What a 1500-1800 player should know.

As a player who is within this rating range I thought I would give a quick overview of my playing style and what a middle rated player should be able to do and their general style of play.
In the opening I will more often then not, at a minimum try to get out of the opening with a fairly equal position I am pretty confident I can get a fairly equal position even against a strong chess engine like Rykba.

A 1500-1800 player should know a few opening very well for example I particulary like playing the Ruy Lopez,The Italian game,The Fork Trick Attack and the Ulvestad Variation of the two Knights Defence.

He should also know how to cease upon any mistakes generally when a opponent neglects making central moves in the beginning and then fails to castle early,and of course the typical beginners mistake of bringing the queen out on the third move.

So in the game above I play against Rykba and can get to move 12 and still have a playable position and could probably carried on for a few more moves the score in the game above is -0.33 after 12 moves.
However this is the opening I am most familar with,the point is that if I could do it against Rykba I can do it against most online opponent,needless to say Rykba has a incredibly high ELO rating.

Once a player stops being crushed in the openning it gives him a increased amount of confidence which can really take his game forward then it all becomes about the tactics of the middle and endgames.

IN THE SICILIAN

The position above is one I managed to attain in the Sicilian opening which is a opening I rarely play,the whole point is that if you can attain playable positions against Rykba 2.2 you can almost certainly attain them against human opponents.