OPENINGS FOR BLACK (beginner)

Against 1. e4, you should probably play 1. ... e5 if you want to learn tactics (something that is normally good at our levels) or you could even play scandinavian.

(also, if you dont like those tactical options, french and caro are good for more positional games)

Against 1. d4, there are many valid options (closed game, benoni, dutch, indian games, etc), but you definitely need to be prepared for facing the London system.

Then again, I am WAY lower than you in everything, so you prob shouldn't listen to me.

agianst e4 i recommend going e5, then bringing out your 2 knights. then bringing you bishop to e7 to avoid it getting kicked around, then if you can try to play d5 (or d6)

there are exceptions like these

and for d4 i recommend learning the classical queens gambit declined setup

Simplest and best for beginners and world championship candidates alike is 1 e4 e5 and 1 d4 d5.

against 1.e4 it's a matter of how much time you have to study and know what it is you play.

1.e4,e5 is fine. but there are a lot of options for white depending on where you take it.

or you have the option of playing

1.e4,c6 Caro kann

1.e4,c5 Sicilian

1.e4,e6 French

1.e4,d5 Scandinavian

1.d4,... is the same story only different because 1.d4 games have the potential to transpose back and forth into each other.

Understand that this is just the tip of the iceberg. the best bet is to just get an MCO or whatever other resource and start studying where all the games can go depending on white and blacks first, second, and third move.

1) scandi

2) french

3) pirc

4) e5

People think there is some kind of magic opening that will solve all their problems. This is not true.

I see young guys come to the chess club for the first time and they are full of all the latest ideas from YouTube chess sites and they are now playing the Caro-Kann and the Vienna Game and the London System and they go down in flames, because they don't really yet know how to play chess, only this or that chess opening, and that not too well.

Tried xyz openings and Burt the T-shirt!

What I personally won't do.... (At my level i.e. the club level) is attempt to play the following as Black.

#1. The Ruy lopez ! Bizillian ways White can roll with that defense. (1 out of 10 players will play the variation you picked)

#2 Two Sicilian's. A) the Najdorf & B) the Scheveningen Both too sharp, too much theory laden. Due to the popularity of the Sicilian, your opponent as white, will probably have played a lot Sicilians. Why play positions your opponent has a lot of experience in? let alone a complex defense with a ton of GM zingers on the internet. At club level, it's been my experience .... play the Sicilian Najdorf or the Scheveingen if you like unclear position and like short games where your circling the 1-0 at the bottom of the score book.

Basic lines of the Caro-Kann for beginners

caro kann is not beginner friendly. but if one really desires to play it then go ahead

the "bizillian" lines black can choose are all based on on one another (with some exceptions) so white can typically play the same way he does in the main lines. the ruy lopez is often very ideas based and you really do not need to be studying all this theory just to play it

I’ve seen on the internet very strong players say the Ruy Lopez is not an opening one should play at the beginner club level … IMO it is GM opening with a lot of deep theory and lots of sharp tactics. I’m a club player with limited prep/study time. Floundering because I thought I could memorize lines in an opening, in reality most of the concepts where above me… so when my opponent played a move that wasn’t from the book, I was lost. 

I doubt this. If you actually look at what "beginner guides" and master level players say, then you would see them recommending principled openings like the queens gambit, ruy lopez, italian game for white.

also why do you expect people at your level to be opening masters and know everything? and if you get somebody who stops playing by the book then what they played is likely a mistake and you can continue with the regular plans in that opening. You lost because you didnt know what to do next and were stuck. its your fault for not knowing how the opening works. dont use "too much theory" as an excuse. its rare for an opening to actually be purely theory based.

I generally agree with the assessments, though, to a beginner, the crap gambits and garbage openings have the allure that they CAN win against other beginners or people who have this sprung on them for the first time. In the long run, they're losers that will divert the novice from learning how to play solid chess.

If you’re anything like I was at 1400, it won’t matter what you play, you’ll be completely lost anyways. That’s how you learn, by making mistakes over and over and over again and then learning from them. Do you know how many games I’ve won (and lost) via 6. Re1 0-0?? 7. Bxc6! dropping the e5 pawn? It’s at least ten, including a classical game.

Just pick a good, solid opening that you like playing, and learn the ideas and plans back to front and before you know it, it’ll all make sense to you.