What are the most useful chess openings to learn?

7 Comments

1. captainstoryteller says:

   July 1, 2010 at 7:12 pm

   Mohamad, there is nothing so useful than a visual aid when trying to learn or comprehend something. What my colleagues so aptly stated above me is true and "chessdud" articulated so well, but reading and seeing are two quite different matters. Reading is feeding your mind knowledge of the sort which absorbs as theory or information. Visual learning is impressed or engraved on the mind as "pictures" and thereby of a more lasting quality.

   So in light of this understanding, I am giving you a list of sites where you can go to visually learn and proceed forward from this wonderful basic foundation the other two gentlemen have shared with you. Enjoy!

   http://www.princeton.edu
   http://www.yourchess.net
   http://www.chessmind.powerblogs.com
   http://www.freechess.org
   http://www.chess.com
   http://www.letsplaychess.com
   http://www.gameknot.com
   http://www.chessgames.com
   http://www.chesscorner.com
   http://www.chessville.com
2. chessdude says:

   July 1, 2010 at 7:12 pm

   When I first started playing competitively, I made it a point to get familiar with a wide variety of openings. Not trying to learn them with any depth, but enough to recognize the names and some basic ideas. My dad, a "retired" expert himself, gave me a book by Reuben Fine called "Ideas Behinds the Openings". It’s too dated now (it was written before things like the Najdorf Sicilian, Modern Benoni and Benko Gambit existed), but it illustrates the concept well. I learned a lot and had a better idea as to what openings I’d want to learn.

   To me, three major factors influence opening choices:
   1. What fits my style the best?
   2. What will help me learn the most about chess?
   3. What fits in with my available study time?

   #1 is fairly self explanatory. Some people want to attack at all costs; gambits may be best. Some are quite comfortable defending for awhile in cramped positions and then counter-attack; they might be comfortable in a Pirc, French or Philidor. Some like positional play; they might like the English or Reti.

   2. Regardless of your style, for sake of your chess development it is important to gain some measure of competence in all styles. Moreover, some strategic themes occur in many openings. The Isolated Queen Pawn (IQP) is very important and can come from many openings. Queens Gambits and Caro-Kanns, for instance, often lead there. More importantly, many openings can lead to positions where a variation can leave you or your opponent with an IQP. For sake of growth, you should learn these openings. And I forget which GM emphasized how critical it is to learn the Ruy Lopez.
   3. When I was in high school and college I had time coming out my ears, so I could afford the time to study chess. (Maybe I should have studied other subjects). When I got married and had kids, my available time, and my rating both dropped, the latter only temporarily. Now that I’m a professional and work 60 hours a week, I have little time to study and even less mental energy. Open Sicilian’s are NOT for me; you have to keep up on theory and I can’t. I choose less theoretical lines, even if they are slightly inferior.

   I highly recommend books in the "Starting Out" series, published by Everyman Chess. These aren’t aimed at rank beginners, but they are designed to help you understand the principles for the subject opening. Some of them even include indicators as to how "theoretical" a given variation is. I have written book reviews on several of their books.
3. idlenessss says:

   July 1, 2010 at 7:12 pm

   It depends on how far you want to go with chess, and what you want to gain from the game. The modern chess openings really will make no sense to you logically because they have evolved over a very, very long time. If you look at any line in the sicilian for example which is played by top GMs and ask why do they always do this move the answer is basically, because everything else was tried first….in other words, you arent going to learn the most logical moves.
   What you will profit the MOST from is learning the most direct, logical approaches first, understand why they are logical, and actually understand why people may or may not play them so much at top level. Im speaking of the older, more classical openings such as double king pawn (italian, 2 knights, petroff etc) and QGA and such. Direct methods to gain and use the initiative will often land you in exactly the sort of positions you are going for in more indirect methods such as the sicilian….ultimately if you are succesful in the sicilian,for example. you reach a position which is extremely similar to but in some way a very slight improvmenet on some more direct system, and you have to understand why. But learning slower, less direct systems first is popular but in my honest opinion very unwise, because you fail to comprehend them-so it becomes a test of memory rather than a development of logical thinking- while the 2 knightw and italian game are very easy to comprehend, very logical, and when you see the ‘best’ moves and think about you you really can understand why its the best move. Also these openings are actually quite good and especially easy victories against opponents who are NOT prepared for them-GMs still play them, but not as often, and for reasons completely different from these being logical openings.
   Think of it like boxing, you have to learn how to effectively throw a punch before you learn how to effectively feign.
4. King John dragon-slayer says:

   July 1, 2010 at 7:12 pm

   Dear Mohamad B,

   Hm, I’m normally the only one sporting a really long in-depth answer.

   Honestly, I’m quite intimidated by the first two answers you’ve got, as there’s a lot of pressure for me to compete with them.

