Learn the Openings - First Steps
By Mark Weeks, About.com Guide to Chess
Why learn the chess openings? First and foremost, because it doesn't matter how well you play the middle game and endgame if you lose in the opening. The position at the beginning of the game is the only position you are guaranteed to see every time you play. • Warning: Expert chess players frequently advise that beginners shouldn't spend all of their time learning the openings. Heed their advice!
- Review of the Basics
- Principles behind the Openings
- Specific to the Openings
- The King's Pawn Openings (1.e4)
Review of the Basics
The principles that apply in the opening are the same positional principles that apply throughout the game. Make sure you understand them before you tackle specific openings. • Bullets marked 'Starting From' on this page show you the best moves from a particular position. Why are those moves the best? Because the best players use them.
Principles behind the Openings
Every chess game starts from the same position. It follows that the opening of every chess game is in some way similar to the openings of all other chess games. This means that there are certain principles and guidelines that can be applied to all openings, even though a particular position may never have been played before.
- Glossary : Opening Terms
- Tips : Pieces
- Tips : Positional Guidelines
- Maximize the Usefulness of Your Moves
Specific to the Openings
Although opening positions share many similarities with middle game positions, there are a few concepts specific to the opening. A good example is the 'gambit', which later in the game is called a 'sacrifice'. • Bullets marked 'Part 1' are the first section of a multipart series. Follow the links in part 1 for part 2 and beyond.
The King's Pawn Openings (1.e4)
The two most common first moves in chess are the advance of one of the center Pawns. Although the moves look similar, they lead to different types of games. This is because the initial position of each player's chess pieces is symmetrical, except for the initial squares of the King and Queen. We start with the move that was first explored by the earliest chess players.
- Introduction to 1.e4
- Starting From : 1.e4
- Starting From : Open Game 2.Nf3
- Starting From : Sicilian Defense
- Starting From : French Defense
- Tutorial : Ruy Lopez - 3...a6 Closed Variation
- Tutorial : Sicilian Defense - Najdorf Variation
- Tutorial : French Defense - 3.Nc3
The Queen's Pawn Openings (1.d4)
After the 19th century masters had examined the King's Pawn Openings, they turned to the Queen's Pawn Openings. Early in the 20th century, this became the most popular way to start a game between strong players. Since then the pendulum has swung back to the center, and the two most popular choices -- 1.e4 and 1.d4 -- are equally likely to be used
- Introduction to 1.d4
- Starting From : 1.d4
- Starting From : Closed Game
- Starting From : Indian Defenses
- Starting From : Dutch Defense
- Tutorial : Queen's Gambit Declined - 4.Bg5
- Tutorial : Kings Indian Defense - Classical Variation
- Tutorial : Nimzo Indian Defense - 4.e3
Unusual Openings
There are some good reasons why many strong players prefer to start with a move other than 1.e4 or 1.d4. Whether you play the other moves as White or not, you should be prepared to face them as Black. • Many games that start 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 eventually transpose into openings that start 1.d4. We discuss them here, even though they may turn out to be not so 'unusual'.
View Example Games
Our About Chess game viewer lets you step through the moves of complete games, many of them by the world's greatest players. • Our 'Every Move Explained' galleries address all phases of the game, but the openings of the featured games are also discussed in some detail.
Opening Classification
Throughout the years, and particularly in recent times, there have been many proposed systems for chess opening classification. Two systems worth knowing are (1) the common names of some popular openings (like 'Sicilian Defense' or 'Queen's Gambit'), and (2) the classification used by Informant's Encyclopedia (like 'A00' or 'E99').
