easiest to learn

what are your favourite white openings and why

Let me go by the question you asked what are the easiest to learn:

White: Spanish or semi-slav (e6) slav (c6)

Black: French ..1 e6

For White,

I would say e4, but there's a lot of theory to learn for those games. Really, you can't do much in chess without studying theory. I mean, you could try playing c4, that's also a fun opening that gets good results, but it's not as intuitive as e4.

For Black,

Scandinavian w/ 3) ...Qa5 is probably easier than the French.

I dunno, it's easy to understand the ideas of the French, but actually putting it into practice is a bit harder.

The italian is probably your best bet for the easiest way into a good middlegame as white. Most people at your level fear gambits and play moves like 3. ...h6 to avoid them. This lets you easily get a stronger center. Even if they don't chicken out you have well placed pieces for lots of simple tactics to show up. This comes from my experience from my path from your level to mine.

not looking for ideas just people's favourites...thanks....

To be honest, I haven't studied opening theory much at all. As long as you play by the opening principles you should be fine through the opening moves.

For example take control of the center squares if your opponent allows it. Develop your knights usually before the bishops, then connect the rooks and castle the king to safety.

Keep your eyes on what your opponent is doing, what are his plans? Where will he develop his next piece? Can I Develop my piece and stop his next idea?

Some things to try to avoid are:

• Moving the same piece more than once
• Bringing the queen out too early
• Eagerly accepting a hanging pawn, wait it could be a trap! (costage trap)
• Developing a piece that blocks in another pieces potential development.

its horrible to face

1. d4 and wing it from there.