getting_betterE5: Cheers. My best advice is to pick two for each color, and to just play those openings for about a month at a time or so, or until you feel that you've learned most of the lines/variations and you're ready to sink your teeth into something new. I play Queen's Gambit as white almost always right now, and I play sicilian for black in response to e5, and Nimzo in response to d5.
How many opening should one study?
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Knowing the names of the openings is only useful for reference and communication. It's a lot easier to say you played the Sicilian Defense than to try and describe the moves each player made. All that stuff comes naturally the more and more you play the game, and study. A great place to learn is Youtube - you can look up any opening on Youtube and there's and endless amount of information on it. Hope that helps. Good luck.
Learning openings at this point probably won't improve your chess much.
However, if you know that names of most openings, you can impress your friends quite easily.
When I played the local tournament semi-regularly, I'd try to have three openings in mind: What I would (try to ) play as white; a defense to 1. e4; and a defense to 1. d4. This was helpful, even if overly simplistic.
As white, you choose the first move, but black often chooses the opening. For example, if you play 1. e4, black can play 1. ... e5 (non-specific), 1. ... e6 (French), 1. ... c5 (Sicilian), 1. ... c6 (Caro-Kann), etc. This can lead to the necessity, ultimately, of being prepared for a wide variety of openings, or a willingness to "wing it" depending on what happens.
As black, it might be a little easier, but often there will be several options given back to white. For example, if you were to choose the French vs. 1. e4, White can play the exchange variation, the advance, the Tarrasch, etc. Again, one might need to either be prepared for any possibility, or willing to "wing it." Similarly with 1. d4. Is White intending Queen's Gambit, Colle, Torre Attack, Trompovsky, London System, Stonewall Attack?
Depending on your level, the time you have to study and learn, and your own predisposition, the number of openings will vary. In practical terms, it's probably best to have some understanding of opening principles, so that when forced to "wing it," you can at least make sensible moves which may work out. Other than that, perhaps start with three openings that you know a few moves deep.
Don't try to memorize long trees of variations, but just get a sense of the ideas of the openings you choose. (You probably won't be "in book" long unless playing highly rated opponents, anyway.) As you gain experience, this sort of knowledge will grow.
Then, of course, there's 1. c4 ....
Hi I am new to chess and really want to improve my game.
My question in how many opening should I learn? I almost always play e4. Does one also need to know the names of the openings one is playing?
Do I also need to know names of all the variations?