Passing or opening? I suppose both go hand in hand. Unless I have a really stubborn opponent, I can usually open my opponents guard by the following:
Opening?
1. I start by gripping my opponents gi pants around their groin area. If it is no gi, which I am not used to, I believe it is possible to bury your knuckles into their stomach region or hold down their hips to gain a similiar (perhaps better) effect.
2. I maintain this grip & begin to push (not press, really dig in) with my elbows into the inside of their knees (Be aware that some people are likely to go with your force and pop a leg around the back of your head for a triangle- keep your head up).
3. Say this hasn't done much to effect your opponent. Try move back a little to form an L shape with your legs. This means, you bury one of your knees into their arsehole (seriously) & the other knee keep you based pointing away from you both. Some people prefer to stand a little as they do this or straightened their back leg as if they had a knee on belly position. Do whatever allows you to have good pressure and good base similataneously. In most cases, this works for me. It either allows me to pass or discomfort my opponent to alter their guard.
Passing?
To pass from here. I like to press my shin across their opened legs with one of mine and donkey kick with the other. For example.
If I have opened my opponents guard & desire to pass to their left side I would do the following.
1. Change my grip to a grip around their knees on the gi. I usually back up a little & take an all fours kind of stance, only because I can get more momentum from standing. Better grapplers would most probably move straight into a pass position. But me, I'm a sucky newbie :redface: . Press down hard & split their legs a little. I find it doesn't matter how far their legs are apart aslong as you can pass a thigh in between. I find it easier to keep control of their legs by pushing my grip down to the ground.
2. I then press my right shin across their left thigh quite high up so your opponents cannot shift out to a better position. Try to keep your shin down hard on their inner thigh hard, you know you have done it well as you may here a grunt which usually indicates intense pressure on your opponent.
3. In conjunction to the shin movement go chest on chest to your opponent whilst swooping (in this case) your right arm out & around to grip the back of their head or to palm down on their opposite shoulder. Even if you have a total muscle head for an opponent & your as weak as a dead granny, you generally can keep your opponent immobolised in this position. You have pressure distributed on their chest, across the thigh on the side they'd use to shrimp their hips out with & control of their head so they shouldn't find it easy to escape. The position looks like you are laying side by side, your opponent shouldn't be able to turn back towards you.
4. From here, keep the pressure and throw your unused leg from its current position all the way out to the left side of your body. I can't think of a good description of the but the thing you need to image is to kick your leg around the side where your body is on. If they are trying to pull half guard just use your other arm to push it away.
5. Now, all you need to do is thrown your knee against their hip & flatten your hips. Now you can try working the bastard from side mount
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I'm a newb with not much all that great strength yet I've opened & passed a few good guys guards with these techniques. Hope they help.