What's the most effective openings, and the best time control to play for learning purposes?

What's the most effective openings, that'll fool your opponents, and ease the game for you? What do you think the best time control to play at is, for learning purposes?

Vienna gambit and Englund gambit are cool.

Like whenever I play, I either play too fast, and don't think about it much or I may take too long.

(Look, after playing the same time control over and over, it becomes a habit to move too fast, hard to control that 😬)

If you want to learn fastest then the usual advice is to pick long time controls, such as Daily moves, so you can invest lots of time in studying each position. If you're you're looking to fool your opponents with opening traps then you're probably you're not going to learn very fast because your time will be wasted playing out lines which you already know.

Ruy Lopez, 15|10

#5
"I either play too fast, and don't think about it much or I may take too long"
If you lose on time in a won position, then you play too slow.
If you lose on the board with time left on your clock, then you play too fast.
Adjust your pace accordingly.

Playing moves that your opponents might not expect or be familiar with is a good way to trick them. In blitz it can be a good way to run down your opponent's clock.

15|10 is a good mix of "won't take all day" and giving you enough time to actually come up with plans. At your level I'd say just play solid openings where your plan is simple like the London system or the kings indian defense

At her level, 15+10 would be minimum to play games without 1 move blunders and even that is impossible if she isn't disciplined enough. For plans and things of that nature, if she wants to do higher level stuff while not blundering, she probably needs to play daily games. But this is an advice as to how she can play better quality chess immediately. When it comes to improvement, she will improve whatever time control she plays (except for bullet), because she is rated 700. To me personally, 15+10 is a weird time control, if I start playing moves too fast I will not properly use the time that I have and the game will look like a 5 or 10 minute game, while if I start using my time, by move 30 or by move 35 I will have a minute on the clock (which is fine considering that there is a 10 seconds increment). If I really want to have time to think about the game I need more something like 60+0 or 45+45 time format. That's why I prefer 10+0, 3+2, 60+0 and 45+45 because in those time formats it is clear whether I should treat it like blitz or whether I should take it slowly. Unfortunately, at my level it is hard to find a pairing for a 60+0 or 45+45 game.

When I was a beginner myself, I improved and became an intermediate player by playing fianchetto openings with 2+1 time control. I did the exact opposite of what everyone would recommend to a beginner, so take this advice with a massive grain of salt, but I think that people who have the counter experience of the normal should be taken into account. At your level, I truly think that playing any openings and any time control except bullet will help you. If it is fun to you to play longer time control games, such as 30 minutes, or 1h per side, then play them and before you make every single one of your moves you should scan all the checks, captures and threats that your opponent has, you should scan for all the undefended pieces and you should see where each of your opponent's pieces can go to.

I would say that I mostly agree on what you've said about 15|10 games, but I want to add something about daily chess.

45|45 or 60|0 is better than daily for those who wish to play live games.

Daily is a different form of chess, as it is easier to calculate, because of the analysis tab where you can move pieces freely. Along with that, you will rarely be lost out of the opening because you are allowed to use opening explorer in daily games, so you almost don't have to think too much if you are playing something relatively standard. In short, daily is pretty different than standard slow chess. That being said, daily is fine for trying to find and execute some middlegame plans without time constraints.

You are absolutely correct that 60|0 or 45|45 are better than 15|10 for learning purposes. You have some time to think in 15|10, but you can do much more in those longer games. There is no comparison.

For full effect, going through those long games afterwards is very important. Figuring out what went wrong for you and the opponent, going through the endgame if there was one, etc. In general trying to figure the game out the best you can is perhaps even more important than the game itself for those who wish to improve. And of course, when I say going through games, I don't mean just blitzing through it afterwards with 3 minute engine check. That is useless. Some effort should be made by those who wish to improve.

I admit that sometimes I should listen to my own advice as well

Of course, not everyone is prepared to play such games (in fact, perhaps 5% of users here are, and I am probably optimistic), so 15|10 is something that most of the people repeat on the forum, and I would say that is the minimal time control. I mean sure, there are some talented people who can improve playing blitz even, but those people are certainly not the majority.

I usually use lichess.org more than chess.com, so here's my stats there:

https://lichess.org/@/Shriqueen

I started playing here as a beginner, then I switched to lichess, and played less here. I use lichess more. The link has my real stats.

Well the simple reason I suggest 15|10 over something longer is that newer players might not be accustomed to the mental stamina required to play a 60+ minute game of chess. Also some people just simply don't have the time or patience to sit down and play one game for that long. 15|10 gives you the best of both worlds. Maybe 30 is okay as well

First off, there is a contradiction in your question.  Do you want trappy openings you can play for quick wins at the lower levels, or do you want to improve and learn?  The first part of the question leans to the former, but the second leads to the latter, and these goals are mutually exclusive.

If you want to learn, I would suggest going with 1 of 2 approaches:.

1) Play the classic openings (Queen's Gambit, Ruy Lopez, Italian, etc) that have been played by World Champions for over 100 years.  There are a lot of strategic and tactical lessons to be learned in any of these openings.

2) Play some of the more solid gambits (Evan's Gambit or Scotch Gambit, for example).  This will teach you how to play with the initiative and many of the structures will be applicable when you switch over to more solid openings later.

If you want to rack up quick wins, you can go for more dubious lines that are not likely to be refuted at your level (Grob, Blackmar-Deimer Gambit, Danish Gambit).  If you practice these lines, you can rack up some quick wins at the lower levels, but around 1500 will start seeing people that easily refute then and you will stagnate and have to switch back to learning.

As for the best time control to learn: the longer the better, provided you actually use your time to think and calculate.  It does you no good to play a 60 minute game and blitz out the moves and lose with 59 minutes on your clock.  I typically play 10+0 as I can usually fit in a game while cooking dinner or such, but I would prefer to play 30+0 or longer if I had the time.  15+10 tends to be a good middle ground for online games.

I play the Vienna Gambit