Openings for beginners

What are 2 or 3 good openings and defences that a beginner can work on mastering ?

Thanks

Bob

I was told to start with the colle system. 

One strategy might be to focus on Opening Principles and not Openings. I is very little use to know the theory when the opponent goes into wild territory at move 4 (which non-masters tend to do).

I see the point to get familiar with one or two openings as white in order to stay in the comfort zone. Playing black you might get to defend against a lot of different stuff so you will for most of the time be better helped by Opening Principles than by Theory moves.

Ergo:Study Tactics, Tacics, Tactics and some Opening principles

exactly what farbror said

i used to always do e4 as white and as black i would do e5 against e4 and d5 against d4, etc..

I know the one I learned in school the other day was called the Quiet Opening, which follows along the lines of 1. e4  e5,  then bring out your knights and bishops to attack or sit on the center squares.

The Scotch Game is quite a good one for beginners, as it is uncomplicated in it's basic form. As you gain experience it has many variations you can try and leads to an Open Game:

I would add that it is far more important when learning chess to understand opening principles more than actual openings. As is nearly always the case your opponent may not be kind enough to make moves that fit your opening. And knowing the key principles will help you through those games safely.

Play 1. e4 and don't shy away from tactics. Saying that, I did start out with the Scotch. It was pretty quiet.

As Black try 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6.

I've been looking for that same answer for about a week now.  And after some good advice from users on this site, plus some other people I know, here's what I've settled on for now.

As white:

1. e4 Italian Game

2. d4 Queen's Gambit

As black:

1. response to e4.  Sicilian and Caro-Kann.

2. response to d4.  Nimzo Indian, Queen's Gambit Accepted, and Gruenfeld.

perp124, you really believe that the Gruenfeld is a good defense for beginners?

I'm a beginner myself.  So, I'm not saying any are really "good".  I'm just saying I spent q week talking to people, and that's what I'm reading up on now.  I'm sure there's better recomendations.

start on Opening Principles not openings

Everything in red is not something a beginner should start with

Is there really an ideal path?  I would think that any moves you make as a beginner, any games you lose because of wildly inaccurate play or miscalculated moves, would teach you something valuable if you just apply a little intelligence towards trying to understand what went wrong.  One mistake can teach you a lot more than a hundred successes!

great articles on opening principles at www.chesscafe.com in Heisman's "Novice Nook" archives - in addition to what is posted here and also in a post in this forum dated today

King's indian Attack as white and Stonewall defense as black. Far from ideal, but takes 5 minutes to learn.

Why not the Caro-Kann or Nimzo-Indian? I realize that I'm just a beginner; but I'd be interested as to why you don't recommend these two.  Too much theory needed? or what?

Skip

I would have thought getting something like Starting Out ...The Scotch or Starting Out ...The Nimzo-Indian would be a good place to start looking at specific opening theory. I think the Nimzo-Indian is as good a place to start as any, there's a fair amount of theory to some of it, but the general principles are pretty straight-forward. That's what got me started on openings. If you can find them in a library, the explanatory chapters in the Openings for White/Black Explained are fantastic for all levels (I reckon) as are the pawn chapters in My System.

While it's always more useful to focus on opening principles than specific openings, at some point it's very useful to have some sort of opening repertoire to see how the principles are used. It's all very well knowing that you must control the centre, but knowing that and using the rules are very different things.