Best Openings For Beginners To Learn The Fundamentals - Chess Forums

vantheanh1993

Apr 27, 2018

0

#1

Hello everyone

I am a beginner and I want to learn the openings that help me build up the understanding of basic fundamentals, pawn structure, positional play, tactics... I am playing most of the time with computer because I can easily set up an openings that I love to learn. Therefore, popular openings is not a concern, I am playing Sicilian Paulsen and Schenveningen but some folks comment that beginners should not use Sicilian (variations). They violate the basic principles and do not give space to develop positional understanding. So, please help me!

IMKeto

Apr 27, 2018

0

#2

Opening Principles:

1. Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5

2. Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key

3. Castle

4. Connect your rooks

Tactics...tactics...tactics...

Pre Move Checklist:

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe.

2. Look for forcing move: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) this will force you look at, and see the entire board.

3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board.

4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece.

5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"

vantheanh1993

Apr 27, 2018

0

#3

#2 Thank you so much. But do you have a specific opening for me?

IMKeto

Apr 27, 2018

0

#4

vantheanh1993 wrote:

#2 Thank you so much. But do you have a specific opening for me?

Openings are a matter of choice. But generally king pawn openings are encouraged for beginners.

Spiritbro77

Apr 27, 2018

0

#5

I would add one more thing. Try to move every piece once before moving any piece twice unless there is a tactic. In other words, if you can take a opponents piece to your advantage or one of yours is in danger then move it, aside from that try to get all your pieces to good squares and castle before moving a piece twice. As FEF said, study tactics. I love the tactics trainer here on Chess.com. I turn off rated and have my laptop open while watching TV. When a commercial comes on I do tactics until my show is back... You would be surprised how much you can improve just doing that.

vantheanh1993

Apr 28, 2018

0

#6

Thank guys for your time. I actually know how to play. I mean, I think about level of chess as: know how to move the piece, how to play, how to think, how to analyze, how to plan, and how to win. So, I am pretty much the post-beginner It is a game I played recently with Fritz 16 Club Players. Of course I know the basic principles that you mentioned. However, what I mean is a specific opening system that shows me clearly how I will get punished hardly if I violate the opening principles. Or, a system that has a key factor, such as Sicilian has timing as key factor as far as I know.

Kakapo7

Apr 29, 2018

0

#7

buena respuesta

harshKidBg7

Apr 30, 2018

0

#8

666Buffchix wrote:

I will go against the #chessorthodoxy yet again. Imo, the best thing for a beginner to do is make your own opening. What kind of positions do you like? How do you like to attack your opponent? Answer these questions and formulate your moves from there. If you absolutely MUST lack creativity and insist on using "book" moves memorized to the nth degree, then at least try a system that helps get you into closed positions. I will never understand how it is supposed to be "instructive" for a beginner to play 1. e4 and then get stomped by some Sicilian memory player. If you ask me, it sounds a lot like chess hazing.

Open positions starting with 1.e4 are lot simpler than the complex KID or Benko gambit positions that one might reach from 1.d4 . And at the beginner level almost everyone replies 1.e4 with e5. So it becomes easy to play as white.

harshKidBg7

Apr 30, 2018

0

#9

BobbyTalparov wrote:

666Buffchix wrote:

I will go against the #chessorthodoxy yet again. Imo, the best thing for a beginner to do is make your own opening. What kind of positions do you like? How do you like to attack your opponent? Answer these questions and formulate your moves from there. If you absolutely MUST lack creativity and insist on using "book" moves memorized to the nth degree, then at least try a system that helps get you into closed positions. I will never understand how it is supposed to be "instructive" for a beginner to play 1. e4 and then get stomped by some Sicilian memory player. If you ask me, it sounds a lot like chess hazing.

This is bad advice. A beginner has no idea how to proceed in closed positions, so advising them to go into them (when positional considerations and pawn breaks are what they need to look at, and they have no idea how to evaluate those) is asking them to get rolled over constantly without knowing why. And since engines routinely evaluate closed positions incorrectly, they won't even be able to analyze it when an engine to see where they went wrong.

Open positions tend to lead to easier to see tactics, which is why it is encouraged for beginners. They practice pins, forks, skewers, double attacks, etc., and get to use them in a real game.

A beginner who knows the first 10 moves in any given Sicilian line, but who has no idea of what the plans are following that, will routinely get stomped at the end of their "preparation", usually by dropping at least a couple pawns, if not a whole piece.

Yes that's correct.

