Learning the basics.

Hi, I bet these kinds of posts get made all the time but I'm interested in finding out solid openings for beginners to study.

I'm looking at the Ruy Lopez and the Sicilian so far; though there is a lot of theory on the Sicilian so I'm not sure about that for a beginning opening. 

What do you guys recommend? Looking for openings for White (mainly open game so e4) and looking for best responses to d4 and e4 respectively as Black (though not the Sicilian, something a little easier to understand please).

https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

That's a fantastic link, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.

By looking around on the site and looking at games played by different members I learn a lot about ratings.

Knowing the basic tactics and strategical concepts + approx 4 opening moves is what gives you a rating about 1000. In the real world such knowledge would give you a rating of approx 1400.

Hi I know I'm about 8 days late, but if you do want to learn about the sicilian, I have a group dedicated to understanding it and the plans, instead of just the theory. It's not too hard, but it is frustrating to play at a lower level because you get a lot of boring games with white playing Bc4, which are certainly winnable and black does really well, but you miss out on the fascinating exciting play of the open sicilian. For the a while when I was just getting into chess I would play 1 d4, but those games are so complicated and the positional ideas are just super challenging, what really led to me improving in chess (from 1200 to 1300/1400, was playing 1 e4 and really getting into the open games. You learn how the pieces work together, about development, and a lot of cool exciting tactics, and some interesting maneuvering. From there, learning the sicilian is super cool, because you learn a lot about planning and how the opening and middlegame are related, and I think going through this way of improving has been really helpful to me, and I have a  much better understanding of chess than I did say a year ago. But the real key at our low level (sub 2000), is learning first to be good at endgames, then planning and tactics, and the opening is not so important as long as no blunders are played. But if you do want to join the group, message me! We talk a lot about ideas in the opening and how they affect the endgame, and how to exploit long term weaknesses and play different structures, its definitely not just about learning some opening theory.

if you white and play e4 online you WILL play sicilian.  you will play sicilian as White.  as any move after e4 c5 IS a sicilian.

....

this might sound simple but some people starting chess hear that "sicilian" is a hard opening.  they play their e4 and dont' realize that Yes.  playing online at least they WILL play sicilian.

on the other hand, learning all the complicated ideas that black has had in playing the sicilian is almost certainly (for a beginner) a waste of time. there are FAR more important topics to learn (endgames and tactics).

Don't be scared of openings with a lot of theory... very luckily for all of us, our opponent's face the same difficulties!

So learn very well the opening principales, and look into just the basics of an opening. For example learn the first 5 moves and a main idea (like white wants to attack the kingside, or queenside, or wants to play d5 later in the game... something like this).

Then as you play and gain experience, add to your opening knoweldge a little bit at a time.

This guy has some great intro videos:
https://www.youtube.com/user/KebuChess

But again, definitely learn the opening principals. Very important to value development, the center, and king safety. 

You might find something that interests you in this list of openings books for beginners and beyond...as mentioned earlier, the Pete Tamburro book might be helpful to you...

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/good-chess-opening-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

its almost a joy to meet someone who has spent 30 hours memorizing theory I can play by just following opening principles- only to fall to a Exchange and fork that they dont' see instantly because they've never thoroughly gone through the tactics.

it makes me feel like I was very smart to study my tactics!

It's pretty challenging finding good opening books that actually explain the basic ideas behind the moves.

I second ylblai2's recommendation of Openings for Amateurs by Tamburro. Half of the book is a primer on openings and the other half offers repertoire ideas.

For a good reference for all chess openings I use FCO (Fundamental Chess Openings). Unlike NCO or MCO it actually explains the ideas behind each line and what each player is trying to accomplish.

Here is a list of some other good books that have served me well and actually explain what the hell is going on:

Bologan's Black Weapons by Bologan

Chess Openings for Black Explained by Alburt, Dzindzichashvili, & Perelshteyn

Wojo's Weapons (vol.1-3) by Hilton & Ippolito

Beating the Open Games & A Spanish Repertoire for Black by Marin

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

http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2014/12/6/a-review-of-bologans-black-weapons.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627060405/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen75.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627101228/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen131.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627050255/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen150.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627080951/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen167.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627091711/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen109.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195205/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen102.pdf

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