Studying Openings

Everyone? Like who?

You should not listen to those people, they are talking nonsense.

How to proceed: do lessons on this site, do a lot of puzzles, watch chess videos that you like.

Opening principles should be all you need until you hit at least 1000 or so for just the very reason you mentioned.  Now as an intellectual exercise to see how "real" chess is played, you might want to check out some openings, but that's up to you.  One exception is if you get absolutely killed right out of the opening, then maybe find a database and see what went wrong.  Just make sure you review your games so you can learn something from them.  Lot of folks want to rush right off and play another game and then they hit a wall and can't progress because what they've been doing is "perfecting their mistakes".  Have fun!

Thank you that is exactly what I am doing so good to hear that is a good route to take. I do have to LOL at my stats which are crazy skewed and indicate I need some black opening help... or perhaps middle game help. I am 12-2 as white and 2-12 as black in 10 minute games online. I got smashed in my one 15|10 game as black but may go back and try that again. Small sample size for sure. I usually start with London as white and King's Indian for black. I am guessing it is a bad idea long term to play London as Black but I'm tempted to try it. I guess I will go thru the free chessable King's Indian course and watch some more videso. I am new to chess and feel like there is a learning pole rather than a learning curve but it sure is fun and interesting.  I beat one of the 1200 bots today (as white of course) after several failures and that was a rush.  No chance I would beat a 1200 human but still a rush. The Gotham Chess guy suggests to play humans and not bots but there is no time limit in a bot game so I can think over a move or let the dog out or take a phone call or whatever in a bot game so I like them for my lifestyle.  Anyway thanks to all the good guys on here who help the noobs.

I agree with the advice not to spend a lot of time studying openings.  That said, if you are 2-12 playing King's Indian and 12-2 playing London, you're probably doing something wrongly playing King's Indian.  Once you get your basic setup done (Nf6, g6, Bg7, d6) you should have some idea of what to do next and where to put pressure.  (Get your queen side knight and bishop out, then typically, push with c5 or e5.)  I do feel like you're more likely to end up in an open game than you ever would with London, which means more practice with tactics can help get your win rate up.

Don't play a pseudo-London-system as black.  It doesn't work against 1. e4 because 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 (although then you're playing the Scandinavian, which can resemble an open London-like thing) and it doesn't work against 1. d4 because mostly that'll be the London system itself and you'll be a mirror image of what they're doing but one move late.

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

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

Thank you for that link RussBell. I will check it out on lunch break.

@Paleobotanical you are 100% correct in how you identified my issues with black. After I set up Kings Indian I really have no idea what to do next. I am just guessing which is not working and thus I need some more study and training so I at least have a reasonable plan to try an execute.

I don't think there's a whole lot more studying to do, fortunately.  If you're comfortable with Chessable, the free course on there called "Short and Sweet: The King's Indian" discusses your basic attacking options in the introduction.  I'd just spend a few minutes reading and make a mental list of a few follow-up attacks to try depending on what the board looks like in your games.

I know I said don't spend lots of time learning openings, but:

For answering 1.e4, I would also consider taking a look at the first line or two of John Bartholomew's free Scandinavian course on there.  One thing I LOVE about playing the Scandinavian vs. 1. e4 is that after 1. e4 d5, a large number of my opponents sit there for 60+ seconds trying to figure out where the trap is, then do something apparently random.  After 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5, furthermore, a certain number of people then freak out and move their queen into the center ASAP, which can lead to an opportunity to pick up a free queen.

At sub-1000 level, if you decide to experiment with the Scandinavian with John Bartholomew's course, just be sure to check out chapter 8, "rare lines," where he shows how to respond to all the random freak-out moves you'll see from opponents who have no idea what to do.  The numerous earlier chapters will only be useful against stronger players with an idea of how to play against the opening, whom you probably won't encounter for a while.

BTW I also want to offer the thought that the common advice not to spend too much time studying openings isn't usually meant to discourage ALL opening study.  Rather, it's to emphasize to lower-level players that getting sucked into the endless morass of deep study of multiple opening lines is rarely productive until playing a much higher level of chess.

Knowing solid opening principles is absoutely essential in any case, because whatever you've memorized, you'll hit the end of it or your opponent will do something unusual, and those principles are what you then fall back on.  But, it can be nice to have a solid three to five move opening ready so you can have a little bit of a coherent plan going into the midgame and so you're not running down the clock trying to figure out what to do on move two or three.

Knowing simple opening principles and being careful will take you a long way. Playing bots isn't the greatest way to go, but it can train you to be careful (ex. Not throwing pieces away, noting your opponent's threats, not overextending) I actually did that at the start of my chess.com experience and it improved me a ton (This difference was something like 700-1100 rapid) I agree with what Paleobotanical said. If they play weird stuff, try for a scholar's mate, make weird pawn structures, just play it cool and develop. You'd be surprised how far just that can take you. Bots, being cheaters with various handicaps, aren't the best way to practice, but they are a useful training tool. 

It's not just under 600 where players play weird moves.

it never stops.

hola 

At this skill level i would just focus on learning tactics, checkmate patterns etc

Couple of suggestions. If you have a Chessable account (google it) look up Smithy's Opening Fundamentals which is free. If you prefer a proper book then try Discovering Chess Openings by John Emms. Both these teach Opening Principles not specific openings, though naturally many openings come up by way of example, but their aim is to teach principles. If you have a good grounding in principles and ideas, you'll find good enough moves.

Thank you @MarkGrubb. I purchased the Kindle version of the John  Emms book and am  working my way through the video links in RussBell's link (The Emms book was on his link also and had good reviews). Will also enroll in the the chessable course. The "learn principles and tactics" approach makes sense. Thanks again to everyone.   

Hi