(Part 3) Tips for the improving UCO players rated between 1500 and 1800

Study the classical openings.

This subject may sound strange. Someone may ask:" What is the connection between UCOs and classical openings"?

Here are a couple of examples:

• As White I played in a recent quickplay tournament what follows: 1.h3 e5 2.a3 d5 3.c4 Nf6 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 -> and this is a reversed Sicilian Defence! How can White play it if he/she doesn't know the main ideas of this line of the Siclian Defense?
• When in the past I played 1..Nh6 quite often,  the game sometimes transposed to positions similar to those of the King's Indian Defense. Again the question is...how can the Black player deal with these positions..unless he/she studies the ideas behind the King's Indian Defense?

My appreciation and gratitude goes to IM Welling for having taught me this precious lesson.