How to go about learning openings

Hi all,

I've been playing chess for a while, but I'm stuck in around the 800 range in rapid.  I believe this might be because I don't know what I'm doing in the openings.  Everywhere I look online when people ask this question people always say "don't start by learning openings, learn fundamentals, basic checkmates/endgames, and tactics first" but nobody actually describing what the process of learning openings entails.  I'm comfortable with all those things at this point.  I'm 1300 rated in puzzles for crying out loud!  I just struggle to win actual games because I'm never in a good position out of the opening and I don't know what I'm doing except develop pieces and try to control the center.  I bought "Fundamental Chess Openings" by Paul van der Sterren, but it feels like I'm just memorizing move orders without knowing why things work or how to deal with variations outside of those.  Considering the sheer number of variations, progress through the book is slow going.  How does one go about learning openings(because I imagine just memorizing every variation is for IMs and GMs)?  And which openings in the book should I be primarily looking at?

for opennings you should learn the first few moves of it because at your level (not even at mine) are ppl going to learn lines for openning. u should learn common opennings  and basic theory such as ruy lopez, italian, scotch,london, queens gambit ...etc for white and sicillian, caro kann, phillidor, petrov, scandinavian ..etc. once u find one that u like only then should u try to learn (complex) theory and lines.

Check out the videos of GothamChess on YouTube; he addresses this exact question. What he stresses, though, is learning one or two openings for each side and then playing them to death. Study them learn the lines, examine master games that feature them, quiz yourself on them, etc. 

For instance, for White he recommends the London system or the Stonewall, both starting with d4. For Black he recommends the King's Indian, the Scandinavian, or the Sicilian Dragon--all replies to e4. If it were me (and it is), I'd pick one Black response to e4 and one to d4 and just study the bejeebers out of them. Common consensus is that dabbling around the openings (and endgames) is not enough. You have to have a pretty thorough understanding of what you like to play, and that will leave your opponents writing in pain.

This was very helpful!  I've been under the impression that I'd need to understand how to respond to any variation on any opening, but if I can just learn like 3+their variations that makes it much easier!  I do have one more question though, I saw a video on the london system and it seems like it tends to lead to very closed positions often, which I'm not a fan of.  I'm comfortable working in closed positions, but they aren't as enjoyable to play as more open positions, and if it's gonna be my main opening for a while, I'd like to enjoy it at least.  I'm watching a video on the stonewall now, and it looks like it might have the same problem.  Do you have any recommendations for beginner level openings for white that lead to more open positions?  Perhaps starting with 1. e4?  I'm looking at maybe the Ruy Lopez, but I'm worried I'll accidentally pick one with a lot more variations to learn than other openings would have.

Yes and no. I wouldn’t suggest Sicilian or Lopez to beginners. Stick with simple openings E4 E5 Queens gambit worked for me for a while. Check out some YouTube videos. What I did Is once I learned about a opening I played a bunch of daily games with it so I could memorize lines and use the book to help.

If you want open games do E4 D4 is usually closed. Try out the Vienna  game Gotham chess made a good video on it.

I actually disagree, the Sicilian is fine for black as long as you don't choose something like the Najdorf or the Hyper Accelerated Dragon

     Choose one defense to 1.e4 and one vs 1.d4. Just learn the main variations 8-10 moves deep. You will pick up the main ideas by playing a lot of games in the same openings--you see which plans succeed and which are bad. Then you can learn your favorite lines in more depth, or decide you don't like that defense at all and try something different.

     As you prefer open games, make 1.e4 your opening move as white. Of course your opponent will choose which defense the game will be played in. Look for unusual lines in the main defenses--ones that have less theory and are less likely to be familiar to most of your opponents. This will mean less theory you need to know. 

     Don't  worry so much about winning or losing while you are developing your repetoire. Losing will teach you the problems you have to solve in the variations you have chosen. Knowing the basic ideas in your openings is more important than trying to memorize many lines 15 or 20 moves deep. Once you are trying to earn GM norms you'll need to do that.

Vienna game leads to open positions. 1. e4 e4 2. nc3, looking for bc4, d3, and f4

It depends where you are at in chess rating and level of understanding/experience. 

