Indeed. I totally understand. Everyone who's come to me for tutelage always asks the same question: "What to play as white and black?" I'm more of a Mentor, than say, an instructor or teacher because hey...I haven't any such credentials to speak of. Heh. And that's no lie. I just love the game. Anyways, depending on their overall skill set, experience I never hesitate to quote Bobby Fischer, "Read the MCO front to back, even footnotes; AND for the next lesson, YOU DO IT AGAIN!" Heh. Paraphrasing there but I love it. But ok, no I don't expect them to do THAT (I never did either but by the looks of my many MCOs, GCOs, NCOs, ECOs you'd think otherwise!) I just rundown a few lines from what I consider solid. Mainline. Distilled gold from many generations. Practice runs like Chernev of old, move by move. Make note of known opening traps and analyse obvious blunders. Blitz runs at first then slowing it down gradually then speed up again. Whew! Getting kind of lengthy there. As it is, for someone starting out, you can't get a good game (these days with databases, opening explorer) on just opening principles alone. It's like sending soldiers off to war with only a "guide to being a soldier" to rely on. You have to have some kind of repertoire to rely on. Especially in this Century. Young kids are using laptops in grade school nowadays. In my days, I was lucky to be able to get the latest lines. Granted, I was advanced but you know...With gamers (XBox, PS4 etc) they expect the latest gamepaks and such n such! Geez. Sufficed to say, I'm not worried in the least of what beginners can handle or not these days. Heh. Ok. Nuff said.
r u Australian?
"... 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. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"... [Modern Chess Openings (15th ed.)] pretends to be everything for everybody, but it isn’t; it pretends to be up-to-date and relevant in all chapters, but it isn’t; it should be a good book, but it isn’t. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2008)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626165820/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen110.pdf
I think that there is wide agreement that the way to start learning about an opening is by playing over sample games. Some of us think that it can be useful to use books like First Steps: 1 e4 e5 and First Steps: Queen's Gambit
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf
as sources of games with explanations intended for those just starting.
"... 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. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)