The "Study Plan" #2 Beginners: The Opening! is a bit unclear. It says:

... memorize the first 5 moves in these openings:

• The Ruy Lopez or Spanish Game

• etc...

Do they mean the first five moves by each player or the first five moves? I think it's the latter. In "The Mammoth Book of Chess" the Ruy Lopez is defined by three moves for white and two for black. It goes:

The linked page shows 5 moves by white and 4 by black, and the title is "Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defence". That is, it is an extension of the basic Ruy Lopez. That is, the link is wrong. It should link to a page showing just the Ruy Lopez.

Use Game Explorer to review 5 games and memorize the first 5 moves in these openings:

• The Ruy Lopez or Spanish Game
• The Giuoco Piano or Italian Game
• The Four Knights Opening
• The Two Knights or "Fried Liver"
• The Queen's Gambit Accepted
• The Queen's Gambit Declined
• The Queen's Gambit Declined -- Slav and/or Semi-Slav

Yes, you may be onto something. I always thought that they meant five full moves- five for both sides-- but they are quite inconsistent in how many moves they show to beginners in the various lines.  The Queen's Gambit Accepted only shows two and a half moves, for example.

Use Game Explorer to review 5 games and memorize the first 5 moves in these openings:

• The Ruy Lopez or Spanish Game      5.0 moves
• The Giuoco Piano or Italian Game    4.5 moves
• The Four Knights Opening                  3.5 moves
• The Two Knights or "Fried Liver"       4.5 moves
• The Queen's Gambit Accepted          2.5 moves
• The Queen's Gambit Declined           4.0 moves
• The Queen's Gambit Declined -- Slav and/or Semi-Slav   3.5 moves

// I think we can let them slide if we understand that they were trying to stay simple but I can see how what they wrote would cause problems for people who take the instruction to memorize five moves in each line literally.

You might have to memorize hundreds of thousands of possible moves to go out to all the possibilities of the first five moves of the queen's gambit accepted, for example. (They give 9 possible 3rd moves for white. 9 to the 6th=531,441 )

I think that they meant for you to memorize a typical line-- one that you could recognize as being from that opening. I don't think that they meant to have you memorize all the theoretical variations.

The Giuoco Piano (Italian Game) is defined by three moves for both players:

Is asking beginners to review five games a good idea? It's like asking first grade kids to review a Shakespeare play.

The Four Knights Opening is also defined by three moves for each player:

Two Knights Opening/Defence (Fried Liver):

I'm referring to the chess.com study plan found under the "Study Plans - Bring it all together!" menu Item in the Learn menu that you see on the home page, which sends you to this link:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

The Queen's Gambit Accepted is defined in two moves by each player:

The Queen's Gambit Declined leaves the second move by Black "to be determined".

Memorizing opening moves isn't the most ideal way to approach the opening.

Ideally, you want to understand the purpose of each move. No memorization is required if you know the logic behind the moves.

If you like learning from books, check out Discovering Chess Openings: Building Opening Skills from Basic Principles by John Emms. From it, you'll learn how to play the opening using logic and understanding, without having to rely on memorization.

Best of luck!

You bring up a valid point in that it isnt clear, but what is even more inportant is remembering Opening Principles.  Not just memorizing opening moves.  

Also, the Slav and semi-slav are not explained. Here they are spelled out:

For someone seeking help with choosing openings, I usually bring up Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014).

http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html

I believe that it is possible to see a fair portion of the beginning of Tamburro's book by going to the Mongoose Press site. Another possibility is indeed Discovering Chess Openings by GM Johm Emms (2006).

"If you find an opening here that appeals to you and you wish to find out more about it, the next step would be to obtain an introductory text devoted entirely to that subject." - GM John Emms in his 2006 introduction to basic opening principles, Discovering Chess Openings

"Throughout the book Emms uses excellently chosen examples to expand the readers understanding of both openings and chess in general. Thus equipped the student can carry this knowledge forward to study individual openings and build an opening repertoire. ... For beginning players, this book will offer an opportunity to start out on the right foot and really get a feel for what is happening on the board." - FM Carsten Hansen, reviewing the 2006 Emms book

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

"Each player should choose an opening that attracts him. Some players are looking for a gambit as White, others for Black gambits. Many players that are starting out (or have bad memories) want to avoid mainstream systems, others want dynamic openings, and others want calm positional pathways. It’s all about personal taste and personal need.

For example, if you feel you’re poor at tactics you can choose a quiet positional opening (trying to hide from your weakness and just play chess), or seek more dynamic openings that engender lots of tactics and sacrifices (this might lead to more losses but, over time, will improve your tactical skills and make you stronger)." - IM Jeremy Silman (January 28, 2016)

"... For players with very limited experience, I recommend using openings in which the play can be clarified at an early stage, often with a degree of simplification. To accomplish this safely will take a little study, because you will have to get used to playing wiith open lines for both sides' pieces, but you can't eliminate risk entirely in the opening anyway. ... teachers all over the world suggest that inexperienced players begin with 1 e4. ... You will undoubtedly see the reply 1 ... e5 most often when playing at or near a beginner's level, ... After 2 Nf3, 2 ... Nc6 will occur in the bulk of your games. ... I recommend taking up the classical and instructive move 3 Bc4 at an early stage. Then, against 3 ... Bc5, it's thematic to try to establish the ideal centre by 4 c3 and 5 d4; after that, things can get complicated enough that you need to take a look at some theory and learn the basics; ... Of course, you can also play 1 d4 ... A solid and more-or-less universal set-up is 2 Nf3 and 3 Bf4, followed in most cases by 4 e3, 5 Be2 and 6 0-0. I'd rather see my students fight their way through open positions instead; however, if you're not getting out of the opening alive after 1 e4, this method of playing 1 d4 deserves consideration. ... a commonly suggested 'easy' repertoire for White with 1 Nf3 and the King's indian Attack ... doesn't lead to an open game or one with a clear plan for White. Furthermore, it encourages mechanical play. Similarly, teachers sometimes recommend the Colle System ..., which can also be played too automatically, and usually doesn't lead to an open position. For true beginners, the King's Indian Attack and Colle System have the benefit of offering a safe position that nearly guarantees passage to some kind of playable middlegame; they may be a reasonable alternative if other openings are too intimidating. But having gained even a small amount of experience, you really should switch to more open and less automatic play." - IM John Watson in a section of his 2010 book, Mastering the Chess Openings, Volume 4