Non-Central Openings

Greetings chess.com for my first post! I pose to you a question that's been nagging at me for some time. I'm a fairly strong player but I grow tired of more common openings (e4, e5) or (d4,d5). Could someone recommend to me a few new openings to look into? I'm exploring the Sicilian at the moment and have the French on my list. I implore you, kind people, can you please help expand my opening repertoire?

i think the pirc is tons of fun if you like dynamic play as black.  the center is not locked up and the game can go many ways, but it s still a solid and thematically understandable game.  you can check through some of my games for some examples of it.

As White, instead of playing 1. e4 and 1. d4, you can try the following openings:

English Opening is characterized by 1. c4. It aims to control the d5 square, and control the center from the flanks. Expect a late e4 and d4 push from White. Black usually responds to the English with 1. e5 or 1. Nf6. From here White usually plays Nc3, g3, and Bg2, developing, and preparing to castle.

Reti Opening is also very highly flexible and begins with 1. Nf3 from White. You can follow it up with 2. e4, d4, or c4 depending on how Black wants to play.

I think the strongest defense against 1. e4 is the Sicilian. It's fun to play because it creates an asymmetrical position, and rarely ends in a draw.

Against 1. d4 from White, I think the modern approach, and one of the most solid, if not the most solid defense, is for Black to play 1. Nf6. It prevents White from playing 1. e4 and gives Black a lot of flexibility in development.

You can experiment as you like with openings: it's always a good idea to move the e-pawn, d-pawn, c-pawn, both Knights and Bishops, and castle. Just don't be tempted to try and move the Queen too early or try any awkward Rook development. After a while, all the openings look sort of the same.

I hope this helps flyingplant :)

There is no such thing as strongest opening.

Know your own style and select the opening or defense that suit.

Finding your opening is like finding a wife. You should stick to it no matter what and you will be rewarded along with your experiences together.

Thanks brandonQDSH, that does help! A few new options to explore. Does anyone know anything about the Dutch or Scotch defense? I've heard of them but wonder how they work out in actual play.

I'm going to say something right now.  Although learning more openings can be more exciting, learning more openings will not make you better at chess, opening study is one of the least useful things to study at the beginner level.

With that said, its still your decision if you want to learn a new one or not.... just realize grandmasters have never gotten tired of d4 d5 or e4 e5 =).

hi flyingpant, i think trying a new opening can be fun and if it is fun for you to do so, then good on you and go ahead and do so (i am still new and have begun with a few e4 games and hope to try d4s in my upcoming games).

the sicilian, however, is a defence rather than an opening (it still involves an e4 open by white, and is defined by black responding with c4 - i could be wrong, but i think the french also starts with white opening with e4, and black responding with e6).

two non central opening alternatives (i.e. not white playing e4 or d4) that have been played semi-regularly are apparently c4 (the english) or g4 (the grob - which ppl apparently think is hilarious) - brandon gives a better overview of the alternatives than i could so i won't attempt to do so. i've never tried either of the suggested alternatives, but both are apparently playable and, as also noted above, almost all are probably fine at our level. u could aso try fianchettoing at the start (e.g. 1. g3) and see if u enjoy that sort of game.

re also the notion that understanding openings doesn't make u better at chess, i know this is the majority view, but i think the little bit of understanding i have developed in the last few months, including in relation to middle games, has come a bit from the openings. just really basic ideas which wouldn't be apparent to a novice like me - e.g. 1. e4, 1... e5 and 2. Nf3 (why Nf3? because, it seems to me, among other things, the knight clearly attacks a black e 5 pawn if played and protects a white d4 pawn if played).

because there are so few pieces in play during the opening, unlike middle games, i find trying to understand what is going in the more basic relationships between just 2 or 3 pieces can help me simplify and understand some basic concepts (like threatening a square they might want to move to and protecting a square i might want to move to). even having a look at d4 instead of e4 might have helped - i hadn't realised the basic structural fact that the d pawn has extra options right from the beginning because it is already protected by the queen (prob obvious to everybody else, but it just hadn't occurred to me until i looked at the alternative opening).

You said ur "tired" of usual central  openings. So you have to first decide why ur playing chess : (a) for points / winning only : dont try new openings, (b) ur playing for fun and dont mind losing lots of games till u find a shocking new opening which most other club level players cant handle, try new opeings - plenty available. Tried english, sicilian, etc? : exciting stuff - rarely ends in draw

An opening for White which nobody has yet mentioned is the Bird opening (1.f4). Look it up in Game Explorer and see what it entails. It's an intriguing opening for White and has many options in development. I'm experimenting with it at the moment.

1. Nf3 and 1.Nc3 both have a lot of interesting possibilities for play. I would say for black when you see e4 or d4 respond with a knight move instead. What else can liven things up? The dutch defence. I recently got beat by someone who played 1.b4. Those flank pawns can really become a thorn in your opponents side. Good luck!

its always good knowing how not to lose material or even get a bad position in the first moves of a game. Especially when you are just starting off playing chess, if you know your opening and the other person doesnt it can end the game quickly. I even beat a decent player rated 1450 in a majors section last year in 13 moves simply as he didnt know the opening budapest gambit. Despit not knowing it he should have seen the trap maybe but probably.

I've tried Anderssens Opening and the St George Defence in two of my games and managed to win. Although it was against a lower opposition.

And when you screw up badly, you can expect a serious beating.

just try moving b4, it will keep you entertained for some time...

You could always try the Grob (1: g4?!)

It's not as bad as it looks. But it may help you better appreciate how "easy" the development can be with the classical openings.

I've started to think that openings like the Grob lose much of their bite in correspondence chess because the surprise factor does not help when you can look up openings and take your time puzzling over the best way to proceed.

Thoughts?

Agreed.

correspondence is a totally different game.   there is a yahoo group called unorthodox chess openings, you might like to try, plenty of like minded people there.

Much appreciated to everyone, I've lots of new things to look up. I don't mind losing, chess is a fun hobby for me. Perhaps with these new openings and defenses I can not only keep myself amused but see how tempo and positioning plays out within them.