Looking for a better opening

[sgtkururu]

I have been opening with 2 3/4 stones and I am trying to find a stronger territorial open for black. Any ideas? I have hit a wall in my game and I think that changing up the opening might help me get a little bit further ahead.

[EdLee]

I am trying to find a stronger territorial open for black.

Try two 3-3's. Trying different openings is good in general because you expose yourself
to new and unfamiliar situations, and therefore opportunity for growth.

I have hit a wall in my game

Whenever stuck, go back to your basics (and consider looking for a good teacher).

[SoDesuNe]

I always found the Orthodox-opening (3*4 / 4*4) the most flexible. You can play all the Chinese-openings and the Kobayashi with it. Or you can just play a shimari to have a nice corner at the beginning.

[Helsbecter]

The Orthodox opening is getting a lot more play in recent pro games too, so you can look to those to get some good [horrible] ideas

[hyperpape]

I always found the Orthodox-opening (3*4 / 4*4) the most flexible. You can play all the Chinese-openings and the Kobayashi with it. Or you can just play a shimari to have a nice corner at the beginning.

Being pedantic, I think Orthodox is used for the case where you also play the shimari. That's my favorite opening--the only reason I play anything else is to get me out of my comfort zone (and even then I don't stray far).

It's not a purely territorial opening though, so I don't know if it appeals to the OP.

[amnal]

I have been opening with 2 3/4 stones and I am trying to find a stronger territorial open for black. Any ideas? I have hit a wall in my game and I think that changing up the opening might help me get a little bit further ahead.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'stronger'. It's hard to occupy two corners in a way that a professional hasn't tried, so most openings you can think of can reasonably be called 'strong'.

If you mean 'more territorial', as has been suggested, try 3-3 points. However, I would not recommend thinking along the lines of 'I play territorially, I will be better with a more territorial opening', just because nothing is this simple.

If you've hit a wall, why not push out of your comfort zone with 4-4 points, or even 5-3 and 5-4? You can still play pretty territorial games with all of these, if it comes down to it, but you can also learn to be flexible. I find that the only way to understand your opponent's positions properly, and learn how to handle them, is to play them yourself - if you never build a moyo becuase 'I play territorially', you will perhaps be limiting your ability to understand, reduce or invade the moyos of your opponents.

[Tabemasu]

If you've hit a wall I seriously doubt changing your first 2 moves or your opening is going to help you very much, and if it does it won't for long.

It's more likely you are making some fundamental mistakes, and for that you should get some games reviewed by a stronger player.

[uPWarrior]

On the other hand, it might be easier to find these mistakes if you change your playing style.

I learned a lot about how to use thickness after I stopped playing cosmic style and focused on more territorial openings. I think that by playing for thickness taught me how to handle it when my opponents were doing it.

Ours walls are certainly based on mistakes which we might carry to different playing styles, but mixing things up can not do much harm.

[Stable]

Maybe not just changing the first two moves, but trying to play with a different style might help. Something nice and fun.
For a less fun, but probably more effective option: lots of life and death problems.

[sgtkururu]

thanks a lot all. Sorry but I am in college and this is the first week of finals, so it took me a minute to get back. If nothing else I have never used the orthodox open, and mainly used to just use shamari and have never had the luxury of a teacher so I may try that soon. Thanks and I will tell you how it goes. Also, recently started using 2 4/4 stones as an open just to mix it up and it increased my score by 30 a 30 point average differential. Not sure if it had anything to do with the open or not though.

[nihilo]

I find asking youself what each move means helps alot. Even if your answers are wrong, you'll find out soon enough, after which, you can adapt accordingly. One of the things that really helped me was writing an essay about my games, in which I detailed every move and why that move was played(usually this is most easily done in an sgf editor). It doesn't matter if you are correct or have a proffessional analysis of the moves; just the act of analysing the game in such a way will jump you up three stones.

[Biondy]

I have been opening with 2 3/4 stones and I am trying to find a stronger territorial open for black. Any ideas? I have hit a wall in my game and I think that changing up the opening might help me get a little bit further ahead.

try 3-4 and 4-4 opening.

if you like territory, see Kobayashi Koichi's game. he is well known for his territory oriented play.

[dangomango]

go try the mini chinese, micro chinese, and the chinese opening
might as well give these a try too: san ren sei, ni ren sei, orthodox, tengen

try all you'll succeed sooner or later