Answers.Body: <p>It would be difficult.</p>
  <p>So you go into your first top-level tournament and get Black in the first round. No problem, you'll just play your Caro-Kann. Play goes <code>1. e4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4</code>. You've just transposed into a line of the Alapin Variation of the Sicilian.</p>
  <p>In the second round you're White and play <code>1.c4</code>. Your opponent plays <code>1...e5</code> to go into a reversed Sicilian, and suddenly you're really wishing you knew <em>something</em> about that opening.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-08T00:24:22.593Z
Answers.Text: What if you play 1...e5 in response to 1.e4, and never play 1.c4?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Allure
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-08T01:13:36.767Z
Answers.Text: @Allure By the time you avoid all possible transpositions (like 1.d4 e6 2.e4 c5) it feels like it would be less effort to just learn the Sicilian.
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-10T11:00:35.643Z
Answers.Text: I'm not saying I know the answer to OP's question, but I'm not sure this answer provides a good argument for learning the entire Sicilian and all it's variations (and every other opening in existence) - you can after all just limit your study to those few transpositions from your opening repertoire.
Answers.UserDisplayName: firtydank
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-11T02:05:27.710Z
Answers.Text: @firtydank Well, how many people know all the variations of every opening anyway?
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
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Answers.Text: @DM - exactly :)
Answers.UserDisplayName: firtydank
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-07T21:39:39.820Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-05-07T21:39:39.820Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: D M
Answers.Body: <p>No player knows &quot;all&quot; the popular openings. Players have repetoires that include the range of openings that they want to play. Even with fairly complete repetoires it is possible to have to play ad hoc anyway. For example, moves like 1. b4 and 1. g4 (the &quot;Spike&quot;) can throw a player out of book right away. Bent Larsen frequently played 1. b3 to avoid book openings.</p>
  <p>Some players have very narrow repetoires. This is most often seen with the English opening. Players will learn the English with a King's Indian attack for White side and then the Dutch Defense (1. d4 f5) and Modern Defense (1. e4 d6/g6) as Black and that will cover 95%+ of the possibilities. If someone plays the English against them, then they play the symmetrical variation (1. c4 c5). Since all four of these systems have similar strategies and themes, the player essentially needs to learn only one pattern of play.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2021-05-12T15:28:19.953Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2021-05-12T15:28:19.953Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Cecil De Vere
Body: <p>Let's say there is a player who knows nothing about Sicilian Defense. If they always start the game with 1. d4 or 1. c4 as white and play the Caro-Kann as black against 1. e4, it seems to me that they can theoretically be a player at the top level without knowing anything about Sicilian. Of course, they will have a problem coaching others, but I do not see why zero knowledge of the Sicilian can prevent them from being a top-level player.</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>Wilhelm Steinitz: I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-05-07T13:41:38.303Z
Comments.Text: I think that would be impossible because you can't make your way to top-level play without ever encountering a Sicilian in some book or played by someone else. It would be way too inconvenient to force yourself to leave the room every time someone mentions the Sicilian. Steinitz never played the French Defense, but that doesn't mean he knew nothing about it.
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
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Comments.CreationDate: 2021-05-07T14:10:18.573Z
Comments.Text: Yesterday GM Hikaru Nakamura said he felt if you didn't learn to play the pawn structures, ideas, and plans associated with different openings, he felt that it would limit your ability to play at some point.  Since many of us aren't aiming to become super GMs, this may not be much of a hindrance.
Comments.UserDisplayName: SecretAgentMan
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2021-05-07T18:13:55.813Z
Comments.Text: What do you mean by "top level"?  Master?  Grandmaster?  Competing in the candidates tournament?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Noah Snyder
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Comments.CreationDate: 2021-05-08T02:49:36.640Z
Comments.Text: Maybe Steinitz never played the French Defence as Black but he must have played against it as White because he played 1.e4 many times and has variations in the French Defence named after him.
Comments.UserDisplayName: bof
Tags: <opening>
Title: Does one need to know all popular openings if they wants to be a top-level player?
ThreadText: # Does one need to know all popular openings if they wants to be a top-level player?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2021-05-07)
  
  Let's say there is a player who knows nothing about Sicilian Defense. If they always start the game with 1. d4 or 1. c4 as white and play the Caro-Kann as black against 1. e4, it seems to me that they can theoretically be a player at the top level without knowing anything about Sicilian. Of course, they will have a problem coaching others, but I do not see why zero knowledge of the Sicilian can prevent them from being a top-level player.
  
  > Wilhelm Steinitz: I have never in my life played the French Defence, which is the dullest of all openings.
  
  **Tags:** opening
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I think that would be impossible because you can't make your way to top-level play without ever encountering a Sicilian in some book or played by someone else. It would be way too inconvenient to force yourself to leave the room every time someone mentions the Sicilian. Steinitz never played the French Defense, but that doesn't mean he knew nothing about it.  
  > **username_2**: Yesterday GM Hikaru Nakamura said he felt if you didn't learn to play the pawn structures, ideas, and plans associated with different openings, he felt that it would limit your ability to play at some point.  Since many of us aren't aiming to become super GMs, this may not be much of a hindrance.  
  > **username_3**: What do you mean by "top level"?  Master?  Grandmaster?  Competing in the candidates tournament?  
  > **username_4**: Maybe Steinitz never played the French Defence as Black but he must have played against it as White because he played 1.e4 many times and has variations in the French Defence named after him.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2021-05-07. Score: 6
  
  It would be difficult.
  
  So you go into your first top-level tournament and get Black in the first round. No problem, you'll just play your Caro-Kann. Play goes `1. e4 c6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4`. You've just transposed into a line of the Alapin Variation of the Sicilian.
  
  In the second round you're White and play `1.c4`. Your opponent plays `1...e5` to go into a reversed Sicilian, and suddenly you're really wishing you knew *something* about that opening.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_6**: What if you play 1...e5 in response to 1.e4, and never play 1.c4?  
  > **username_5**: @username_6 By the time you avoid all possible transpositions (like 1.d4 e6 2.e4 c5) it feels like it would be less effort to just learn the Sicilian.  
  > **username_7**: I'm not saying I know the answer to OP's question, but I'm not sure this answer provides a good argument for learning the entire Sicilian and all it's variations (and every other opening in existence) - you can after all just limit your study to those few transpositions from your opening repertoire.  
  > **username_5**: @username_7 Well, how many people know all the variations of every opening anyway?  
  > **username_7**: @DM - exactly :)  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2021-05-12. Score: 3
  
  No player knows "all" the popular openings. Players have repetoires that include the range of openings that they want to play. Even with fairly complete repetoires it is possible to have to play ad hoc anyway. For example, moves like 1. b4 and 1. g4 (the "Spike") can throw a player out of book right away. Bent Larsen frequently played 1. b3 to avoid book openings.
  
  Some players have very narrow repetoires. This is most often seen with the English opening. Players will learn the English with a King's Indian attack for White side and then the Dutch Defense (1. d4 f5) and Modern Defense (1. e4 d6/g6) as Black and that will cover 95%+ of the possibilities. If someone plays the English against them, then they play the symmetrical variation (1. c4 c5). Since all four of these systems have similar strategies and themes, the player essentially needs to learn only one pattern of play.
  
  
  ---
  
  