Openings that teach important concepts to beginners

That was my second game and it was 5 min blitz. Anyway, I know I'm bad but I'm trying to improve and get help to be able to do it.

That is a great advice! I can't improve if I'm just shielded by main theory without even knowing why it is played. Before that game, I heard a gm say that, against closed sicilian lines, black can almost always develop the knight to c6 and fianchetto the bishop on b7. Then, as I thought there were no exceptions to that rule, I proceeded to follow that move order as fast as I could in order to spare time for my middlegame. The rest is history Hahahahahah. Thank you for your feedback, I will try to understand the reason behind my moves instead of just following what is generally played. And I might also switch to slower time controls by now hahah

10min is good, that’s what I started with...

and I’m still doing it.

Following (for the day I decide to start playing serious games again).  Your initial post sums up what I am still searching for after over a decade (it is easy to keep searching when you are not actively playing).

For what it's worth, here is some of the major advice regarding openings and lower level players and beginners that I have come across over the years...

I have heard a number of advanced players advise to open as White with 1.e4 and stick with a classical repertoire (answer 1.e4 with 1...e5 and 1.d4 with 1...d5).  Beyond that, the advice becomes less consistent.  For instance, some advise "simpler" openings (to help with opening principles and playing sound chess), others advise complex sharp openings (to develop tactical skills and an appreciation for time and the attack). Some say play gambits to help work on your skills in developing your army and time; others say gambits first require a strong positional foundation where you understand the pros and cons of giving up that material early on.  

I was advised not to play the KID by two masters independently. I considered the KID when I was finding myself giving my opponents material, space, or my pawn structure early in the game, and so I thought an "attacking" defence (whatever that means at my level) with a stereotypical set-up in the early moves was my answer.  However, they convinced me that you'd still have to learn the nuances of numerous complicated and heavily analyzed pawn structures and be low on space even if you got past move 8.  

Generally, I have been advised not to play universal openings based on my goals in chess (same as your opening comment). No Hippos or KIA's (yet GM Seirawan recommends the KIA in his book Winning Chess Openings). 

Generally, I have been advised not to play openings as Black where I give my opponent more space early on ... again, no Hippos or KID, also no Alekhine or French Defences. 

I have been told not to play openings with lots of theory. Just play on opening principles and learn from your mistakes. 

I have also been told to play openings with lots of theory ... because they are better openings, hence analyzed more, have more historical games to learn from. The greater degree of analysis is beneficial such that if you deviate in a game and lose, you can go back and potentially learn more. 

Finally, I have been advised to play openings that fit my "style" or that I am "enthusiastic" for. But I don't know what my style is. If I win with aggression and sacrifice, I am happy. If I win with a sound pawn structure and squeeze my opponent into a winning endgame, I am happy. If I lose in either manner, I am less happy.  Also, my enthusiasm is not based on my style or winning (not completely, at least) or losing. Like your first comment, my "enthusiasm" is based on whatever contributes to my long-term learning and understanding of chess.  Go figure.  

Good luck, hope this thread continues to grow. 

Thanks for that, I've also been struggling with different advices regarding openings. The only thing I'm quite sure is that I shouldn't change my opening that much, but which opening should be the best for sticking with in the first few months? I'm quite confused by how common the E4-E5 advice because, if beginners shouldn't lose too much time with opening study, then why play a response that forces you to react to more than 4 different openings that can be chosen by white? Wouldn't playing, for instance, the Caro or the French be better as you will only need to know the typical plans and ideas of those instead of facing the possibility of a Kings Gambit, a Ruy Lopez, an Italian Game, a Scotch game etc? Thanks again for participating, I also hope this thread continues to grow! 

As @thrillerfan will no doubt point out, in the (for example) caro-kann you'd need to know plans in:

Exchange variation

Panov-botvinnik attack

Accelerated panov

Advanced panov

Gambit Panov

various gambit lines (like ulysses gambit)

Not necessarily so easy!

I'm quite surprised by many of the answers here because I thought it's quite universally agreed that 1. e4 e5 openings are best for learning for begining players.

I will try to briefly explain why I think this is. There are basically two main reasons.

