My playing style

@Itsmidnight
Classical ratings are infalted, because none of the strongest players (GMs, IMs, etc) are playing it.
You may have only 10 seconds in Blitz, but it's very easy to defend otb in long time formats.
If you are afraid of a gambit then just decline it. If you want to refute it then just take and play Nf6, (Nh5) g5, h5 and g4 (I don't know any theory in the open game, but i found this the easiest to play). The d5 system is also good, the d6 system is good, even the falkbeer countergambit is good.
Black is more flexible in his choices, so i don't think gambits should be the reason to learn theory.

@Itsmidnight
Oh and about the hundreds of years argument: We have computers nowadays. In addition people couldn't defend back then.

@theTestoftheWest - Kasparov often stated that theory is useless until you are a Grandmaster, because it has the highest ,,outplay potential at that level".

Citation please?

I tried to dig out a source for that quote once and all I could find was him saying that once a player becomes a grandmaster, most of their time will be spent studying the opening - this is clearly quite different from saying that you shouldn't study it at all until you are a grandmaster.

Also, while I can get with the idea that spending too much time memorizing theory is a waste of time for most of us, the insistence that openings make no difference whatsoever to the character of the game is just weird. Sure it's possible to end up in wild tactics from an Exchange French, but it's a whole lot more likely from a Dragon or a Najdorf Sicillian...

@RamblinDave
I don't mean this quote. He had a quote that one should first master chess, then the opening. Unfortunately i think he said it in an interview where he was asked what to study.

Ofcourse it is more likely, but my point was that anything can lead to anything, so the opening should not the fixiation. I would even argue that the sicilian often leads to closed positions and the King's indian often leads to half open positions, rather than closed ones.

@Itsmidnight if I was a cheater I would be banned by now, and would not fall for bs like bxe6

I believe u can reach above 2500, by end of the year, keep on

@theTestoftheWest My point was that it's important to learn openings because people spent a lot of time developing opening lines. There are so many lines in the King's gambit where if you don't know the right move you are just done. That's true for many sharp lines where a prepared opponent will just murder you, while if you play something d4 d5 related you can just develop quietly and have many options where the mistakes you make will range in the half a pawn category rather than just being a forced mate in 5.

And about the classical ratings being inflated, yeah that's something I feel too, but I don't think it's because there are no top players playing it. More likely it has to do with player pool size.

Thanks hisohax!

@Itsmidnight
Then just avoid the sharp lines. And now don't tell me that's impossible! You can survive the King's gambit with giving back the pawn and developing everything. You can survive sharp sicilians by avoiding the open sicilian (as white) and playing the Classical sicilian or the Kan as Black.

I think the playerpool is not the problem. When new players start, they will lose on time in Blitz so they play Classical, but there aren't many stronger players.

@theTestoftheWest How do you avoid the sharp lines if you're not booked up? If you accept the KG you will be forced into sharp lines, that's the whole point of the KG.