There are plenty of ways to make your opening mainlines, here are some:
Start from a certain position and:
1. use stockfish recommended moves
1.1 against the opening database of lichess
1.2 against the opening database of masters
2. use the opening database of masters
2.1 against the opening database of lichess
2.2 against the opening database of masters
Which one do you think is the best way to do this and why?
I do my best to avoid main lines.
Neither honestly. The best moves by database can be good for reference in more obscure / really deep lines, but for beginner - expert (honestly everything up to IM probably), it is better to review it in a book or video. Memorizing moves doesn't give you the ideas of the position, which is something better explained by other people. Knowing why you might need to play h3 on move 8 or something is neat and all, but unless you get why that's best and not another move, you could find yourself in much more difficulty.
@MrPushwood avoiding mainlines is good because you surprise your opponents and you put them in positions they don't know but even if you avoid the mainlines you're still following another line.
Do you use one of the above techniques to end up to a line or do you get use books?
@JimJam1099 I am talking about using this method and understanding each move.
So you think that it's not the best choice to learn this using the analysis board here right?
I think that with a combination of the above you can get some good understanding of the openings but
I am still not sure what is the best way to name something as a "mainline" using the above method.
As you get deeper into lines, you can find some really obscure moves that start to become a real question to people. Let me take a line from the Caro Cann: Caveman Variation:
1. e4 c6
2. d4 d5
3. e5 Bf5
4. h4 h5
5. Bg5 Qb6
6. Bd3 Qxd4
7. Nf3 Qg4
8. Bxf5 Qxf5
9. c4!
This move is 9 moves deep, which may be a bit much for a beginner level. I know this move is best, but even with computer analysis, I couldn't explain it well in words. Having that translation to human language is necessary for situations like these.
It becomes even more apparent playing more positional openings like the Catalan or London (not my specialty), where the book is more able to explain, as it looks like a lot of random shuffling of pieces otherwise.
Thought it read "manliness" at first... I like to go super aggresive with fried chicken liver attack.
I don't "study" anything about chess. I find that the best way to master an opening is to play it and then compare your results with it before moving on to playing other openings. You'll find that you're just comfortable with certain pawn and piece structures than you are with others.
