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Targeted Prep: How to Scout Your Opponent & Find Weaknesses
In modern chess, the game often begins before the first pawn is pushed. If you know who your opponent is (in a tournament or correspondence game), you have a massive advantage. You can look up their history, find the openings they play badly, and set a trap specifically for them. This is the art of Targeted Preparation.
1. The Scouting Phase: Gathering Data
Your first goal is to find their games.
- Databases: Use ChessBase, SCID, or the ChessWorld game archive. Search their name.
- Online Profiles: If you know their online username, look at their "Game History" on the major chess servers. Players often play the same openings online as they do offline.
- Color Specifics: Filter their games by color. If you are playing White, only look at their games as Black. Ignore the rest to save time.
2. The "Opening Tree" Analysis
Once you have their games, put them into an "Opening Tree" view. Look for specific patterns:
A. The "Pet Line"
Does your opponent play the same first move 100% of the time? (e.g., they always play the Sicilian Dragon). If yes, you don't need to study general theory; you only need to study one specific anti-Dragon line.
B. The "Bleeding" Variation
Look at the statistics. Is there a line where they score very poorly?
Example: They score 60% wins against 1.e4, but only 30% against 1.d4.
Strategy: Even if you are an e4 player, consider playing d4 (or a d4-transposition) to force them into their "unhappy zone."
3. The "Targeted Novelty"
This is the Grandmaster secret. You don't need to outplay them for 60 moves; you just need to catch them once.
- Find a game they lost or drew recently in their main opening.
- Use an engine to find where they made a slight inaccuracy in the opening.
- Check if they have faced that line again. If not, they probably haven't fixed the hole.
- Play that exact line. Force them to solve the problem they failed to solve last time.
4. Psychological Profiling
Look at how they lose.
- The Tactician
- Do they love wild sacrifices? Plan: Play boring, dry, solid positions. Bore them into making a rash sacrifice.
- The Solid Player
- Do they play the London System and trade Queens early? Plan: Play a gambit. Drag them into chaos where their solid intuition fails.
- The Time Trouble Addict
- Do their games often last 60+ moves? Plan: Keep pieces on the board. Complicate the position to burn their clock.
5. The Danger of Over-Prep
Warning: Don't memorize 25 moves of a line hoping they walk into it. If they deviate on move 3, and you are stuck remembering a line that is no longer on the board, you will panic.
Rule of Thumb: Prepare specific traps, but understand the general plans.