Ok, I was never serious about chess, but it's starting to appeal to me very much. I'm just wondering if it's really worth studying openings at this point in my chess "career", or if I should just play and wait til I have a better "feel" for the game. I still make very stupid moves occasionally, and it seems like studying openings is too detailed for the type of games I play...

please persuade me. 

Perhaps you could post some games in the analysis forum.

is that using the "pgn" thing?

 Go to the forum and see the games. There should be instructions on how to post a game. Good luck.

You should look at the games of higher rated players. You can see what they do in the opening and then pick from that to decide what to do right off the bat. Of course,  your opponents will deviate from the games you've seen and then you should do two things:

1. Rely on general  opening principles: Get all your minor pieces off the back rank, Don't make too many pawn  moves or other 'wasteful' moves like moving the same piece over and over again, castle, connect the rooks.

2. After your game, look up in an opening book or database where the first "non book" move was (a move that you don't see in games between high rated players). If it was your move, try to find out why high rated players don't play it and start playing what they play instead. This will allow you to slowly and conciously build your repertoire. If it was your opponent's move, try to figure out why it might be a mistake. This will help you punish opening mistakes and win more games.

 

Once you are consistently following the principes in (1) above then you have the sophistication to think about whether you are getting a good position out of the opening. If you are then either your rating is going up and soon you'll be facing tougher competition or you should focus on middle game and end game study because you are not converting opening advantages. If you are not getting good positions out of the opening, you want to put in some study time to try to find where your mistakes are. Be careful here as you might think you are getting good positions when you are really  not. Always keep an eye on what high rated players are playing in your opening and see if you might be making a mistake.

It does no harm to be aware of some openings, at least the first 'main' few moves. Dont get bogged down with trying to remember long lines. When you get familiar with certain positions, maybe when you analyze your games; learn one or two more. Just remember, you will need to learn openings at some stage if you want to be serious.

Loomis wrote:

2. After your game, look up in an opening book or database where the first "non book" move was  

Are there any particular opening books or databases that you would recommend? 

Clicking my way merrily through www.eudesign.com/chessops has helped me in many ways.  For a beginner (or newbie), I'd read the sections on basic opening theory (pages about tempo and developemnt amongst other topics) and then go through a few of the popular opening lines like king pawn games, queen pawn games, ruy lopez, sicilian, and take it from there.  These should let you begin associating names and concepts with openings you'll recognize.  Hope this helps!

armiller, You can go to www.chessgames.com/perl/explorer and click through the opening moves. Word on the street is that something like that will be here in the next couple months. If you want a physical book, there are a few to choose from, "Modern Chess Openings" covers the moves of every opening, but does not give the details of the ideas -- this just wouldn't be possible in a single book. If you wind up picking a single opening to stick with,  you might want to get a repertoire book around that opening. But this isn't necessary immediately.

just get a general overview of the main systems. caro-kann, sicilian, french, spanish, QGD,

As a fellow newb, and book nut, I've reviewed a lot of the opening books.  I don't study the openings much ahead of time, but I like to read up on one after I've seen it or experienced it.  For the openings that begin with e4, I can highly recomment; "Chess Opening Essentials.  Volume 1: The Complete 1.e4," Djuric.  It's a 2007 book.  The book is very thorough and well laid out, with a lot of explenation about pros and cons of the variations and resulting positions.  You can read the reviews at Amazon.    During the Young V Old vote chess game, for example, I was able to read all about the opening as we went along for about the first 9 moves.  It was the Ruy Lopez, Marshall Attack variation. 

 

I also bought used, "The ideas behind the chess openings," by Fine, to hold me over for now on queen's pawn (1.d4) openings.  I happened to see it in a used book store for $5 US.  Reviews indicate that the book is a little dated.  When/if Djuric comes out with a Volume 2: The Complete 1.d4, I'll buy it. 

 

Another option to cover both the king and queen pawn openings is"Winning Chess Opening," Seirawan.  Not nearly as detailed as Djuric.  I would still get Djuric's book for 1.e4.

I aer n00b.  Wut do I d0?!

Studying the openings is long and tedious... I've found it better to play, and through play learn teh openings of your own accord. Sure I don't know the names of any official openings but I'm sure that I still demonstrate the skill to execute them without knowing their name.

The chess players bible simple books covers most oppenings good diagrams.

ZackAttack77 wrote: Studying the openings is long and tedious... I've found it better to play, and through play learn teh openings of your own accord. Sure I don't know the names of any official openings but I'm sure that I still demonstrate the skill to execute them without knowing their name.

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agreed