Please enlighten me ... ... ...
Easiest opening to learn for beginners ..

King's Gambit, huh? And you would actually teach this to a bare-bones beginner ... someone who had just learned the moves maybe a few days before?

For someone who is JUST STARTING OUT in chess, I maintain that the Colle is probably the easiest and safest of all openngs to try and learn ...
For a fairly in-depth article ... that's also 100% free ... please go to -
http://www.worldchessacademy.com/learningchess02.htm. (Many links - from there.)

The King's Gambit is easy enough, get the pieces pointing at f7 and then attack
Bro stop with the King's Gambit, it is easy to stop and you throw away a pawn.
The King's Gambit is easy enough, get the pieces pointing at f7 and then attack
Bro stop with the King's Gambit, it is easy to stop and you throw away a pawn.
As opposed to being easy to stop and throwing away a tempo? Or two? Or a queen?

Why not just teach basic development with the idea of taking the center, instead of teaching systematic and robotic play in the opening (first we set up this structure, and only think thereafter)? While I agree with you in that beginners will get crushed starting out in simple and open positions, it's better than having them only see one type of position and having a very shallow exposure to the basics of chess. At the beginning stages of chess, shouldn't the opening almost be completely ignored other than basic principles, anyway? Endgames, endgames, and more endgames are the best way to build a base for a new chess player - it's crucial to learn how the pieces work together instead of being told where to move them to get safely into the middlegame.
It seems like there are two frequently employed methods of teaching chess these days to beginners - focusing on endgames and understanding how the pieces work with each other and focusing on flashy tactics and mates. One produces a neverending stream of 1400s who play the King's Gambit and spend their whole career trying to get the Bxh7+ sacrifice, the other kills interest for some and creates strong masters out of the rest.

yeah and just because you give away a pawn doesn't mean you don't get something in return, I tend to like the position I get in the KG, and if you would accept my challange (which I would never lower myself to those cheaters) I would show you that you get a dynamic advantage rather than a passive advantage

and How is the KG easy to stop?
Play against Fritz 13, and you will be stopped cold ... every time.

and How is the KG easy to stop?
Play against Fritz 13, and you will be stopped cold ... every time.
Sure. If you're playing against a computer. Or a Master. For many non-masters, this is sound.

And all of this misses my original point ... to wit, one of the easiest openings for a RAW BEGINNER to learn ... is the Colle.

And I have played the King's Gambit myself ... hundreds of times in blitz. And I know that occasionally I have lost to a player 1000 points below me ... when things go wrong in a KG, it gets nasty, really quick.

You simply don't teach openings to your students- period and fullstop.
I have coached a few GM's, but I never bothered to show them openings.
Just shaping up their playing style, and learning them how to deal with complex strategical and tactical setups. They formed their opening repertoire themselves, AFTER they have achieved a personal playing style.
But, seriously. IM pfren, your suggestions are prolly OK ...
but they miss the point of the whole article!
What opening do YOU teach to a rank beginner?