Openings that lead to favourable pawn structures in the end game

Thanks Thriller and Sqod. I'm not looking to force winning end games from the opening as I'm sure that is unrealistic. I think you put it well sqod when you talked about opening lines which may statistically yield better pawn structures more often than others. As I've said, I don't want to get into opening theory too deeply, but just want to pick a small repertoire that I can start getting a feel for. I was hoping to choose those openings that perhaps increase the likelihood of a better pawn structure in the endgame over other types of advantages (although I understand that I can just easily be steered away from those openings depending on what my opponent plays!). At the moment it seems like the Ruy Lopez exchange variation and Caro-Kann Classical main line might be two such openings I can start experimenting with.

After doing a bit more research it seems that Shereshevsky's Mastering the Endgame volumes would provide me with the direction I'm looking for. Shame these books are very difficult to get hold of!

I refuse to base opening selection on one feature, whether it be Queenside Majorities, better pawn structure, direct attack on the King, etc.  That's thinking too one-dimensionally.

If this is how you think, may I suggest you become a fan of "One Dimension" concerts rather than Chess!

Anyway, chess is about 64 squares.  It's about an Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame.  Anybody that plays for the shear sake of arriving at an endgame, or achieving a Queenside majority, or thinking they are the greatest tactican or positional player, are all making a horrible mistake.

The openings I play are openings that I play because I understand the ideas of the middlegames that result from them, not because I get some stupid majority on one side of the board.  If one could force the 4-on-3 Kingside majority against the 4-on-3 Queenside majority of the Exchange Ruy Lopez down to a King and Pawn ending, everybody on the planet would play the Exchange Variation and people would quit playing 3...a6 as Black!  I play the Exchange Ruy Lopez because I understand all the middlegame nuances, not just the pipedream ending that White wants.

If I was going to base openings on one feature instead of the big picture, and let's say that one feature was a Queenside Majority, I'd play the Grunfeld (going for the lines where Black grabs on a2 with the Queen) and Najdorf Poisoned Pawn in a heartbeat.  Hey Everybody!  I have a Queenside Majority!  I'm in Heaven!  Yeah, Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight!  I'll just sacrifice my Queen there on h7 and slash that Black King in the throat while you are busy dilly-dallying with your Queenside Majority!

If you want to call yourself a chess player, you better know how to execute the following:

• Pawn Majorities (on both sides)
• Symmetrical Positions
• Tactics
• Positional Ideas - Like outposts, backwards pawns on open files, hard to reach weaknesses that aren't an issue, Moving the worst placed piece, etc.
• Strategy - Plan of Attack, Knowing when and when not to transition to an endgame (pre-meditation to do so ASAP at the start of the game is a Loser's strategy), Proper Exchanges (when to trade like pieces, unlike pieces of equal value such as B for N or B+N for R+P, and unlike pieces of unequal value such as R for B+P or N+P, Q for 2R, or even a game I won as Black a few years ago where I gave up Q+4P for R and 3 Minors and won - Don't recall if it was RBBN or RBNN, I want to say the latter, for QPPPP), etc.
• Strong knowledge of all endings (K+P, R+P, Q+P, N+P, Rvs2Minors, BvsN, OCBs, SCBs, Qvs2R, QvsR+B, R+B vs R+N, Q+B vs Q+N, etc.)
• A diverse enough opening repertoire so that different positions and pawn structures occur so as not to cause your ability to strategize to go stale.

Other than what you are going to play on move 1 as White in a given game, any form of pre-meditation is a VERY bad thing!

Thanks, Thrillerfan. I agree with you. I realise that the premise of the thread is a bit superficial. Originally, I was hoping to get a steer as to which openings give long term endgame advantages rather than promising middlegames, for example. This is because I am far from a complete player and I plan to begin working a lot on my end game technique. I don't have an opening repertoire and just play according to general principles. My idea was to focus on a couple of openings to get a feel for them without going into too much theory. It made sense to me to choose openings that would compliment my current line of study i.e. play for endgame advantages at the expense of middlegame difficulties (such as the French or Caro-Kann?). Its not meant to be a long term decision regarding opening choice, I was just looking for a good reason to pick a couple of openings to play regularly because at the moment I have no real preferences/play anything and thought it'd be better to start getting practice and a feel for some specific openings (without going too deep into theory, just building familiarity). After that, I was thinking of maybe switching my study to focus on middlegame technique and change the openings i play accordingly i.e. openings that yield promising middlegames at the expense of pawn structure or something. Perhaps that is an artificial and naive way of looking at things though - in fact I'm sure it is but it was intended so for the sake of study purposes and practice.