Creating an opening repertoire

Would like to know, would the King's Indian Attack and King's Indian Defense for both White and Black be enough to combat all openings, even the less common ones? 

I'm fairly new to chess and was thinking it would be easier to learn a similar opening system so there is less to cover. 

I think if you're new, try to play regular e4 or d4 games, choose one.

Then settle on your 1st move response to each of those, and take it from there. Anyway, those games are more fun.

Leave 'system' openings for much later

You still need an answer to 1.e4

Surely the easy answer (if the goal is to play basically the same moves every game) he would just play the Pirc/Modern.

This is basically what Yasser Seirawan recommends beginners to play in his book Winning Chess Openings.

While these openings are easy to learn (the first few moves at least, the KID gets kind of crazy as you get deep), they do require a somewhat nuanced understanding of positional play in order to play effectively.

The problem that I had when I was a newbie (I played these per Yasser's book recommendations), is that I had a lot of trouble analyzing my games.  A lot of times I just ended up getting a worse position, or getting checkmated out of the blue, and I couldn't figure out what I did wrong.  In hindsight, even though I knew the moves, I think the strategy behind these openings is not appropriate for a beginner-level player.

I guess he wants to play a king indian setup (the pirc) against e4.

I don't think playing the same setup in every game would be good  for your development in the long term. To grow as a player you need to gather experience in a wide range of positions, and to learn how to deal with unexpected lines. Those who specialize in a certain setup very early in their chess education tend to have good results at first (it's great to play the same moves again and again while the others are trying new things they don't know very well, thus blundering very often), but then they stop improving since they never get anything really new in their games. By contrast those who were trying different setups will ultimately learn how to play and move forward. The siren call of "setup chess" is very strong at the club level, but I think it's a common cause of rating stagnation. There are several 1500-1600 players at my club who play the same setup against everything with both white and black, and they have been rated 1500-1600 for years and years by now. 

In conclusion, it's an ok repertoire if you want to try this kind of position and play some fun games, but if you have a goal of long term improvement I wouldn't keep playing this way for a long time.

Thanks for all the replies guys!

So essentially what I'm gathering from you guys is that sticking to a fixed set of openings is detrimental to the growth of a new player and regular E4 and D4 openings would be more useful in teaching me the basics in the long run?

I would say I play at the club level as I really only play with a few friends who don't study chess much and thus rarely go for the standard d4/e4 openings. That's why I'm trying to research and hopefully get an edge vs them with at least a solid opening. 

What openings for White do you guys suggest that I can respond relatively similarly for each of the possible responses (easier to learn)? 

Also for a Black repertoire is there an single opening that I can use MOST of the time? And if not any suggestions on which few I can learn to cover most White openings?

If it helps in making suggestions I prefer openings that can make exchanges early to simplify the game faster, cause less pieces on board means less to think about haha.

I'd say as Black you should prepare for d4, e4, and maybe other openings (c4, f4).  As White you should have at one, maybe two steady openings.  For some time I only played 1. f4, eventually I settled on 1. c4... the important thing is establishing a system you can play against anyone.

Most close games are decided by endgames.  Study endgames. 

And a good, easy to learn, exchange-heavy opening vs 1. d4 is Lasker's defense.

If you have any respect for professional chess players and book authors, this is not something you want to do. These guys are putting a lot of work in their books, are usually not paid very well, and have families to support.

Chess books are not expensive when you consider how much quality information you find inside. It's also usually possible to find second-hand copies at very reasonable prices.

Rigid systems are bad for improving chess.

If you're a beginner player, I recommend the Italian as white and black against 1. e4 (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5, and then 4. c3, Nc3 or 0-0) and as black, the QGD Lasker Variation against 1. d4 (1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 h6 6. Bh4 0-0 7. Rc1 Ne4) although quite frankly you'll never go so far into book, so just play common-sense moves and you'll be fine.

