We need a website that explains openings and their ideas

Hey guys,

The title says 'we', perhaps I need to change it to 'I'.

There are many sites including chess.com and the obvious Wikipedia articles which have information on many openings, from Ruy Lopez to Sodium Attack, from Dutch Defense to Latvian Gambit. But I have yet to find a website which has articles dedicated to explaining the fundamentals behind a broad variety of openings..

..explaining the main idea of the opening for both sides, the various plans the sides may have, and where all the pieces are usually going in the opening to early middlegame explained by some positions that often occur and how to counter it as the opposing side. Something like chessfox' article about the KIA: https://chessfox.com/how-to-play-the-kings-indian-attack/

If anyone knows of a site that explains many of the most common openings in a similar way please let me know. Otherwise, I need a website like this!

That's not an answer to my question though.

i mean, you can try wikibooks. its underdeveloped in places, but the chess wikibook for the schliemann defense, for example, is incredibly indepth.

My question was whether such a site exists or not. I'm not looking for any advice. I'm not a beginner.

If you want to learn openings in detail, I recommend Chessable.  

I’ve found Chessable useful as well, and they do have many free resources.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

Chessable I kind of find too cluttered. There are also many courses which aren't free and you need to sign up to access those that are if I'm correct.

Chesspathways is already a step forward for me but it doesn't really explain that many of the concepts that arise from the opening and where the pieces feel best, just the broad ideas which Wikipedia has as well. It's also kind of pathetic that the English Opening gets the same amount of attention as the Sodium Attack just because it's not d4 or e4.

The book I have is probably still my main go-to source right now. Any further suggestions would be much appreciated.

FCO is good for what you're looking for (although, out of necessity, it's very brief).

I've only looked at one chesspathways video so far -- it was about Q's openings in general (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEK8vPRlt2g), perhaps that's too simplistic, but, as I have no experience with 1. d4, I found it enlightening.

dontforgettolose above brings up a good point.  There are *many* responses that work against any opening, so long as fundamentals are followed (develop pieces, control/attack center, etc.).  I can't tell you how many times I prepared an opening and my opponent played some off the wall move by the second or third move, totally throwing me off, and I had no idea what to do.  In each time, I fell back to fundamentals, and, unwittingly, played a good and decent opening (I tend to make "inaccuracies" and "blunders" in the middle game, rarely in my openings, even though I know so few of them).

Example: one of the first times I played on here, I wanted to try a Sicilian (I only knew 1. e4 e5 openings).  So, the game started this way:  1. e4 c5 2. e5?   What the heck?  What was that?  I'd never seen it before.  I was at a loss.  I spent 30 seconds staring in disbelief (in rapid chess, you don't want to spend 30 seconds on your second move!).  So, I fell back to fundamentals, and I was fine.

dontforgettolose makes another great point: the GM's often play crazy openings and win.  Why?  Because they're so good.  This supports the main lesson, I think: learning fundamentals will get you a loooong way.

All that said, I think you're right.  I would very much enjoy to see explanations of openings and *why* they conform to theory, and why this move instead of that move.  But the resources mentioned above work well enough for me at this point.

There is always chesspublishing.com.