   At first I just passed by your answer, thinking I wouldn’t stand a chance at best answer, but now I’ve got some free time and done some thinking. I’ll give it a shot!

   First off, I’d like to suggest a pretty popular one. Not nearly as popular as the Sicilian, but still a solid one.

   The Nimzo Indian Defense.

   It’s done in response to the Queen’s Gambit, actually, so it would suit you to learn it. Especially if you’re ever encountering the Queen’s Gambit yourself.

   Of course, it really won’t be a Queen’s Gambit anyway, as black would not at any point play d5.

   The Nimzo Indian Defense has been played by every World Champion since Capablanca himself, and if every world champion has played it, it should benefit you to give it a chance. Karpov, Kamsky, Kasparov, Fischer, Botvinnik, Tal, Alekhine, Capablanca, Viswanathan Anand, Morphy, Steintz. Surely they can’t *all* be wrong.

   The Nimzo basically aims to respond to 1.d4 with a solid Nf6. At 2.c4, black plays an interesting 2…e6. This frees up black’s bishop to the vital b4 square.

   Here, white plays (usually) Nf3 or Nc6, which are both natural developing moves. Either way, black’s third move is Bb4. Either, in the case of white playing Nc6, the bishop pins the knight to the king, or in the case of white’s third move having been Nf3, checks the king, which spurs a series of responses. White mostly plays Nc6 though.

   Now… The English Opening.
   It’s solid, fantastic, and according to wikipedia, wins 56% of the time for white. Even better than 1.d4 or 1.e4. That’s mostly due to very few people having a good response ready for 1.c4.

   Bobby Fischer used it against Spassky, the English Opening, that is.

   He won too. Spassky replied with the symmetrical response, and he copied Fischer’s moves until move 8, where Fischer got him to stop it by playing an arguably sub-par move.

   The Benoni Defense is quite popular and well-scoring.

   Everyone should learn the King’s Indian Attack/Defense, as everyone’s bound to encounter it at some point.

   I would highly-highly-highly advise anyone to look into the Stonewall Attack.

   Especially anyone with the computer program that comes with many windows computers, "Chess Titans" as the Stonewall attack often excells against it on level 7 of 10, which is the highest computer level I’ve tried the Stonewall against.

   I’ve found it to have fantastic effects on many club-level players, though can’t say I’ve tried it on many tournament players, for I only learned of the Stonewall on Saturday.

   The Stonewall is pretty interesting, with first moves of 1.d4, 2.e3, and 3.Bd3 which aims to put a knight on e5 (and to quote Tartakower, "The great master places a Knight at K5 (e5); checkmate follows by itself."

   Anyway, the Bishop and Queen make an unbelievable duo at controlling light diagonals. You can look up Stonewall Attack on wikipedia.org if you want. I’d suggest Queenside Castling over Kingside castling.

   Heck, I’d suggest not castling at all, over king-side castling.

   Only in the Stonewall. Not in general. Just, the stonewall weakens the kingside, so it’s obsurd that anyone would suggest kingside castling when one’s f pawn and g pawn are on the fourth rank! Leaving the king but an h pawn to hide behind?!
5. Snail says:

   July 1, 2010 at 7:12 pm

   can you play Chinese chess?

   http://www.chesssoul.com
6. Mr.what says:

   July 1, 2010 at 7:12 pm

   I will try my hand at obtaining best answer. I have quite an Extensive knowledge of chess and openings blah blah blah.–Now, Useful? Since you already understand Queen’s Gambit, and Sicilian defense, You really have some pretty Popular stuff covered. So lets try some Obscure stuff to assist in Throwing off your Opponents Mojo. Not so obscure that it isn’t playable, but something a little Rare, a gem if you will, or a Diamond in the rough, something that isn’t Etched into the mind of Everybody.

   (White)–Bird system, f4, it is Solid, and I honestly don’t play against it THAT much. But it’s pretty Legit, and has Excellent Piece placement.

   (Black)–Robatsch Defense g4, it is pretty Modern as it gives up the center for White, but I believe it is quite playable.

   (Black)–Pirc Defense, It is a defense positional type game, but it is quite strong.

   (Black)–Polish Defense can be quite annoying for White as well.

   (White)–Alpin’s Opening, Passive, but playable.

   —-All these different openings may give you an edge in surprising your opponent, or taking them out of their game somewhat. You have already learned some of the Most important Systems, However there is 1 last system important to learn, is the e4, King’s pawn games. If you can Also play e4 it’ll be harder for your opponent to Defend against you when you are Well versed in d4, and e4, Even better is also playing c4 sometimes (English). You’ll be harder to prepare against. If you play e4, Try King’s Gambit, it is Extremely Exciting!