Memorising openings worth it?

Do people actually memorise all these openings with names?  and if they do, is it worth it?  surely a good player just assesses the best move depending on what opponent plays...  most times if I am white i play e4 or d4, black e5, d5 or c5 - and from then on the other player might get his bishop out, move a knight, maybe get his queen out early - so many different things... maybe at the level  I am at games are more unpredictable - eg some beginners just get their queen into action straightaway, which I dont think has a name!  I am not very advanced at chess, but be interested to know what more experienced players say...

At the highest level of play, opening preparation is the most important part of the game. 

Well, they're part of chess culture. If you follow chess news, play through annotated games, read a chess book now and then, you can't help but learn pretty quickly that 1.e4 c5 is the Sicilian. There is no need to learn opening names by heart.

But good players do know a lot of moves from memory; most from experience, but probably also from some memorization (although I've never done that). Sure, they like to play the best move, but it's a rather more efficient use of your clock time to work out as much of that at home as possible.

But you can safely ignore them for the first so many years...

You study the ones you are likely to encounter, because they are full of traps and pitfalls. You need to decide your preference for your first move as white and learn which lines best suit your preferred style against any given response by black. Then you have to do the same for black lines against e4 and d4. This is called 'your' opening system - anythin' else you just gotta wing it - memorisin' 'em don't matter much for correspondence chess, but without a basic repertoire for Over The Board or 'live' chess you will find yourself in a whole heap of misery. Good luck with your new hobby

hi, I would just start out by not doing much opening memorizing and insted learn all the tactic motifs.. thats what will make you a strong player. there are a lot of weak player that know tons of opening names, but every tactical wizard is pretty much a guaranteed strong player

When I first got my MCO (Modern Chess Openings), learning which moves made up which openings may not have been terribly helpful for my game but it sure was fun.

Learning that much about the openings won't take up so much time that your game would suffer. There'll be plenty of time for working on the very practical stuff like tactics.

thanks for all replies.

maulmurphy, what do you mean by tactic motifs - is that stuff like pins and forks?

Yes, and much more. Someone can probably refer you to some online source that demonstrates the full array.

Thats absolutely true, tactics have the final say. Even the greatest strategy has to yield to tactics. I beat the hell out of my copy of 1001 chess combinations.

You'll develop a nose for when a tactic is in the air and when its a waste of your time to search for tactics. Yes there are situations when it IS a waste of your time to look. Anyone else want to call me stupid ;))

As for openings, assuming you don't aspire to be a top level player, I found it most beneficial to pick an opening or two as white and black and try to understand WHY the moves are being made.

If you know the WHY of moves instead of only the WHAT, you will be in good shape when it comes time to veer from the book. 

yeah, starting with the basic stuff like your pins, forks, skewers,trapping etc and then get into advanced versions of those and learn as many mating ideas as you can.

thanks once again for these valuable opinions and advice

Depends on the level you play at.  You're right about assessing what to play based on your opponents last move. 

I don't know many openings, it scares me.  Not so much the openings as the many variations of each opening.  I've no time for that. 

Plus I've always felt that they sometimes feel uncomfortable to play, it's as if I'm playing someone elses game up to a point.  Then I'm landed in a position I would never have gotten into otherwise. 

To understand chess decently you need to memorize SOME openings at least 10-12 moves deep. And you need to understand opening principles so you can be adaptable. If you choose which opening lines to memorize wisely, 10 or 12 can put you in a good position to respond to most anything.

I think that memorization for the purpose of rote recital during gameplay misses the point.  You really need to take the time to understand the themes and ideas behind a particular opening and its variations.  If you don't, you'll probably find that you have difficulty dealing with opponents who take you out of book.

I use opening databases as reference material.  However, I do not try to memorize the openings.  I review my games and compare my moves to a database such as Game Explorer.  After having reviewed a large number of games, I find that I have a decent knowledge of many openings.

worth what?

[COMMENT DELETED]sorry was meant for other thread but comp had attack of the heebie-jeebies - again !

This is an important piece of advice. I am trying to read openings. But I find that the oponent goes along a different line and it is futile to memorise them/ try them blindly. The four principles quoted above are more important. When you encounter a variation, you find that these principles are the main principles upon which the series of moves in an opening are based.