ELO 1000, and the flawless openings/defense

I'm a new chess player, I have literally read a few books from end to end to learn how to play [totaling 1 week now] (all the basics, end game, pawn chains, italian game, g.piano, evans gambit) and I have been astonished time and time again at players at ELO 1000 capable of literally dodging anything I throw at them, and / or playing the best move in a gambit.

As black I find myself being terrorized by openings and traps/gambits and so I grabbed a book on the sicilian / english open and drew up a map of all my lines because the english open is terrifying to me, so much theory. And my opponent played flawlessly. I even punched it into a computer afterwards to see how a computer plays and it was exactly the same way. (Opponent: ELO 1030 Computer: ELO 2200 ish)

Did I assume wrongly that my being clever with a complicated opening was going to go extremely badly for me? Or am I simply out classed to be in 1000 elo? How many openings are you supposed to know at what I thought was an average beginning players level? Is there a list of openings to memorise somewhere that I'm not aware of? Or is this simply down to experience.

Thanks guys, I'm trying to plug holes in my game to prevent making bad habbits so any help understanding what I'm missing here would be great.

Well, I doubt it's flawless. But maybe you mean the first 5 moves or something.

Blitz will be very difficult for such a new player. Most blitz players, even at low ratings, are experienced. So the first few moves can easily be sensible (pawn or pawns in the center, development, castling).

Although at some point you should run into players who do bizarre no-name openings. Or they play a particular setup against everything and just hope it works out.

Oh, but to answer your question, openings aren't that important. General knowledge, tactical patterns, and a very consistently, habitually, checking for blunders is what's important for many rating points to come.

You're finding out like most new chess players do, that even if you 'win' the opening, you still have to win the game. 

At your level of ELO 1000, you can be a whole rook up in the opening, and you will still give your opponent numerous chances to stage a comeback and win the game. 

It's good that you're getting a grip on correct opening moves, but don't get so absorbed in it that you ignore the rest of the game.

In particular, tactics in the middlegame will be the single biggest determinant of your win ratio at ELO <1200. If you're going to study anything, study tactics first, second, and third, and only after you're sick and tired of them, do something else like openings. 

A 1300 level player could almost definitely play an opening selected literally by random for the first 5 moves (even if means he drops entire pieces) and still win the game against a 1000 level player, that's how little the opening matters at this level of strength.

(If you're playing blitz, opening prep matters a lot more, as you really have to move fast enough to bang out the opening quickly to not lose on the clock later on.)

Perhaps you could provide an example of what you mean.  

I looked at two of your games (the fourth and fifth most recent, as it was the most recent location where you had two losses in a row).  In neither of those games was your issue in the opening.  In neither game did your opponent play flawlessly in the opening (in one your opponent actually played pretty poorly).  In both games you lost in the middlegame due to tactics.  In the one game you won a queen for a rook and minor piece and then started to hang pieces.  In the other game you were pretty much even until you missed a completely winning tactic on move 21 (either knight xd3+ cxd3 remaining knight xd3+ and takes the queen - winning the queen and two pawns for 2 knights) and then your position fell apart over the next couple moves.

Thank you guys.

@Biotk I guess I was just expecting people to be caught off guard by some openings. You are correct, when I go back and analyze my games it is due to some pretty bad misses that I often lose.

I appreciate the input and will continue to slug my way through it. As a new player it seemed a bit overwhelming.

Sounds good ZM.

Here is my advice.  Try playing some online games (instead of just blitz) so you can think more deeply about the moves.  Concentrate on tactics.  Try to resist the pull to study openings.  I know it is difficult - there is nothing worse then losing a game in the first 10 moves.  I personally have lost all kinds of games where I fell for an opening trap or just screwed up right off the bat (just a couple minutes ago I placed my queen in a pin on move 9 and resigned).  It sticks with you a bit, but studying things like tactics will bring more rewards.

There is tactics trainer here.  Also books by Bain and Heisman among others.

I was rated around 700 until I started studying tactics. It's worth doing hours upon hours of tactics to rarely be caught by any type of trap or on the bad end of a punishing tactic. If you play games, play 15|10 or 30|30. It may seem pointless to play a game so slow, however the longer you have to think about why you're moving a certain piece, the more likely it is you won't blunder. Keep working at it, you will improve. Also only play 1-2 openings for either side of the board, you can expand your openings after around 1400 elo.