What scenarios must you be effective from in open guard? The vast majority of guard play in Jiu Jitsu is from open guard. There are many variations of open guard and the sheer amount of material you need to learn can seem overwhelming at times. Rest assured however that when you look at open guard in terms of the NUMBER OF POSSIBLE SCENARIOS FROM WHICH YOU MUST BE EFFECTIVE (a rather small number) rather than the NUMBER OF POSSIBLE MOVES (an extremely large number) then things seem much more manageable. Your opponent has three options – kneeling, one knee on floor and standing (within the standing category there is a particularly important option – the split squat, often referred to as “headquarters” position (I'm not sure why). You have two options, you can be seated or you can be supine. So the number of possible general scenarios is not so big. You will need at least a couple of trusted and effective moves in each of those scenario combinations. Seen in this light you can see it's a very manageable project. My favorite move when I'm seated and my opponent is on his knees has always been the hook sweep (essentially a ground version of the sumi gaeshi standing sacrifice throw). It works equally well gi and no gi and combines extremely well with many other moves – particularly leg locks. Make sure your training program covers all the scenarios of open guard and soon you will be able to attack regardless of which scenario you may find yourself in
