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what are the best openings ?

#31

@tpr said in #2:

Simplest and best is to defend 1 e4 e5 and 1 d4 d5 as black and to open 1 e4 as white.
@The-Multiverse said in #26:
Chess is not tic tac toe, where the best move is to simply put something in the center. Even with 8-piece tablebase sets and 3300+ rated engines, we still don't know what the objectively best opening move is. It could be 1.d4 (+.25) and 1.e4 (+.35) or vica versa. But even if this were to be discovered, perhaps with the use of quantum computers, it still wouldn't matter. Chess is sufficiently complicated such that small arithmetic advantages based on a computer analysis doesn't equate to a human, especially a beginner-level player such as yourself, knowing the exact way to continue in every line so as to make that arithmetic advantage come to fruition.

It's much better to play an opening you're comfortable with and are getting good results with than to worry about some meaningless number.
@tpr said in #27:
... That is not helpful for a beginner who is not comfortable with any opening and got no good results with any.
A beginner is overwhelmed with all the fancy names of defenses, openings, gambits, systems, and seeks guidance.
With which opening will he feel comfortable and get good results?
My recommendation is to defend 1 e4 e5 and 1 d4 d5 as black and open 1 e4 as white.
Those are simplest and best in the sense that they are most natural to play for the center and for development.
It seems to me that there is some truth to both sides here.
"... For players with very limited experience, I recommend using openings in which the play can be clarified at an early stage, often with a degree of simplification. To accomplish this safely will take a little study, because you will have to get used to playing with open lines for both sides' pieces, but you can't eliminate risk entirely in the opening anyway. ... teachers all over the world suggest that inexperienced players begin with 1 e4. ... You will undoubtedly see the reply 1 ... e5 most often when playing at or near a beginner's level, ... After 2 Nf3, 2 ... Nc6 will occur in the bulk of your games. ... I recommend taking up the classical and instructive move 3 Bc4 at an early stage. Then, against 3 ... Bc5, it's thematic to try to establish the ideal centre by 4 c3 and 5 d4; after that, things can get complicated enough that you need to take a look at some theory and learn the basics; ... Of course, you can also play 1 d4 ... A solid and more-or-less universal set-up is 2 Nf3 and 3 Bf4, followed in most cases by 4 e3, 5 Be2 and 6 0-0. I'd rather see my students fight their way through open positions instead; however, if you're not getting out of the opening alive after 1 e4, this method of playing 1 d4 deserves consideration. ... a commonly suggested 'easy' repertoire for White with 1 Nf3 and the King's Indian Attack ... doesn't lead to an open game or one with a clear plan for White. Furthermore, it encourages mechanical play. Similarly, teachers sometimes recommend the Colle System ..., which can also be played too automatically, and usually doesn't lead to an open position. For true beginners, the King's Indian Attack and Colle System have the benefit of offering a safe position that nearly guarantees passage to some kind of playable middlegame; they may be a reasonable alternative if other openings are too intimidating. But having gained even a small amount of experience, you really should switch to more open and less automatic play. ..." - IM John Watson in a section of his 2010 book, Mastering the Chess Openings, Volume 4

I have often seen the advice that 1 e4 e5 openings are best from an educational point of view, but I don't know that very many maintain that it is necessarily the end of the world if one makes a different choice.
“... many players, especially at club level, are simply afraid to play [1...e5 after 1 e4]! Why? Because of the ocean of possibilities. Besides various forms of the Ruy Lopez, there are a number of other major openings, not to mention a bunch of dangerous gambits.
This was my thinking for many years. I occasionally played 1...e5 but, with a view to 'avoiding' sharp theoretical lines, I usually played the Pirc or Modern Defence. The turning point came when the former Soviet Champion Lev Psakhis once explained to me that an extensive grounding in the Ruy Lopez was essential if you want to develop your game. He added that in Russia it was said that the one failing of Lev Polugaevsky was that he never received this education.
From that moment I resolved to play more games with 1 e4 e5 and to phase out the Modern Defence, with which my results against strong players were lacklustre. My results with Black against 1 e4 improved and within two years I gained the Grandmaster title. I attribute much of this achievement to Psakhis’ advice and my belated education in the classics. ...” - GM Nigel Davies (2005)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627031152/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ebcafe10.pdf
Very compelling, but, at the same time, I don't know that very many of us would feel it to be a disgrace to only reach the Polugaevsky level.