If you are completely new to chess and don't know where to begin, then the first step is to make sure you know the rules. Not just how the pieces move or moves like en passant, but also the loose concept of checkmates and theoretical endgames. At least then, you sort of know what you are shooting for:

https://www.chess.com/learn-how-to-play-chess 

Once you got the rules down, if you are inquiring about chess "openings" specifically, I wouldn't stress too much about it. Luckily, the opening in chess is the most forgiving part of the game. Even if you make a mistake early on, it is seldom fatal and more so at the lower ratings. Sub-1000 chess.com rating, I'd learn opening principles well. That foundation is all the opening knowledge you need right now and some of your opponents won't even have this information!

https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/opening-principles-again 

From 1000-ish to maybe 1500-ish, it is just the same people with slightly more chess understanding, slightly better tactical ability, slightly better endgame ability and perhaps a tad more opening knowledge. Even at 1500 chess.com rating or so, most players only know their opening a few moves in. 

How openings work is you basically learning the super few starting moves, then you play those while using opening principles. After this point, (as you play and learn more by experience), you begin to layer moves and opening ideas into your play. The process repeats and you slowly increase your opening knowledge this way move by move and ideas by ideas. 

A few posts here already commented IM Levy Rozman's videos (@gothamchess), so I'll post a good video he did on openings. I actually don't necessarily recommend some of his opening choices myself, but you can't go wrong with his opening choices as I like his logic and reasoning of keeping things simple.

bro stop spamming that on every thread

im talking about something like this (for sicilian):

does this even work lol

You should be capturing the pawn on d4 and that’ll lead to an open game. It’s the purpose of trading your wing pawn c5.

D4/5 is a very thematic move in the Sicilian just like timing e6 vs e5. 

Personally, I started with the old variation (which is usually an open game) at 800 and it got me to 1280. 

I have recently learned the dragon which I now also play as white in the English. So once you grasp the Sicilian, you can implement the same game as white starting with c4 as a tempo ahead.

In conclusion, if you learn the Sicilian early and able to grasp it well; it’ll serve you a new opening as white with c4 when you get to the intermediate stage (1300-1500 range).

I agree, I play the Taimanov and these ideas are really important.

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

Dear WherethehecisBrandon,

I am a certified, full-time chess coach and International Master, so I have seen it and tried it all.
There are so many ways to get better and I know it can be overwhelming.
You can learn from free videos on youtube, there are books at your disposal that can all help, but they are not tailored to your needs.

One of the most important things you can do is to analyze your games! You must learn from your mistakes! That is a priority. You can't really move on to a new, different topic and learn new ideas if you still make the same mistakes over and over again!

This is where a chess coach comes into the picture. A good coach can show you how to study, what to study, gives you the material YOU need. Naturally, it takes time to use everything in practice, but if you are relentless and persistent you will succeed!
You should learn the main principles in every area of the game (opening, middlegame, endgame).  Don't focus on only one part! You should improve your tactical vision as well as it is part of all areas!  
This how I built my training program for my students. We discuss more than one topic during a lesson so it's always interesting and they can improve constantly. I give homework too and the right tools to make practicing enjoyable and effective!
Don't worry about your rating and the ups and downs! Just keep on playing and practicing!

I hope this helps.  I wish you good games and 100+ extra ratings

I am new too. Gotham chess on YouTube learned me a lot. I was much better playing as black because it was easier, and it still Is, to response and punish white mistakes than play as White. So I learned Petrov trap And if they decline Petrov opening trap I go in to Ponziani opening trap. Now I got 17 wins in a row. Learn these 2 openings Aš white, they are easy to remember And you Will end up in advantage you should be able to melt in Victory.

I'm stuck in the 800 - 900 range in rapid.  Ninjaswat who has already responded here also mentioned in my own topic that I need to work on my openings.  

I haven't done for the same reasons as you, that most people say don't bother learning specific openings and systems until you're 1200+.  I'm not sure this is the correct approach.  I'm facing a lot of players at the 900 mark who seem to have a good grasp of a particular opening (let's say the London System or The Scandinavian Defence) and I get punished for it.  

If your struggling memorizing opening lines, you can at least try to apply general opening principles like taking control of the center with pawns, putting out your knights to action on c3/c6 and f3/f6, perhaps developing a bishop to the middle of the board or fianchettoing (putting it on b2/b7 or g2/g7 to patrol a long diagonal across the board) it if you can and castling ASAP to bring your king to safety.

Perhaps, but in my opinion memorizing lines is easier for some,, they can just replay the moves over and over again on a board in front of them. Principles need to be understood, therefore they are harder to understand.