amateur needs pointers

Hi everyone!  I've recently gotten back into chess and need a few pointers.  I mostly play using Chessmaster XI in ranked games.  (no take-backs, no assistance, 45 mins per player).  I'm currently rated 700 and just cant seem to crack it.  I'm trying to wrap my head around openings, but as you well know, there are so many!

here's my questions:

1.  are there particular openings I should learn and 'stick with' for now?  (for both white and black)

2.  are exact openings really that important or should I just play the board and not worry about what opening im trying for?

3.  what is a good tip for when to start the endgame?  should I keep chipping away at pawns and pieces or just take a few moments and go for the mate?

any help would be great!

dont worry about openings quite yet, just get your tactical ability up first... its 99% of chess! :)

any questions you can pm me

Yeah. I generally learned chess from just playing games alone, and went from

700 > 800

800 > 900

900 > 850

850 > 1000 (!)

1000 > 1100

So my official USCF rating is currently 1100, and I'm trying to work towards 1200. Class D, anyone?

It all depends on your playing style. If you are a beginner then you usually want to choose a certain opening, study it, and stick with it for a while until you get accustomed to it and begin to understand the subtleties and variations and how they affect the middle game and endgame. I, who prefer more drawn-out and tactical games, usually use d4 (queen's pawn opening), but if you enjoy more aggressive games, generally one chooses e4 (king's pawn opening). The major difference is that Queen's pawn tends to attack the queenside, while King's pawn attacks kingside.

Those are probably the best openings to choose from, and are the most common in games, so by studying famous games, or even choosing from the huge game database that Chess.com provides, you should be able to find an opening that suits you. Focus on the openings first, then middle games, and as you get better you can begin to get into the endgame. But as Westcoachchess says, focus on tactics as well, because they're really important. But once you find an opening that suits you, stick with it, and study it.

Have fun!

Thanks so much guys!  I've tried my best to integrate your advice into my game.  After a string of wins, im already at 765! 

Im sticking with 'roughly' 4 openings and trying learn them.  from what i've read, these are the better ones to start from:

as white, I play from the popular e4 openings.  as black, I tend to go for French, Sicilian or Karo-Kan defence.

I've only tried the Queen's Gambit once thus far, not entirely comfortable with that one yet.

Hopefully a few more wins against 800-900 rated opponents and I'll break the 800 mark!

at your level its more important to learn classical positions against 1.e4.

ex- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 and now to play against 3.Bb5 and Bc4

sicilian should be avoided for quite some time.

and if you want a practice game with me in any line then Id be willing to help

As some have said, pick 1 or 2 openings that seem understandable or comfortable to you and pick 1 or 2 defenses. I disagree with someone above that you should not learn sicilian, I think Sicilian is a great defense to learn, it may have an overwhelming amount of variations, but even then start by learning one or two. e4 and d4 are definitely openings to look at Ruy Lopez for e4 and Queen's Gambit for d4 are good candidates. Once you memorize the first 3-5 moves, you should explore some variations, through practice and through online databases like "http://www.365chess.com/" Become comfortable with those openings by learning basic variations, meaning "if my opponent on the 3rd move does this, I will do this because, blah blah." After you get that down your rating will probably be at least 1000, then it is a matter of improving tactics and simultaneously learning more opening lines, but yes more tactics. 

Good luck and feel free to challenge me to an unrated game for some tips!

Cheers.

great news guys!  I'm now rated 800!!  I know I've got alot of work to do, but at least im confident enough with my openings not to do something dumb.  I look forward to trying some real human opponents soon!  thanks for all your advice and help so far.