Basically, no need to worry about an opening repertoire yet. Common-sense moves will get you playable middlegames, just follow basic principles like "control the centre" and "develop all your pieces quickly". In fact it's far better to seriously study endgames before openings.

I think you should make your move based what's on the board, rather than making your move based on some opening name.

I recommend 1. e4 e5 or 1. e4 e6. 1.d4 d5. That would suffice for your opening atm.

Optional :

How about 1. g4 or 1. b4 or 1. Nf3, or 1. Nc3, etc. Then just play 1.  .... e5 or 1. .... d5. Don't play 1. Nf3 e5.

Would like to know, would the King's Indian Attack and King's Indian Defense for both White and Black be enough to combat all openings, even the less common ones?

halc: That's not bad thinking. (As some have pointed, this means you will play the Pirc against e4, which is similar to the King's Indian.) I've considered the same scheme myself.

Sure. Give it a try and see how you like it. IMO the main thing for a beginner is to play openings which are basically sane and personally enjoyable.

You say you're fairly new to the game, so feel free to try things and find out what works for you. It could be that you won't like the King's Indian setup -- not everyone does. You don't have to marry any opening this early.

To address one of your points, the King's Indian usually leads to a slow, complex, closed game. It is not one in which there are early exchanges leading to simplifications.

Another drawback to the King's Indian for a newer player is that it's based on a subtle strategy in which you lay back and build your position slowly. Without much experience it's hard to understand what you are doing and why. You don't get the immediate tactical feedback which is available in the more open games, especially e4/e5, d4/d5.

A lot of books have been written about opening systems for beginners & they all recommend different strategies. The same can be said for the advice you will get here. I think you would do best to take what suits you & develop your own system. I tried the Horowitz system for a while & it helped me but I realized its limitations & was studying & testing other openings at the same time. The Horowitz system proposed 3 openings, the Stonewall attack for white & the Grunfeld & Sicilian Dragon for black depending on what white opened with. Very simplistic? Yes but for a beginner reasonably effective. There are many openings that fail at GM level but are perfectly fine for beginner & intermediate club play. You need to find what suits your style as much as anything.

I had some spectacular wins with the Stonewall Attack but also some spectacular losses so I tried the Kings Gambit as an alternative with some success as it suited my style. The Sicilian & the Grunfeld were better & I still play them today. So I'm not going to recommend a specific opening, there have been many good suggestions here that you can choose from, just stay away from weird & unusual stuff & keep expanding your repertoire. If as black you play a couple of mainline defenses you will automatically gain an understanding of what White plays against them then if you like what you see you can try it as White. 4 or 5 carefully chosen openings should cover what most opponents will throw at you & that will keep you in the game while you put a few hours a week into studying new stuff.

Get a copy of Modern Chess Openings or whatever the best book is these days (Maybe someone can recommend one) I used MCO when it was the Bible of openings & eventually worked all the way through it. As your Chess gets better you will absorb new material much faster & as your judgment improves you will know what warrants a quick glance & what needs deeper study.

markgravitygood

I think that that if you play the KID against 1.d4  you have to play in a game in which black has the control of the centre and it's difficult to find a counterplay (in the King's swing) if you are a beginner! You have probably to play openings which follow the general principles of the opening(develop your pieces, fighting for the centre, castle quickly etc).

 I recommend you to play 1.e4 and after 1.e5 play the ruy lopez , that's how I began playing.

If your oponnent plays the sicilian, you can go into the closed, which doesn't need a lot of theory. It also offers you a nice attack in the kingside

If you are black, play 1.d5 against 1d4. Here, I play the tartakower defence, but I don't know if it's a nice opening for a beginner.

Against 1e4 you can play both the scandinavian and 1...e5.

I hope I helped you !! Good luck in your study!

If you are interesting in how others approached your problem I have just started a thread showing how I did it when I started to get serious about my game.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/the-stonewall-attack-in-action-at-club-level

I would say, play what you understand, its pointless playing into some of these lines if you dont understand how you got there, kind of like travelling into a forest and being left to find your way out.