Suggestions for study

Hello everybody.  I've been playing chess for a while, but I've never really studied book openings.  It can be a little overwhelming because there are so many openings, defenses, and variations. 

If you had to suggest one opening and one defense to begin with for a player who knows the game pretty well but hasn't studied openings, what would they be and why?  Also, any tips for using the opening resources here?

A loaded question, if you know the game I would suggest an opening/defense based on how you like to play.... aggressive, tactical etc... your best choice of opening is one that compliments the way you like to play.

For a defense I really like the Kings Indian.  For an opening?  Maybe you would be better off knowing a few (instead of just one) related to your favored opening pawn move.  (e4: ruy lopez, kings gambit etc...) Personally I like  like the Engish and Ruy Lopez.

Good Luck!

See, the problem is, you can't have one opening.

You need an opening for white. Sounds simple right? Not so much. For example, any of the openings that begin with 1.e4 give black a great deal of say in what develops. He can play 1. e5 and head toward a scotch, vienna, ruy lopez, gioccco piano, etc., 1.e6 and play the French, 1.d5 and play the Scandinavian, 1. c5 and play the Sicilian. Each of these, of course, have umpteen variations and off lines.

Now for black, you have to have an opening in response to e4, d4, and c4, as those will account for the great majority of the games you play. So that's three black openings at a minimum.

Basically, just pick a few things, and play lots of games with them, see what style you like, and what sort of positions each opening tends to lead to. When you find something you like, start studying deeper.

Good Luck!

Thanks.  I'll check those out.

King's Gambit for white!

Of course, what you are saying is true.

But it's also misleading. First, he could just start off with one of them, and deal with the rest later.

Second, "1.e4" is an opening. Of course there are many different replies, but then there are many different variations to any chess position except the barest endgames, and you can never learn all of them. If he just tries to learn what to do in the first three moves after 1.e4 against the most common tries, I'd say he's learnt one opening, and he can always expand his knowledge later when he knows where he needs more knowledge the most.

What I really want to do is study a handful of book openings and the defenses used against them to get a better understanding of opening theory in general.  That seems like a step toward making the best logical moves in the opening, even if you don't know the name of what you're playing.   There are just so many different openings that I was looking for ideas on where to start. 

Use the modern defence against everything as black. It works at all levels, isn't played by everyone and is very different and intresting.

Play the scotch as white. It is just as good as ruy lopez but it isn't over-played and over-analyzed to the same extent.

Wikipedia has tons of info, and where the info there ends, they link to a Wikibooks site that has some more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Openings

Also, the standard beginner advice is to study 1.e4 first, answer 1.e4 with 1...e5 and answer 1.d4 with 1...d5.

Edit: Also, the names are helpful to know, because it aids memory and you can use the names to Google for more, there is plenty :)

If you want to have a nice way of opening a game without worrying to much about what the opponent is doing I wold advocate some 'systems'

Basically these are openings that almost no matter what your opponent plays you can develop away.

If you're more positional and prefer to open with d4 then the London system is probably the best bet. It has been critisised as being quite boring but it can be very potent in the right hands.

If you prefer to open with e4 then the Kings Indian Attack is a good way to go. It can be sharp or positional depending on your preferance and the ideas don't change much from line-to-line. (This opening was one of Fischers favs and he made many advances in the theory)

On the black side of things the indian defenses are probably the best bet but you need to be able to handle pressure early on to play them. The Kings indian defence is quite sharp the majority of the time and the nimzo-indian can be both positional or tactical depending on whether you choose to double the pawns or not. If you don't like the tactics or positions in these then the Queens Indian is slightly less sharp. (Capablanca occasionally played this)