In almost every chess forum we see beginners asking things like "What's the best opening?" or "What's a good book on openings?".

Why do beginners have this obsession with openings while they mostly loose games because of lack of middelgame understanding?

I've often wondered that myself, and I think it's due partly to a short-sighted need for 'tricks' to help one win quickly, instead of the long term grind of study and practice. 

I think beginners are often impressed by the (sometimes evocative) names of the openings as well!

Openings are half the battle.  Your position in middle game is dependent on the opening.

My rating went up over 100 points after I learned openings. 

Knowing defence (black opening) by heart leaves you in middle game positions you can't calculate far enough ahead.

there's actually a reason black has limited book choices for defense.  Chess is about reaction.

I always get pwned in blitz chess because I have no opening knowledge.

Because if they don't know there openings they will allready have lost in the opening, before ever reaching the middlegame.

Beginners find out they will get a bad position after the opening so the y concetrate thier efforts first on what comes first.

Same reason why al players use more time on the earlier moves in the game than the later moves before time control. Because it makes no sense still having a lot of time but a lost position.

@ SonofPearl,

I think you'r right.

@ dee_from_ott,

In my opinion your rating will grow even more by learning basic chess strategy and tactics. By understanding this two areas first learning openings will make much more sense because you will understand more easily the ideas behind the opening moves instead of memorizing them without truely understanding why this moves are good.

never play blitz, no point, unusual openings, well everybody looks for an edge, you know"the secret weapon"that will vastly improve their game overnight.look at the history of the grunfeld.

@ Lmberjacco, that is probably why I beat you mostly in the endgame when we play at the club.

The only things you need to know about openings being a beginner are the basic principles of openings. Like the importance of developing pieces, the importance of occupying the center, the importance of bringing your king in safety by castling etc.

Openings are appealing to new players because:

1) they appear the easiest part of chess to learn.

2) new players think they have to start at the beginning, right?

3) new players do not know any better.

4) in order to play a game of chess the first thing that comes to mind is how to begin.

Only when they come across a good book or a good teacher or a good advisor that they realise they should start their learning path in the reverse order.

1)most of new players are getting worse positon in the opening and want to improve

2)some players think it's cool to say "i play a line favoured by Kasparvov/Karpov/Tal/Fischer"

I guess you must start somewhere

As a new player, it is immensely frustrating to play games here and not know something about openings. You are very likely to run into someone who uses some kind of "trick" opening that can lead you to make mistakes that will only become apparent further along the game.

If you just start playing and not know something about openings, then you are very likely to come out of the opening badly, and in essence already have lost the game.

I was in that situation. But after playing a couple of games you learn what is a good opening.

@ GatoNegro

To answer your question and the points you highlighted

You do know that the openings play a huge role in the whole game. You can't criticize beginners by saying that they wanna learn openings and suck at middle game play. They can't imporove all factors immediately. Remember that they are beginners.

I feel that it's alright if they focus on the openings first, then move on to other parts. It's good to learn in such a logical order

The issue is that beginners aren't strong in the middlegame or endgame.

Alot of beginner's games are decided in the opening through blunders, traps or mates

This is actually all about what the best way is to learn chess for beginners. In general terms you are right in saying that the opening has big influence in the rest of the game. The problem is often that this leads to the misconception that beginners should learn opening theory first. I think it's a mistake. As I said before, knowing the general opening principles is for a beginner enough to play and get experience. If with this they focus on basic strategy and tactics they improve faster.

I've known many beginners who have learned opening variations by heart. At the moment that I choose a move that "was not in the book!" they loose track and choose the wrong strategy because they don't understand the ideas behind the opening.

good openings leads to a good mid-game which then leads to good endings

That is correct. When you do a bad move in the beginning it is very difficult to win the game at the end.