Good openings to learn for white.

Currently I play the Queen's Gambit for white.  I am looking to learn a good king pawn opening.  I know the Fried Liver fairly well but I'd rather not play it.  DOes anyone know a good King Pawn opening for a 1000-1200?

                      Thanks,

I'd recommend the Advance French. You get alot of Kingside potential - and it's good to study the available resources in that line, i.e. the Greek Gift sacrifice.

the kings gambit. it offers strong attacking possibilities for white

You can only play the Advanced frence if black, the opponent, chooses to play the French to begin with. At a 1000-1200 stage, most players will respond to e4 with e5. The Ruy Lopez is good (but boring, to me. I dislike 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 starts. That why I play the d4 hoping for the queen's gambit at the sicilian against e4.) and, like kungfoodchef said, the king's gambit is exciting and offers attacking chances.

You should learn to play sicilian for black the accelerated dragon, and for white, the giuoco piano or english opening might be good.

I went to half.com and picked up Chess Openings for White Explained by Lev Alburt and the companion Chess Openings for Black for around $30.00 for the pair.It teaches the Scotch gambit which is similar to the Italian (3.Bc4 leading to fried liver) with the exception of throwing in 3.d4 tranposing to either the 2 Knights Defence or Giucco Piano. Unless unusual sidelines are played with advantage to white.I'm certainly no opening expert but between my complete repertoire book set, I at least have a degree of confidence that once we're out of book My chances should be about equal.   

That's partially correct.  You can only choose to play the French Defense as black, but it would be white's choice to play the advanced variation (though not a very ambitious one).  If you already play 1.d4, why not continue to focus on that, as you won't always be met with 1. . .d5?  Especially if you're a beginner, I think it better to limit your openings as much as possible

good tactical-play preparation :)

At 1000-1200 level IMO what openings you play are irrelevant, as the games are going to be decided on who drops the less material. Just try to follow all the basic opening principles for now (control of the centre, develop Knights before Bishops etc...), if you do that it'll always get you into a perfectly playable midgame position against any 1000-1200 player. And otherwise just absolutely hammer tactics puzzles. I will advise you though to stick with 1. e4 exclusively until you have got a good grasp of open games, even if d4 is giving you better results, playing open games will improve your play in the long run. If you absolutely insist on studying openings, something simple like the italian game should be best, possibly the Ruy Lopez may be slightly too complex for the moment...

 This advice is bombproof and free of charge.

Thanks for all the help guys!

I will probably be playing (and learning) the Scotch and also D4.

Ruy Lopez is da bomb

You need to know 2 openings very well as white, and a few others that will take your opponent out of book when they surprise you.

Play e4. If they play e5 play the Halloween gambit or the Lopez exchange.

if they play c5, play the alapin.

Learn those two very well and you`re pretty much fine

if they play e6, play d4 then exd4 then c4.

if the play d6 or g6 just inhabit the center.

If they play d5 laugh and take the pawn.

Ruy Lopez / Giucco Piano...  of course, no guarantee that black will follow your lead...

I'm almost always playing 1. d4, leading into a Catalan.  But that is pretty much a QGD.

lolz.

i think people in the 1000 - 1300 should stay clear from gambits since they probably wouldn't be able to take back the lost material later on in the game

just stick to sensible openings and development and you should be okay

Ruy Lopez should get you through that level without any worry.

2 knights, 3 knights, 4 knights games, giuoco, scotch, center game, even the Ruy even though it has tons of variations that a player can get lost in.

In any case, always be on the job in your opening, assessing the position and how you and your opponent are following opening principles and taking care of tactical business. When you play over the games of better players ask and answer the same questions.

I've used a colored marker to highlight the parts of atomic chicken's post that I agree with ;)

ive been playing a while and still havent bothered studying the ruy lopez... is that bad?