Beginner openings vs. e4 / d4 - first few moves

Hello Chessers,

okay, people say not to learn opening lines before around 1800. For that I cannot memorize lines very good I would be very pleased if you could post me some first moves which fit best on beginner level against everything when playing as black.

You can't play chess ignoring your opponent. Just develop pieces, try to control the centre and castle.

I recomend finding a few openings to refer too. In example, 1 d4 can be followed by openings such as the Benoni or the Stonewall. A more agressive option is the Flick knife attack. Do not play the Stonewall agianst e4. An example of e4 would be the Scandinavian. I am still practicing defending against e4 myself, but I have had some decent responses, but I am also looking for other options.

If you are having dificulty with long openers, there is are short responses to generic offensive openings. B6 or bg6 followed by Bb7 or Bg7 are pretty universal openings, and can also be utilized by white with little difference but these need support from other short moves. These short moves are a quick fix, but will require critical thinking to keep a strong early position, for they need to be quickly supported by other moves depending on how the opponent responds.

I would not go so far as to say you could not learn opening lines, but it is better to chose a few opening lines to focus on. I hope this helps.

And that`s exactly why I absolutely agree not to learn opening lines extensively - after learning main lines you understand that nearly NO ONE on beginner or intermediate beginner level plays the lines you simply want to be played or expect.

Therefore I see there a paradox - the why learning openings extensively ? What should be the use anyway ? Just to get advantage of players who did not learn as much theory as you did - is that what chess is all about on the higher levels ?

Carlsen seems to agree not to learn so many openings. Just stick to a positional opening (1.. e5 against 1. e4 and 1.. d5 against 1. d4), learn a few sharp lines and outplay your opponent. He makes it look easy.