RussBell

Apr 30, 2018

0

#10

A concise summary of all the major openings....

http://www.chesskids.org.uk/grownups/openings.pdf

Some opening repertoire suggestions by GM Nigel Davies and IM Andrew Martin:

Martin's repertoire...(click the icons with downward pointing arrows to download the pgn files)...

http://www.chesspublishing.com/content/repert.htm

Davies' repertoire...

http://www.chesspublishing.com/content/repert2.htm

The following articles relate to choosing an opening repertoire...

http://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/aa02i07.htm

http://grandpatzerchess.blogspot.com/2007/03/openings-for-improving-players-part-1.html

http://grandpatzerchess.blogspot.com/2007/03/openings-for-improving-players-part-2.html

http://grandpatzerchess.blogspot.com/2007/03/openings-for-improving-players-part-3.html

check out the comments on two books by John Emms "Discovering Chess Openings" and "First Steps: 1 e4 e5", as well as "My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White" by Vincent Moret, here....

Good Chess Openings Books for Beginners and Beyond....

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

and...

Good Chess Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-books-for-beginners-and-beyond

vantheanh1993

Apr 30, 2018

0

#11

I appreciate all of your comment. The reason I ask this question while having some progresses in learning chess with Sicilian is because I read a few comments similar to what some of you have pointed out. I also read some about how Sicilian Dragon, not Acc. Dragon, will benefit beginners because it requires more positional play (I know all require positional play). After couples of weeks doing puzzles, I still have 0 idea about how to set up a basic knight fork. With that in mind, I decide to learn positional play, although it may or may not fit my level.

vantheanh1993

Apr 30, 2018

0

#12

Oh my...oh my! "Tactical vision" is a sexy phrase for me! I mean, it sounds fancy and elegant in a very honest way. Did you improve yourself just by solving puzzles? Or, you did read a wonderful book? Please share with me, I want to learn from you!

RussBell

Apr 30, 2018

0

#13

vantheanh1993 wrote:

...I decide to learn positional play, although it may or may not fit my level.

Good Positional Chess, Planning & Strategy Books for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/introduction-to-positional-chess-planning-strategy

vantheanh1993

Apr 30, 2018

0

#14

Thank you so much, Russbell and BobbyTalparov. If I improve, I will send you guys a thank you message

stanhope13

Apr 30, 2018

0

#15

Try WWW.365CHESS.COM Opening Explorer.

kindaspongey

Apr 30, 2018

0

#16

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... Once you identify an opening you really like and wish to learn in more depth, then should you pick up a book on a particular opening or variation. Start with ones that explain the opening variations and are not just meant for advanced players. ..." - Dan Heisman (2001)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626180930/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman06.pdf
"... To begin with, only study the main lines ... you can easily fill in the unusual lines later. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... If the book contains illustrative games, it is worth playing these over first ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
"... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... For inexperienced players, I think the model that bases opening discussions on more or less complete games that are fully annotated, though with a main focus on the opening and early middlegame, is the ideal. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf
"The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line." - GM Nigel Davies (2005)

"... Review each of your games, identifying opening (and other) mistakes with the goal of not repeatedly making the same mistake. ... It is especially critical not to continually fall into opening traps – or even lines that result in difficult positions ..." - NM Dan Heisman (2007)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627062646/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman81.pdf

RussBell

Apr 30, 2018

0

#17

You might also check out Chessable.com. I think it is a very good online learning resource, for all aspects of chess. In particular, John Bartholomew, one of its founders, is an excellent teacher.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chessable+john+bartholomew

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=john+bartholomew+chess+fundamentals

RussBell

Apr 30, 2018

0

#18

Reviews of Vincent Moret's opening repertoire books....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f41ZbPq9OpE

https://www.chess.com/blog/IndreRe/book-review-vincent-moret-my-first-chess-opening-repertoire-for-black

https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/2018/04/01/opening-lines/

vantheanh1993

Apr 30, 2018

0

#19

Thank you guys! Chess is just as academic as any class I am taking in college!

cfour_explosive

Apr 30, 2018

0

#20

vantheanh1993 wrote:

Hello everyone

I am a beginner and I want to learn the openings that help me build up the understanding of basic fundamentals, pawn structure, positional play, tactics... I am playing most of the time with computer because I can easily set up an openings that I love to learn. Therefore, popular openings is not a concern, I am playing Sicilian Paulsen and Schenveningen but some folks comment that beginners should not use Sicilian (variations). They violate the basic principles and do not give space to develop positional understanding. So, please help me!

start with 1. e4 with white, then play the Ruy Lopez against ...e5. with black you play the Nimzo against 1. d4 and ...e5 against 1. e4. all these openings teach you natural opening principles and positional concepts. for example in the Ruy Lopez, if a move does look bad, it usually is bad indeed (which is not the case in many sharp Sicilian lines, like you say).