Improve opening theory

Hey all!

I've recently started to play a little more (low level) chess. Except for the rules and some of the most basic tactics and concepts, I don't know a lot about theory. I've now reached the 1300+ rating and would like to improve my openings as I find often find myself a pawn down after the first 15-20 moves, which makes the rest of the game unnecessarily harder. 

Anyways, maybe especially at people who have played chess for a long time, what is the best approach to tackle opening theory? Focus on 1 or 2 specific openings until you've "mastered" and memorized them or would you rather take a really general overview? 

Where to start or what to read? I'm happy about all suggestions as I'm kind of overwhelmed by all the possibilities.

Thanks a lot!

As white I often find myself playing the Queen's Gambit declined. As black, it's usually 1. e4 e5

"... I won’t try to recommend one [general opening book], but if you find one you like, this should be the first opening book you purchase. ... Once you identify an opening you really like and wish to learn in more depth, then should you pick up a book on a particular opening or variation. Start with ones that explain the opening variations and are not just meant for advanced players. ..." - Dan Heisman (2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf

 Thanks I'll take a look at that article!

"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)

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
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
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.

https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
Perhaps DonPumbi would also want to look at Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006).
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)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/opening-questions-and-a-dream-mate
https://www.chess.com/article/view/picking-the-correct-opening-repertoire
http://chess-teacher.com/best-chess-openings/
https://www.chess.com/blog/TigerLilov/build-your-opening-repertoire
https://www.chess.com/blog/CraiggoryC/how-to-build-an-opening-repertoire
https://www.chess.com/article/view/learning-an-opening-to-memorize-or-understand
https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-perfect-opening-for-the-lazy-student
https://www.chess.com/article/view/3-ways-to-learn-new-openings
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9035.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627110453/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen169.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9029.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7277.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627022042/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen153.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf

First Steps: The Queen's Gambit by Andrew Martin

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf

A bunch of possibilities:

Starting Out: Open Games by GM Glenn Flear (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626232452/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen134.pdf
Starting Out: Ruy Lopez by John Shaw (2003)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627024240/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen53.pdf
Beating the open games, Mihail Marin
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195205/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen102.pdf

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/BTOG-Update.pdf

A Spanish Repertoire for Black by Mihail Marin (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626195205/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen102.pdf
Open-Games-Black-Igor-Lysyj
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf
The Berlin Defence by Igor Lysyj & Roman Ovetchkin (2012)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627104938/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen159.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7076.pdf
Play the Open Games as Black by John Emms
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627022601/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen11.txt
The Ruy Lopez: A Guide for Black by Sverre Johnsen and Leif Johannessen (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627023224/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen94.pdf
Bologan's Black Weapons in the Open Games
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Bologans-Black-Weapons-in-the-Open-Games-76p3873.htm
Bologan's Ruy Lopez for Black by Victor Bologan (2015)
http://www.sjakkbutikken.no/produkter/bologans-ruy-lopez-for-black/

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9016.pdf
Play 1 e4 e5! by Nigel Davies (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626201436/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen80.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627083715/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen98.pdf
The Berlin Wall by John Cox (2008)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627050257/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen115.pdf
Attacking the Spanish by Sabino Brunello (2009)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf
http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Attacking_the_Spanish_excerpt.pdf
The Ruy Lopez Revisited by Ivan Sokolov (2009)

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Ruy-Lopez-Revisited-The-p3765.htm

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/931.pdf

Fighting the Ruy Lopez by Milos Pavlovic (2009)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627105306/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen124.pdf
Slay the Spanish by Timothy Taylor (2011)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627040230/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen146.pdf
The Kaufman Repertoire for Black & White by Larry Kaufman (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626221508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen162.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/955.pdf

A Vigorous Chess Opening Repertoire for Black by Or Cohen (2013)

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Vigorous-Chess-Opening-Repertoire-for-Black-A-76p3857.htm
Grandmaster Repertoire 13 – The Open Spanish by V. Mikhalevski (2013)
http://reviews.dailychess.org/grandmaster-repertoire-13-the-open-spanish-qualitychess-by-v-mikhalevski/