The first is the importance of learning the classical strategy of controlling the strategically important central squares with pawns. It's true that there are other ways to approach the problem of the centre but even these usually include attacking the centre with pawns at suitable moment. We can say that a sound understanding of the classical strategy of controlling the centre with pawns is a necessary prequisite for the correct use of the more complicated central strategies. If we wish to control the centre with pawns from the very start, there only really exist two suitable openings for us: 1. e4 e5 and 1. d4 d5. Openings like Pirc, Alekhine, Kid or most other Indian openings, on the other hand, should be avoided.

The second reason is that beginers should prefer open positions (positions with open lines for rooks and queen and open diagonals for bishops and lively piece play). There are few good reasons for this. One is, that these positions tend to contain more immediate tactical opportunities than closed ones and learning to detect and correctly calculate short (1-2 moves at start) tactical continuations is probably the single most important skill for any begining chess player to master.  Open games teach you the crucial importance of a quick development in much more concrete way than closed openings and this is certainly also very near the top of a list of skill a begining player should master. One more reason is that whereas closed positions often do eventually open up, positions that are already very open more rarely become closed. Thus a succesful handling of closed positions requires solid  understanding of the play in open positions. 1. e4 e5 tends to lead to a more open game than 1. d4 d5 which is why you should favour 1. e4 with white but of course if you are black and the opponent plays 1. d4 then I would advice you to respond with 1... d5. Openings like eg. French, Kid, on the other hand, tend to often lead to very closed positions and should be avoided.

It's perhaps worth mentioning that the above advice mirrors the historical development of chess: early on people prefered lively piece play in an open position and tried to control the centre with pawns. 1. e4 e5 were by far the most popular opening moves. It's very much a case of learning to walk before running.

One more thing, which is even more important than the above, is that you should spend very little time in learning concrete opening variations until you already can play quite well. Instead learn general opening principles, play a lot and in your games during the opening concentrate on developping fast and later in the game keep on looking for simple tactics both for you and for your opponent.

I'm quite surprised by many of the answers here because I thought it's quite universally agreed that 1. e4 e5 openings are best for learning for begining players.

I will try to briefly explain why I think this is. There are basically two main reasons.

The first is the importance of learning the classical strategy of controlling the strategically important central squares with pawns. It's true that there are other ways to approach the problem of the centre but even these usually include attacking the centre with pawns at suitable moment. We can say that a sound understanding of the classical strategy of controlling the centre with pawns is a necessary prequisite for the correct use of the more complicated central strategies. If we wish to control the centre with pawns from the very start, there only really exist two suitable openings for us: 1. e4 e5 and 1. d4 d5. Openings like Pirc, Alekhine, Kid or most other Indian openings, on the other hand, should be avoided.

The second reason is that beginers should prefer open positions (positions with open lines for rooks and queen and open diagonals for bishops and lively piece play). There are few good reasons for this. One is, that these positions tend to contain more immediate tactical opportunities than closed ones and learning to detect and correctly calculate short (1-2 moves at start) tactical continuations is probably the single most important skill for any begining chess player to master.  Open games teach you the crucial importance of a quick development in much more concrete way than closed openings and this is certainly also very near the top of a list of skill a begining player should master. One more reason is that whereas closed positions often do eventually open up, positions that are already very open more rarely become closed. Thus a succesful handling of closed positions requires solid  understanding of the play in open positions. 1. e4 e5 tends to lead to a more open game than 1. d4 d5 which is why you should favour 1. e4 with white but of course if you are black and the opponent plays 1. d4 then I would advice you to respond with 1... d5. Openings like eg. French, Kid, on the other hand, tend to often lead to very closed positions and should be avoided.

It's perhaps worth mentioning that the above advice mirrors the historical development of chess: early on people prefered lively piece play in an open position and tried to control the centre with pawns. 1. e4 e5 were by far the most popular opening moves. It's very much a case of learning to walk before running.

One more thing, which is even more important than the above, is that you should spend very little time in learning concrete opening variations until you already can play quite well. Instead learn general opening principles, play a lot and in your games during the opening concentrate on developping fast and later in the game keep on looking for simple tactics both for you and for your opponent.

Also, another question: if I play 1.e4 and my oponent plays 1...e5, which of the openings would you recommend? The king's gambit, the Italian game, the Ruy Lopez, the Scotch game or another option?

I'm quite surprised by many of the answers here because I thought it's quite universally agreed that 1. e4 e5 openings are best for learning for begining players.