Best openings for beginners

Hey guys, FM José Bárria Santos here.

I'm writing this because I've been seeing a lot of posts about beginner players wondering what the best openings to start out are. Here is my take on this:

In the starting phase of the game you want to prioritize getting your king-side pieces out and getting castled, while controlling the center. After that, you want to develop your remaining pieces and connect your rooks. To me, the middlegame begins when both players have developed all (or most) of their pieces.

With this in mind,  I strongly advocate for 1.e4 as it leads to open-structure positions, and in general gives you more space to work with. Here are my favourite openings for white:

...The Italian.

The game can follow like this

Notice how both players developed every piece while keeping everything nice and defended, without advancing f-pawns or placing pieces on loose squares.

Against 1.e4 c5 (The sicilian):

Very similar ideas. Of course, keep in mind that black can (and will) deviate after just the first 2 or 3 moves, and these lines show only the types of setups that you could try and look for.

These are the 2 main responses from black to 1.e4.

Now, taking a look from black's perspective, the fundamental concepts are exactly the same.

Against 1.e4:

This line exemplifies how I think two beginner players should start out the game. Both developing their pieces and not making overly ambitious or extravagant moves.

Against 1.d4:

Common mistakes:

• Making random moves / not making developing moves. Get developed and castle
• Placing pieces in undefended squares. Keep your pieces defended
• Advancing the f-pawn. This might be the biggest pitfall I see. Please don't move this little pawn, it is the king's best defender.
• Bringing the queen out early. Everyone stresses this, but it is worth mentioning.
• Not giving your pieces space to breathe. Try to play pawn moves that give you more activity

Lastly, pay attention to your opponent's threats and mistakes, don't just play a system in auto-pilot. It is worth saying that if they disrespect some of the rules of thumb I mentioned under the common mistakes, that could mean they are making a mistake !

These are the best tips I have found to help beginner players (0-1200) navigate through the openings.

Hope this helped !   

Now in portuguese! Olá José, seria bastante útil mais publicações em português. Faço um repto que no futuro possas também escrever algo útil para jogadores intermédios elo 1400-1600.

Saudações ♟️