It's common to use checkboxes to allow users to select items instead of opening items. You really need to fix this ASAP; it's nice that you want to accommodate power users, but you've essentially made the site useless to everyone else.
Granted, I had to make an experimental click or two to test how to select a document, but once I established that -- it's set for me.
I find the current selection method not only workable, but very usable.