Hello, so I've been pickin up chess as a hobby for a while now, and as I start to understand some of the basic opening concepts, I've been kinda curious what you guys would recommend for a good amateur opening. Like, something easy to learn and effective against a variety of things. Or do I even need to bother learning any openings if I'm just going to play chess as something to do in my spare time? THanks ahead of time for answers as long as they're not flames.

I'm noob and I use queen's gambit, kings indian, or ponziani....

Just playing at the coffee shop level, I'd reccomend the King's Gambit.  It allows for some fun attacking positions and welcomes sacrificing material.  It's fun watching an opponent's face when he's two or three pieces up and you declare checkmate.

I've been asking myself the same question. I've come to the conclusion and also I have been advised by stronger players to not really bother to much with the opening as a newbie player. The advise that I usually get is to instead focus on training tactics and endgame play since it will do much more to your playing strength.

Anyhow, the opening should not be neglected. I myself have chosen to play common "traditional" openings. If you play weaker players you may very well be able to get some quick wins by playing e.g. King's Gambit but as soon as you play stronger opponents they will not fall for this.

I play openings such as the Italian Game, the Petroff Defence and Queen's Gambit Declined (traditional line, not Slav or Semi-Slav) where it pretty much is about developing the pieces naturally and to gain control over the centre. I have also heard that Caro-Kann can be a good opening for beginners but I have never played it myself.

If you loose a game quickly in the opening, take it as a habit to analyze the game afterwards to see what went wrong and what opening move that is commonly played (and why!). This in practice means that you will learn the openings by playing games which is much more fun than reading books about them.

Good luck.

I got but one advice for you. As a beginner , do not play any opening at all. I think personally you should be at least at grandmaster level if ever to have any benefit from discussing specific openings. thats just my view. all this talk about openings is destroying chess. (by playing an opening I mean to decide to play a system before the first move is even made).

I'm also an amateur player and i find the Ruy Lopez opening very good as well as basic openings with the king's pawn. I find these openings help you develop and castle early and aren't too risky......i don't find it works as well when playing black and have yet too find a good beginner's opening when playing the black pieces. I usually just go by principle.......control the center....develop your pieces and castle. Priorities of the open.

Disasterpiece wrote:

I've been asking myself the same question. I've come to the conclusion and also I have been advised by stronger players to not really bother to much with the opening as a newbie player. The advise that I usually get is to instead focus on training tactics and endgame play since it will do much more to your playing strength.

This is good advice! Listen to this guy!

However, if you insist on learning a specific opening, always keep in mind that learning the principles and ideas behind the opening is more important that memorizing sequences of moves. The point of the opening is to gain a good middlegame position. If you just memorize that "the Ruy Lopez goes 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5", then you haven't really learned anything. The point is to understand, "ok, now that this position has been reached, what is black trying to do? What is white trying to do? Where do we go from here?"

As far as learning specific openings goes: you'll hear lots of people telling you to learn "systems that are easy for a beginner" like the Colle System, and other garbage advice along these lines. Ignore that.

What you should focus on is learning about classical openings that have withstood the test of time. This will allow you to apply the opening principles you have already learned. I'd recommend starting with either the Ruy Lopez or Giuocco Piano.

I also agree with disasterpiece, the learn to scribble before you draw approach, but a local master teaches the oposite to beginners.  Play as white d4,c3,e3,Nf3,Be2,Be3 or f4, Nd2, O-O and it does not put pressure on black and lets black open easily, but it is solid and "error free" pretty much regardless of what black does.  Leads to a solid game and black may be frustrated into making a blunder.  You can also often do the mirror image as black, though not always. This fits your "effective against a variety of things" criteria.

Here is a free beginner opening book that explains the basic concepts.

http://chesskids.com/grownups/openings.pdf

I like it, it's the first opening book I read. It tells you the plans and ideas.

(Not for theoretical reference!)

I enjoyed starting with the Ruy Lopez... simple opening, utilizing basic opening strategies.

try the e4 opening system

The Ruy Lopez and Giuoco Piano were the first two openings I learned, but don't use them exclusively. You have to learn other openings. I leaned on these two openings heavily in my formative years to the point where I got burned out playing them. It is only with great reluctance that I will play them anymore. I prefer mixing things up a bit these days. Never play the same game twice is my motto now. 

I think the italian or bishop opening are easiest for white. Basically E4 followed Nf3 on second move and  Bc4 on third move or vice versa. I find it gives white momentum on the first couple moves, puts pressure on the weak F7 square for black (after NG5 on 4rth move when possible) and obviously it lets you castle right away.

A nice trap is E4, Nf6, Bc4, NxE4, Bxf7+, Kxf7, Qh5+ and then usually either

(g6,Qd5+, Ke8, QxE4) or (Kg8,Qd5+,e6, QxE4).

Material is even but black has lost his right to castle and will waste a lot of time doing so.

If black moves his king forward after Qh5+ (which has never happened to me) you have good attacking ideas and possibly mating strategies with Nf3.

Enjoy.

If you are playing in a tournament and the guy is rated around 1000 i would recomend the English 4 knights

Happyfeet_da_Penguin wrote:

Hello, so I've been pickin up chess as a hobby for a while now, and as I start to understand some of the basic opening concepts, I've been kinda curious what you guys would recommend for a good amateur opening. Like, something easy to learn and effective against a variety of things. Or do I even need to bother learning any openings if I'm just going to play chess as something to do in my spare time? THanks ahead of time for answers as long as they're not flames.

Due to the fact that all openings are good for an amateur, I wont dare to answer of question. Rather than searching for an opening you shoud try them all and learn from your mistakes. Try to play thematic tournaments.

Chess greetings

If I were you I'd just be focusing on making a decent defence for your king and trying to use pieces more effectively together rather than going for a particular opening at this time, once you've played a load of games you should realise what sort of game you like playing and there's always that handy little tool 'Explore my games' to check which opening seems to be working for you.

I would play natural moves and would take my time in the opening if I were you.  Chances are you will have a playable position coming out of the opening.

cjs purdy reccommended an "All-Purpose-System" defence for black that you use on pretty much all white openings  except the english and a few others

Even the newest player has to know something of the opening or else you'll be clueless as to what is a good and bad move. John Emms' Discovering Chess Openings looks at general principles of the opening without worrying about specific openings. C.J.S. Purdy's Guide To Good Chess has a nice section on openings that stresses fundamental principles of good opening play rather than any specific opening.

Try 1.Nf3... then just focus on the center squares.