What opening or two should I focus on first as a new player?

Back in the 1970s, I read I.A. Horowitz's move by move explanation of the ideas at work in the Ruy Lopez in his Chess Openings: Theory and Practice. In the years since, I have found nothing equal to this section of text for the beginner.

Well, as White, I would say 1.e4, just because it is by far the most popular first move among beginners! However, playing 1.e4 requires kind of an extensive memorization of variations, but I'd suggest being able to combat the Philidor, Petrov, and Sicilian (although that'll take a lot of study). As Black against 1.e4, be able to learn the Ruy Lopez and the Italian Game (which is actually the same as the Giouco Piano), because it is common for White to bring his bishop to b4 or c5. I recommend, though, playing the Caro-Kann as Black, because it is super solid and defensive, so your opponent might have a hard time gaining an advantage.

As Black against 1.d4, I'd suggest learning 1...Nf6. Although it might require more theory knowledge, it will possibly earn you better results.

Hope that helps! 

I recommend learning how to handle the Philidor and the Petrov just because those are what Black sometimes plays as a beginner.

The horror of chess, if you care to study it, is that there is so much to learn and you can only learn it a chunk at a time. One can go crazy worrying about what to study.

As to openings, I'm not one to tell beginners not to study openings as some players do, but I will say not to worry about openings.

Even if you do study openings, most of the time your games will diverge early from the lines you know.

Pay attention to what happens in your games. Let that be an important guide to what you study.

There is a saying among writing teachers that after you write a million words, you are ready to begin. Most of learning chess IMO is showing up and working at it for a long time.

In the seventeenth century, the giuoco piano referred to every opening that was not a gambit. Now, it refers to a particular line of the Italian Opening. They are not identical.

Confusion on opening terminology runs rampant.

OTOH, the Ruy Lopez and the Spanish are identical. 

Indeed. Moreover, you could put any other subject (area of knowledge or skill) in place of chess.

You're right, I just checked! My coach told me they were the same, but now I know!

That was a wonderful volume. I'm sorry I passed on the chance to buy a used copy for $8 several months back.

There is much to be said for reading summaries about the openings to get a feel for the ideas of openings in general.

Wiki is decent at this. The Dummies book on chess openings is surprisingly good too.

"OTOH, the Ruy Lopez and the Spanish are identical."

Good to know. I get the impression, perhaps mistaken, that there is a movement afoot to phase out "Ruy Lopez" in favor of the "Spanish Game."

See my blog post on this topic:

http://chess-for-engineers.blogspot.com/2015/05/openings-for-beginners.html

I think pretty much Italian with white and scandinavian with black are openings that most, if not all beginners learn in some depth first. They're tricky openings full of traps that can punish opponent mistakes easily or easily force known positions, and to some point they're some of the easiest openings/most intuitive to learn opening basics and how to approach chess with an offensive plan.

After that, the trend goes that most players eventually pick up more defensive/positional openings after some experience, like sicilian, french, caro-kahn, queen's gambit, spanish, english, etc, pretty much after certain experience people try to pick up on openings that match their tastes and skill better, if you're a tactical player, e4 openings will probably always be your choice, while positional players might tend to go after openings with less possibilities of opening position for the opponent.

I started with these basic moves:

I am also a beginner player so I can't really give any advice as such, but I have found it more useful to try to play the best move I can at each moment, having an eye to opening principles, rather than learning book openings.  In this way when I make a mistake, I really learn from it because it was MY move and I can see why it was a mistake, or what I didn't see properly when I made it.  If I try to follow a book opening without really understanding why I am making particular moves it doesn't really teach me anything.  Experiential learning is much more effective for me than learning by rote. Once I have more of a feel for a particular sequence of moves in the opening - then it can be useful to extend my understanding by looking at a book opening. 

Yeah, that's a good attitude. I do think, though, that having some book knowledge will allow for opportunities to reach more easily playable positions.

Simple system for white!

1. d3 1... doesnt matter
2. Nf3 2...same
3. g3  3...same
4. Bg2 4...same
5. 0-0 5... same
 Now look at the board, its time to counter play!

Be slow about it, and *DON'T* memorize tons of theory. First you need to consider your own identity as a chess player - what do you like to do? Everyone likes to take pieces and give checkmate (so study tactics), but, beyond that, it's hard to figure out what exactly you want to do at the chess board. 

Start by measuring out your level of aggression - are you someone who likes to come out swinging? Gambits are great for that style of play - dead positions spring to life when pawns are sacrificed. But maybe you don't like swinging - maybe you like building, and if you're a builder, you should NOT play gambits because the extra pawn matters a lot.

With white, you have to pick your poison and play it - with e4, you face a certain number of openings, with d4 you face another set. The e4 openings are, by and large, sharper than d4, so they say that sharp players should open with the king's pawn....but many of them are also very positional, so don't be fooled. The same goes for d4 - a majority of the common lines from d4-c4 (the queen's gambit structure) are positional, but there are a lot of ways for black (and white) to play tactically. With white you have to be patient with yourself - look up everything in a database after it's over and see what GMs play in XYZ line.

With black, you're more in the driver's seat. A Sicilian is always a Sicilian - it's not going to turn into a Berlin. A queen's Indian, likewise, will never be a Slav. White will have plenty of choice, to be sure, but the opening structure is ultimately going to be decided by the second player rather than the first. 

I always recommend the Caro-Kan and the Slav for new players with black - not because they're the best openings (I've actually never had either one in my repertoire) but because that's what I see young Georgian and Russian school kids play - if the Caro-Slav repertoire is good enough for Valentina Gunina, it should probably be good enough for anyone. 

Oh, and don't just play e4 because it's 'best by test' - d4 is a serious choice too. 

Actually the OP was only asking for a stopgap opening he could drill on for the next couple weeks before he might settle on more serious choices.

Most of us, including moi, have been giving him advice for a longer time frame.

Because Black can cross White up so easily, no matter what White plays, I don't think there is a good answer to OP's request.

At best he could play a mechanical Colle or KIA while ignoring Black's moves, as some have suggested. Or he could play a Danish or King's Gambit on the reasonable chance Black might play 1...e5.

Black does not choose the opening when White plays the Hammerschlag!

1.f3 2.Kf2

I would say Italian game and Queen's gambit.