

White already has a problem, since the natural 8.e5 Ne4! 9.Nxe4 dxe4 embarrasses the white knight. After it moves, black will have strong play against white's central pawns  (for example, with ...c5). This idea is common in lines where white plays Qd2 and Bg5, so black was familiar with it (and white was not).

In the game, after 8...dxe4 9.Nxe4 Bg4! black already had the initiative based on the play against the d4 pawn and the threat to wreck white's pawns with ...Bxf3.

STEP THREE: Tactics, Tactics, Tactics.

As you disassemble and reassemble your defense, you'll be amazed how often the strategic ideas in a position are handled in a tactical fashion. You must grasp the recurring tactical themes in your defense. For example, anyone who plays the Accelerated Dragon Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3) knows that black can often profit from playing ...d7-d5 in one go rather than playing …d7-d6 and later advancing the pawn to d5. This is a recurring theme that black must understand – both when it works and when it doesn't. Every defense has these, and you must search out games on your defense to find them.

When you do, write down the game (and create a diagram at the key point) and put it in your notebook. I kept a separate section for tactical themes and also cross-posted them in the section on the specific variation they came from. Review these regularly.

In Vasto (2200) – Bauer (2202), 1990, knowledge of a common tactical/strategic theme led to a win in a last round game that determined first place in a Grand Prix event: 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.h4 h5 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 e5!? 8.d5 Nd4!

This move offers a thematic pawn sacrifice that can be found in this opening and the King's Indian Defense as well. If white accepts the sacrifice, black gets good play on the dark squares. The game where I became acquainted with this idea was Wade-Smyslov, Havana 1965. In that game, white had played Nf3 and Ng5 in place of f3 and black had castled, but the ideas are still the same.

9.Qd2

A restrained response. Nunn says that after 9.Bxd4 exd4 10.Qxd4 c6 black has "more than enough compensation."

9...c6 10.dxc6 bxc6 11.Bxd4?

Of course, if white was going to take the pawn, he should have done so last move, since he's lost a whole tempo.

11...exd4 12.Qxd4 0-0 13.Nh3 (13.0-0-0 Nd5 shatters the queenside and endangers the king) 13...Nd5 14.Qd2? (14.Qd3 is necessary, but black's compensation is obvious) 14...Nxc3 15.bxc3 Qa5 16.0-0 Bxh3 17.gxh3 Qc5+ 18.Kh1 Bxc3 19.Qd3 Bxa1 (and black won the endgame and the tournament).

Tactics don't always mean sacrificing material, of course. As an example, Eichhorn (2102) – Bauer (2202), 1990, went 1.Nc3 d6 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.e4 Nf6 (transposing into the Pirc) 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 c6 7.Qd2 b5 8.e5 b4!

This is the typical reaction to the pawn advance e4-e5 when the queen is on d2. The point, of course, is that 9.exf6 bxc3 10.fxg7?? isn't possible  because of 10...cxd2+. So black has to know when this advance works and when it doesn't. If it works, it should usually be played, because it would force the knight back to a passive square and, in this instance, allow ...Ne4 with a good game for black because of the two bishops.

9.exf6 bxc3 10.Qxc3 exf6

Black already has a nice, dynamic position, and after 11.Be3 Qb6 12.a4 Ba6! 13.Bxa6 Qxa6, White had problems with his king and queen (0-1, 28).

FILL IN THE CRACKS

I took it for a given that you had already acquired at least one good book on your chosen defense. For starters, make sure that your primary book is a good one. Preferably, it has been written by a grandmaster or international master who actually plays the line in question. In the case of the Pirc, John Nunn, who was a regular Pirc practitioner in the 1980s, wrote a great book on the defense. Likewise, Kasparov has written about the Scheveningen Sicilian, Psahkis about the Benoni, Sveshnikov about the Pelikan Sicilian, Silman about the Accelerated Dragon, Watson about the French, etc.

The next step is to find secondary sources of information. Often you can find less well-known books written on "your" defense. While I understand that budgets are limited, I would suggest that you acquire as many sources as possible on your key defenses. You'll often find that they list interesting alternatives that aren't considered in other texts. Go through those books and compare their recommendations to your other texts.

STEP FOUR: Inventory The Positions.

By this time, you should have studied and analyzed games by key exponents of the line. You should have a solid book on the opening and perhaps some secondary sources, and you should have a listing of some key tactical and strategic themes in the variations of "your" defense. It's time to take stock.

It's time to create (either via computer software, books, or by hand) a repertoire – what it is you'll play against each of the major white tries against your defense. It's important that this be as concrete as possible for future reference. I used to write mine in pencil, with lots of spaces for changes, because your ideas will change as lines are played. Using your notebook allows you, of course, to insert or remove pages as necessary.

Once you've created your repertoire, you need to find a way to make sure that you really "know" it. One of the more rewarding experiences for me, in terms of cementing my knowledge of my variation, was the opportunity to give a lecture at my local chess club about the Pirc Defense. This required that I distill into words the key ideas and themes of the defense and also structure the various methods for both sides to approach the positions. I spent a fair amount of time organizing the material and my thoughts. That was time well spent.

I would suggest that every player undertake that same exercise. Approach "your" defense as if you were going to give a lecture on it to other chess players. Write it all down – the way that you would characterize the variations, the plans for both sides, the discussion of the specific variations. You'll be surprised at how well it inventories the variations and your thoughts.

You can do the same thing with another player. You can agree to lay out for another player the ideas and variations of one line in return for him/her doing the same with a different variation. I have done this with another strong player in the past, and we've both benefited.

Of course, all of this will go into your notebook!

STEP FIVE: Think For Yourself

By this time, between the study of games of strong players, sources of information on the defense, and inventorying the key aspects of the defense, you will have a good working knowledge of your defense. It's time to start making your own judgments about positions.

It's common for players to simply parrot the moves or suggestions of stronger players in the opening. However, if we're truly going to make an opening "ours" we must get beyond this tendency. You have to believe in your line and be willing to take on published theory on occasion.

As an example, I've always liked the line 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.h3!? Bxb5 9.Nxb5 dxe5.

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