Best Openings For Beginners To Learn The Fundamentals

Thank you so much! What you wrote was exactly what I were looking for! Which book provides such pros and cons of each opening? Please help me!

About two hours ago, I mentioned Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro and Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms as two possibilities for beginning to learn about openings. Moret and others have written books that try to make specific choices for the reader. I can understand a desire to read about every opening, but I have to warn you that such a project makes for a massive amount of dreary reading. If you really want to give it a try, you might consider the opening discussion in The Mammoth Book of Chess. There are a lot of sample games.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093123/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review756.pdf

Yasser Seirawan's Winning Chess Openings does not contain a lot of sample games, but he did introduce a lot of openings in a way that is probably more readable than most books of this sort.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf

Thanks for your caring. I don't read them all, I just want to scheme over the main ideas so that I can decide is the most suitable for me. My goal is to learn different chess technique with different openings. For example, I read elsewhere that King Gambit is more about attack and tactics. So when I learn about tactics and attack, I will move on to that opening because I feel like Sicilian is more about positional play.

Is a good one I just found/

https://www.sparkchess.com/key-to-success-choose-openings-that-fit-your-style.html

All of the following books provide coverage which allow comparison of the various openings, to some degree - some more comprehensively than others.  I list the books in order of beginner-novice "friendliness" (i.e. from "easiest" to most advanced).  I consider each of them to be instructive, and useful in terms of what they seek to accomplish, which is to allow comparison of, and provide insight into many openings...

Discovering Chess Openings by John Emms - is concerned exclusively with fundamental opening principles.  Various openings are discussed as examples.

Back to Basics: Openings by Valeri Beim.  A survey of all the major openings, including exposition of their themes, plans and strategy.

The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings by Reuben Fine.  An oldie, but helpful in clarifying the essence of all the major openings.  Because of it's age, don't expect it to present the latest fashionable lines (i.e.,moves).  As the title says, it is about the ideas.

Understanding the Chess Openings by Sam Collins.  A guide to all the major openings with relatively succinct explanations of their essence, themes and plans.

FCO: Fundamental Chess Openings by Paul van der Sterren.  Probably the most comprehensive treatment of all the major openings in a single volume.

Mastering the Chess Openings by John Watson.  A four-volume series.  Provides detailed coverage of (almost) all of the major chess openings.  Also has the most thorough and well written discussion and analysis of general opening theory of any opening reference.  IMO, this is a tour de force of the opening literature!  I would recommend to get the first volume at least, which contains the chapters on general opening theory.

I just checked some variation of Sicilian 2....e6 after 4.Nxd4, specifically the Four Knight and Paulsen (I am using Paulsen-Taimanov for about 3 weeks). Since I am a college student so I know well how to approach the study step-by-step to thoroughly understand the lesson. I actually think that learning the openings is not something non-beginner friendly. I particularly dislike memorizing details especially in my math and science classes, so I I am not memorizing the opening at all. I learn and understand up to the 4th move, so now my goal is to start the board at 4.Nxd4 and wait for Black response. Until I can play well at this 4th move, I move on to the fifth. I think everything is about how to study, not what we study.

This is a game I just played. Can you please give me an idea where I should work on? (Tactics, Position, Strategy...)

check out this opening https://youtu.be/I7oxBA_QFEw

Actually, it is by FM Carsten Hansen. Ideally, if one wants to be able to tell whether or not a book helps one to "scheme over the main ideas" of openings, one should look at an online sample. Sadly, in this case, I do not know of any place to find such a thing, but I at least know of a review:

http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2010/1/30/a-brief-review-of-carsten-hansens-back-to-basics-openings.html

Based on some browsing, I would note:

1. The book has less detail than some other books of this sort. I think that is a good thing. For many readers, lots of detail is not all that helpful and makes it harder to quickly "scheme over the main ideas".

2. Hansen included a separate chapter on Opening Principles, while some other authors have just incorporated any discussion of principles into the commentary on individual openings.

3. In addition to presenting bunches of variations, Hansen took the time to make comments like this: "For years the Four Knights game had a reputation of being exceedingly dull ... But in the 1980s the opening had a revival, ... Since then the opening's popularity has declined again, though it still appears even at grandmaster level. ..."

4. Hansen tried to include various sorts of advice such as:

"Don't spend more time on the opening than you do on the middlegame and endgame."

"... For new players, I cannot recommend books that use [an encyclopedic] type of presentation [of opening theory], because the explanatory prose that elaborates typical plans and ideas is usually absent, thus leaving the student without any clear idea why certain moves are played or even preferred over other apparently equivalent moves. ..."
"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..."

There are a whole chapter on how to "decide which openings to choose" and another with advice on how to continue one's opening studies.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627031504/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen76.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Understanding_the_Chess_Openings.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626173432/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen128.pdf
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/FCO_Fundamental_Chess_Openings.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708112658/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review315.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627115737/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen99.pdf

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Mastering-the-Chess-Openings-Volume-1-p3569.htm
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_1.pdf

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Mastering-the-Chess-Openings-Volume-2-76p3570.htm
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_2.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626220240/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen117.pdf

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Mastering-the-Chess-Openings-Volume-3-76p3571.htm
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_3.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627070808/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen137.pdf

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Mastering-the-Chess-Openings-Volume-4-76p3572.htm
http://www.gambitbooks.com/pdfs/Mastering_the_Chess_Openings_volume_4.pdf

Good books! But right now, I will stick with the variation of Sicilian Paulsen (Kan)-Taimaniov. I thought I can find a straightforward answer for this question but it seems to require a lot of work. So, I will invest my time on middle game instead. 

I wish I could stop reading this type of threads, and wasting time on this subject.

I have sought a repertoire for years. Switching between 1.e4 and 1.d4, and different black defences. And still today I'm not sure if I'm playing the right openings for me.

My solution to this is stop switching openings and spend my study time mostly on tactics and analysing my own games.

Thanks Spongey.  Yes, I stand corrected.  The book is by Carsten Hansen.  Valeri Beim wrote "Back to Basics: Strategy", which is also excellent.  

Thanks for this information!

Lol, your experience has probably been repeated by a lot of players all over the world.  You have a lot of company, if that's any consolation.

vantheanh1993 wrote (~23 hours ago): "... I thought I can find a straightforward answer for this question but it seems to require a lot of work. ..."

Not sure which question you have in mind. It is a surprisingly nonstraightforward matter to try to read pros and cons of every opening, but one can do a little exploration of alternatives to the Sicilian by looking at online samples from some books. For 1 e4 e5:
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf

For 1 e4 e6:
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7611.pdf

For 1 e4 c6:
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7800.pdf
For 1 e4 d5:
https://www.everymanchess.com/downloadable/download/sample/sample_id/148/
For more about the Shenanigan Sicilian and other Sicilian variations, one could look at Starting Out: The Sicilian by GM John Emms (2009).
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627122350/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen123.pdf