No memorization
When I returned to chess as an adult 17 years after having played scholastically, I heard the same advice again and again from strong players and chess trainers: Do not memorize openings! At least not unless you are approaching master level, which I am not, by the way. If you must, it should be a small fraction of your total training and study time.
Instead, aspiring players should study tactics, combinations, and endgames. The reason for this advice is that once the player has reached the end of their opening book preparation – even if they played the opening at super-GM level – they must play out the rest of the game on their own, using their own chess skills. Any master will easily defeat the mid-level memorizers as soon as they are out of book.
Once the aspiring player builds up their vision, calculation, technique, and endgame, their overall strength and chess understanding informs their opening decisions. They are able to play the opening at master level without memorization, because they can evaluate any position well. Only then, after reaching master strength, does it make sense to begin memorizing openings.
Opening Tactics
Wanting to follow this wise advice, and also not wanting to neglect training the opening phase of the game – I decided to use the chess engine to find opening positions where there is a clear best move – opening tactics. I wanted to know about the smallest positional nuances as well as the moves that concretely win material. I spent many hours searching for positions, and many more hours analyzing them with the computer until I understood them.
I’m publishing these positions as well as my analysis of them online. I hope some other players find it helpful.