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7234.pdf

Anti-Spanish. The Cozio Defence by Alexey Dreev (2014)
The Petroff: Move by Move by Cyrus Lakdawala (2015)
A Cunning Chess Opening for Black by Sergey Kasparov (2015)
http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Cunning-Chess-Opening-for-Black-A-76p3899.htm
Opening Repertoire: The Open Games with Black by Martin Lokander (2015)

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7546.pdf
Playing 1.e4 e5 - A Classical Repertoire by Nikolaos Ntirlis (2016)

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7572.pdf

http://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Playing1e4e5-excerpt.pdf

The Spanish Main Road by Evgeny Solozhenkin (2016)

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7595.pdf
The Zaitsev System by Alexey Kuzmin

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9036.pdf

Wow that's a lot of recommendations to get through. Thanks so much!

I only play two openings and tried to learn improving my openings by analysing my games. If you see the early inaccurate moves every time, you will soon not play them anymore and probably remember the best moves from the analysis

"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf
"The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)

Thanks, will do!

Okay that's what I wanted to hear, thanks!

All good advice. But I suspect that the reason you are losing a pawn early on has nothing to do with your choice or understanding of openings.  Post a game where this happened and we can look at it.

If you really want to, I suggest working on a narrow repertoire. Better to be proficient in a few specific openings/defenses, rather than a "Jack of all trades; master of none".

Also, be sure to review every game you play to find your mistakes and improvements. You'll struggle to learn and excel if you don't take the time to review and adjust.

As a side note, I've reached the 2100+ level without really studying any opening theory. Mostly, it's just been trial and error for me: experimenting, sticking with what works, adjusting and correcting what doesn't seem to work. But, if you do want to study properly, I recommend getting books dedicated to your specific openings/defenses of choice. The authors can point out ideas and pitfalls that you likely haven't thought of, or realized yet.

I also wouldn't recommend blindly parroting an engine, as someone on here has already suggested—the problem with that approach is, you might not understand the logic behind the moves. And when it comes to improving your chess, understanding is the key.

Don, most games you'll play leave the "book" by move 2-8, so while it's an advantage to have a few openings where you know the first 6-10 book moves of the key variations, it's MUCH better to know the ideas behind the openings so you often have a plan to follow even after leaving the book.

First, the best opening theory book I know of is the old one by Larry Evans and 6 other Grandmasters, How to Open a Chess Game.  My old copy is in descriptive notation but there must be one available in algebraic.  It includes information on some specific openings as well as theory.

Second, your style of play may favor wide-open, not so wide-open, or closed play.  The best survey I know of almost all the main openings is another old book, Grandmaster Reuben Fine's The Ideas Behind the Openings. The moves are not as up to date as John Watson's four-volume Mastering the Chess Openings or van der Sterren's Fundamental Chess Openings (aka FCO), but it gets less bogged down in "what's the next best move" and does more of things like this, "Vienna Game 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3...Again the road is left clear for the advance of the f-pawn...from the diagram it can be seen that the central ideas are simple enough. White wishes to drive the Black N away (preferably by d3) and set up a strong pawn center (P's at d4 e5). Black's chief trump is his N at e4: he would like to keep it there as long as possible. Further he must prevent White from maintaining a pawn center or break it up as soon as it is formed. Another goal he may pursue..."

With advice like that, you don't have to worry about your opponent leaving the book because you know what you have to do overall.  Personally, I try out openings against a computer opponent with the engine set close to my rating or a little higher.  The free Lucas Chess (for PC's: http://www-lucaschess.rhcloud.com/index.html) is the best free or paid program for exploring chess openings: you can set your opponent to play almost anywhere from a rating of 400 to 3400, to play reckless, to randomly pick among its best few move choices, to play a defined set of opening moves, etc.  This gives you a rough idea of what problems you'll run into, what common things occur in each game. etc. It is, though, no substitute for playing human opponents so once your opening passes your engine test, try it out vs a human.

Combining Fine's book with FCO, copyright 2011, would give you added info and close to the latest in opening variations favored today.

Later, after you find openings you like, you might want to get books on those specific opening but they usually provide diminishing returns compared to the books already mentioned.