Giddins/Welling: Side-Stepping Mainline TheoryCut Down on Opening Study and Get a Middlegame You Are Familiar With Spend more study time on whats really decisive in your games! The average chess player spends too much time on studying opening theory. In his day, World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker argued that improving amateurs should spend about 5% of their study time on openings. These days club players are probably closer to 80%, often focusing on opening lines that are popular among