How many openings should i learn when starting out?

Hi

So i have been playing chess here on chess.com the last couple of months. I think i made an account last year, but i first really started playing during the lockdown. I did not know anything about chess part from moving the pieces (For example i did not know you could castle in chess.)

Now i think i am starting to get a tiny understanding of chess, and want to know if i should focus on 1 or 2 openings for white and 1 or 2 openings for black, or if i should try to play something new each game. I have played the Italian game a lot the first month, and know i use the Vienna Game, often during the Vienna Gambit. As black i don't really have an opening i use, often I just copy my opponents first move. 

Suggestions to good beginner openings would be nice aswell

Hope you can help me

This really has all you need for now...

https://www.chess.com/lessons/intro-to-book-openings

It's not about a quantitative number.  You need cohesion.  You need openings that mesh well together.  Openings that lead to vastly similar ideas.

Take a DEEP look (meaning spend a good 90 minutes per game, don't just zip through the main moves in the game) at the following 3 articles:

http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-french-connection-volume-31.html

http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/07/game-analysis-developing-your-pieces.html

http://charlottechesscenter.blogspot.com/2020/08/game-analysis-different-openings-doesnt.html

You have a French Advance, an offbeat Sicilian, and a mainstream Closed Sicilian.  All three games see the same theme, and White wins all three of them using the same theme!

You need to find openings that use a similar theme.  If you are a fanatic of Isolated Queen Pawn theory, then 1.d4 for White and openings like the French and Nimzo-Indian, which often lead to one side or the other having an IQP, would be openings that mesh well.

If you like blocked positions, something like the English as White, French, and King's Indian as Black would be the way to go, having the blocked center many times.

If you play the Nimzo-Indian, you ought to be able to understand the QGD as well, both dealing with the Carlsbad pawn structure.

If you prefer positions that are more wide open, playing openings like 1...e5 (Open Ruy against 3.Bb5) and the Grunfeld, and 1.e4 with White, mostly playing variations with an open center (c3 Sicilian, Tarrasch French, etc).

So it's not quantity, and each opening is not a separate project.  You need to figure out the type of positions you prefer, and play accordingly.  1.e4 does not automatically mean open center either.  Think about the following:

d3-lines in the Ruy

Advance French

Closed Sicilian

Advance Caro-Kann

Mostly closed positions.  So again, you have to figure out the middle game positions you prefer and figure out the openings that mesh with them accordingly.

Not very many openings in the beginning

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

My post from an earlier thread:

One GM adivised beginners to play a season or two of the open games before moving on to the modern and hyper-modern openings.  Lajos Portisch wrote in "How to Open a Chess Game" that gambits are good for beginners.  He went on to say

"I do not recommend them as effective weapons in serious play.  Beginners and and young players, however, should not ignore the classical gambits, for principles of opening play---rapid development, control of the center, King safety---can  be learned quickly from them."

BTW - If you can find a copy of that 1974 classic, buy it!  Seven chapters by seven GM's:  Larry Evans, Svetozar Gligoric, Vlastimil Hort, Paul Keres, Tigran Petrosian, Bent Larsen and Lajos Portisch.  The wisdom in that book is a bargain at any price.

When I started out, I only learned a few openings because I was in a small group with my coach and a few other students. Therefore, we practiced specific openings recommended by our coach, such as the Italian Game, the Scotch Game, and the Sicilian Najdorf. However, when I started using chess.com, I've realized that not everyone plays the openings I play. Some people play openings such as the Grunfeld or the QGD. Therefore, my advice is to learn the basics of each opening. As white, you must first decide whether you will play e4, d4, Nf3, or c4. Then, learn off that. As black, you need to find your preferred response against any move. Then, branch off of that. I hope this helped you and have a nice day.

C4! Best by test!

what