e4 (the ...e5 variations) Nf3 , and d4 (which is probablly the most advanced)
Best beginner openings?
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go to the book openings and learn more openings there and then make up moves that are good try it against someone get good and go on to the next one
don't worry about openings at all just play developing moves at the start
Where is the best place to learn the book openings? I have tried to learn from the game explorer but it doesn't go far with a basic membership.
For beginners, just study e4 for white. As black, study either the scotch, french, and a reply to the queen pawn, best d5.
What is the Scotch? Couldn't find it in the game explorer.
Chessbee wrote:
As a really low beginner just test out what you think to be best then try to play games incorporating some openings listed above.
I think this is sound advice. Study *a little* of the simple openings and observe
them as examples of sound development--not to memorize lines of opening play of course. That would be next to useless.
The Center Game and Scotch Game are good starts for a beginner as white and will still be very useful many hundreds of points of strength later.
The Scotch opening:
Crashram,
If you're tactics rating is 800, then that's what you need to be studying. If you're tactics rating is 1800 (mine is 1754 as of today), then that's STILL what you need to be studying! Really the opening makes very little difference in terms of who wins or loses unless you're a Master Class player.
Just adopt whatever opening you want: e4 and d4 are best. c4 and Nf3 are good too. Even f4 and g4 are playable if you're a talented player! Studying tactics is time consuming and exhausting. It's much easier to play a game or two as opposed to slog through 50 tactical problems, but the rewards are there for those who are dedicated enough to want to become better players :)
Bottom line: you don't need to know openings to be a good chess player! They're just not necessary till you enter high level tournament play (where everyone is rated 2,000+).
Suggestions:
Bishops Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
Center Game 1.e4 e5 2.d4
The Italian Game 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4
Not an easy question. As white if you play e4 its kind of hard to avoid theory since your opponent can play c5 e5 c6 e6 Nf6 d6 etc. I remember Seirawan in his winning openings book recommended the Kings indian attack for beginners to avoid theory. Pretty much Nf3 g3 Bg2 00 and somewhere in there d6(when threatened with e5) and then probably a later e4 push maybe after Re1 and Nd2. Its playable and avoids you going against a lot of stuff you might not be ready for. But frankly I think its best just to dive in and suffer and learn the different openings e4 might lead to etc. It leads to a much more varied and interesting experience. Personally if I were you I would strive for as much e4 e5 play as possible before going into semiopen or closed openings. Openings Explorer is a great too for your learning process here.
http://www.dwheeler.com/chess-openings/
Try this site. Remeber games are won or lost in the middle game. Opening moves are only meant to try and get a small advantage going into the mid game.
klimma wrote:
don't worry about openings at all just play developing moves at the start
Agree, and start with 1.b3 - it evolves to very interesting, innovative, original moves.
dlordmagic wrote:
http://www.dwheeler.com/chess-openings/ Try this site. Remeber games are won or lost in the middle game. Opening moves are only meant to try and get a small advantage going into the mid game.
I agree and I disagree with this statement. There have been many games lost because of a faulty opening. One basic big mistake and you're lost the rest of the game before you even get to the middle game.
Most of the standard references and chess study books I've been through recommend e4 for beginners. D4 and the Queen's openings are generally richer in depth and complexity. All the higher ranked players I've met for OTB also recommend the same, saying d4 is far more complex and a bit steep for beginners. You get into the slav, anti-slav, Meran, anti-Meran defenses that can overwhelm a beginner.
If you follow book openings with d4 as a beginner, you're most likely going to be overwhelmed once you get past the first few moves and into the middle game. It's kind of like math. You learn the + and x tables before getting into algebra and calculus. We all have to learn how to crawl, then walk in chess, and there's no shame in that.
If you do not learn your basic openings, you are destined to defeat for the whole of your chess life. Chess is fun, but let's face it, like any other academic field, it requires study, practice, study, practice, practice, practice if you are to become proficient at the game.
Best wishes in your endeavors with this great game we all love!
I agree with Micknek. If I were you I would just get a book that helps deal with general opening principles and avoid any deep study of any one opening at your current rating. Seirawans Play Winning Chess is a good book to start with. Yeah if not obvious I am a big fan of the Seirawan series. It is a quick read and deals with a lot of gereral chess principles that will help you get through the opening ok. Read that and and then play more. Once you have a couple hundred rating points added on you by playing more correctly using these principles you might then have a better idea what direction you want to go opening wise.
The very basic would be a e4 opening for white, and a d4 and e4 response for black. For white i would recommend the Ruy Lopez, which gives you pretty decent chances. For Black learn the sicilian defence and apply it to playing white a swell: the sicilian is damned popular. for a d4 opening i'm not too sure, since i don't really play d4 games.
ruy lopez and sicilian are good for beginner's, there are few traps and not too many book moves 
I found John Emm's "Discovering Chess Openings" to be helpful precisely because it dealt with principles rather than particular openings. I also found helpful the sections on the opening in C.J.S. Purdy's "Guide to Good Chess" for the same reasons.
I think it would be a mistake to jump in and study grandmasters as its over your head. Look for amateur games.
You have to know Ruy Lopez by memory and then you can start thinking about what happens after Bb5.
From what I see, the e4 c5 game is mighty popular so you'd want to look through that.
The main point for me is not to force it, it's not much different from learning a language so there is a fair amount of learning by osmosis going on in the early stages.
I enter an opening in google and pick one from the chessgames.com database. With reference to my opening statement I look for lesser-known players rather thatn grandmasters. I press play and watch a game with some music on for relaxation and added entertainment, and watch the game maybe 3 or 4 times in a row.
Of course I don't understand everything, but you'll say to yourself "he's attacking"/"he's defending", notice a tactic, exchanges, etc.
If I were to study three beginner openings what would they be? And how would I go about that? Are there books? And how many moves is an opening anyway? And how many variations are there to each? Also, I am a real beginner. I have read about half of Bobby Fischer teaches chess and find it fairly easy but pretty much everything else anyone says on these forums goes right over my head. I am at about an 800 rating in the tactics trainer. I like these puzzles although I find the time constraints pretty demanding. I pretty much never play games because I really don't have a clue about openings. I need help!