@tpr said in #2: > Simplest and best is to defend 1 e4 e5 and 1 d4 d5 as black and to open 1 e4 as white. @The-Multiverse said in #26: > Chess is not tic tac toe, where the best move is to simply put something in the center. Even with 8-piece tablebase sets and 3300+ rated engines, we still don't know what the objectively best opening move is. It could be 1.d4 (+.25) and 1.e4 (+.35) or vica versa. But even if this were to be discovered, perhaps with the use of quantum computers, it still wouldn't matter. Chess is sufficiently complicated such that small arithmetic advantages based on a computer analysis doesn't equate to a human, especially a beginner-level player such as yourself, knowing the exact way to continue in every line so as to make that arithmetic advantage come to fruition. > > It's much better to play an opening you're comfortable with and are getting good results with than to worry about some meaningless number. @tpr said in #27: > ... That is not helpful for a beginner who is not comfortable with any opening and got no good results with any. > A beginner is overwhelmed with all the fancy names of defenses, openings, gambits, systems, and seeks guidance. > With which opening will he feel comfortable and get good results? > My recommendation is to defend 1 e4 e5 and 1 d4 d5 as black and open 1 e4 as white. > Those are simplest and best in the sense that they are most natural to play for the center and for development. It seems to me that there is some truth to both sides here. "... For players with very limited experience, I recommend using openings in which the play can be clarified at an early stage, often with a degree of simplification. To accomplish this safely will take a little study, because you will have to get used to playing with open lines for both sides' pieces, but you can't eliminate risk entirely in the opening anyway. ... teachers all over the world suggest that inexperienced players begin with 1 e4. ... You will undoubtedly see the reply 1 ... e5 most often when playing at or near a beginner's level, ... After 2 Nf3, 2 ... Nc6 will occur in the bulk of your games. ... I recommend taking up the classical and instructive move 3 Bc4 at an early stage. Then, against 3 ... Bc5, it's thematic to try to establish the ideal centre by 4 c3 and 5 d4; after that, things can get complicated enough that you need to take a look at some theory and learn the basics; ... Of course, you can also play 1 d4 ... A solid and more-or-less universal set-up is 2 Nf3 and 3 Bf4, followed in most cases by 4 e3, 5 Be2 and 6 0-0. I'd rather see my students fight their way through open positions instead; however, if you're not getting out of the opening alive after 1 e4, this method of playing 1 d4 deserves consideration. ... a commonly suggested 'easy' repertoire for White with 1 Nf3 and the King's Indian Attack ... doesn't lead to an open game or one with a clear plan for White. Furthermore, it encourages mechanical play. Similarly, teachers sometimes recommend the Colle System ..., which can also be played too automatically, and usually doesn't lead to an open position. For true beginners, the King's Indian Attack and Colle System have the benefit of offering a safe position that nearly guarantees passage to some kind of playable middlegame; they may be a reasonable alternative if other openings are too intimidating. But having gained even a small amount of experience, you really should switch to more open and less automatic play. ..." - IM John Watson in a section of his 2010 book, Mastering the Chess Openings, Volume 4 I have often seen the advice that 1 e4 e5 openings are best from an educational point of view, but I don't know that very many maintain that it is necessarily the end of the world if one makes a different choice. “... many players, especially at club level, are simply afraid to play [1...e5 after 1 e4]! Why? Because of the ocean of possibilities. Besides various forms of the Ruy Lopez, there are a number of other major openings, not to mention a bunch of dangerous gambits. This was my thinking for many years. I occasionally played 1...e5 but, with a view to 'avoiding' sharp theoretical lines, I usually played the Pirc or Modern Defence. The turning point came when the former Soviet Champion Lev Psakhis once explained to me that an extensive grounding in the Ruy Lopez was essential if you want to develop your game. He added that in Russia it was said that the one failing of Lev Polugaevsky was that he never received this education. From that moment I resolved to play more games with 1 e4 e5 and to phase out the Modern Defence, with which my results against strong players were lacklustre. My results with Black against 1 e4 improved and within two years I gained the Grandmaster title. I attribute much of this achievement to Psakhis’ advice and my belated education in the classics. ...” - GM Nigel Davies (2005) https://web.archive.org/web/20140627031152/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/ebcafe10.pdf Very compelling, but, at the same time, I don't know that very many of us would feel it to be a disgrace to only reach the Polugaevsky level.
#33

Here is a quote from German GM Jan Gustafsson.

“I have a hard time believing in moving a pawn one square like 1... e6, 1... c6, 1... g6, etc. The center is there, fight for it !

Don't overdo it with something crazy like 1... d5 or 1... Nf6, of course. Now that I've made some friends, let me give you my list of good black openings against 1. e4 to make some more:
The Berlin
The Marshall
The Petroff
The Sveshnikov
The Najdorf
The Open Spanish

Gustafsson is the Captain of the German Olympiad team and has assisted Magus Carlsen in opening prep for three World Championship matches.

Here is a quote from German GM Jan Gustafsson. “I have a hard time believing in moving a pawn one square like 1... e6, 1... c6, 1... g6, etc. The center is there, fight for it ! Don't overdo it with something crazy like 1... d5 or 1... Nf6, of course. Now that I've made some friends, let me give you my list of good black openings against 1. e4 to make some more: The Berlin The Marshall The Petroff The Sveshnikov The Najdorf The Open Spanish Gustafsson is the Captain of the German Olympiad team and has assisted Magus Carlsen in opening prep for three World Championship matches.
#34

"... A typical way of choosing an opening repertoire is to copy the openings used by a player one admires. ... However, what is good at world-championship level is not always the best choice at lower levels of play, and it is often a good idea to choose a 'model' who is nearer your own playing strength. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)

"... A typical way of choosing an opening repertoire is to copy the openings used by a player one admires. ... However, what is good at world-championship level is not always the best choice at lower levels of play, and it is often a good idea to choose a 'model' who is nearer your own playing strength. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
#35

@kindaspongey said in #31:

It seems to me that....

Your long-winded much ado about nothing speech is a joke! You have a rating of ZERO in every rating category. Anyone can mindlessly copy and paste the results of a google (or AI) search, but the reality is you don't understand anything at all about what it is you're copying and pasting which is why you you don't play the game.

It amazes me how many of you people love to dispense advice about how to get good at chess when you haven't been able to do so yourselves :)

@kindaspongey said in #31: > It seems to me that.... Your long-winded much ado about nothing speech is a joke! You have a rating of ZERO in every rating category. Anyone can mindlessly copy and paste the results of a google (or AI) search, but the reality is you don't understand anything at all about what it is you're copying and pasting which is why you you don't play the game. It amazes me how many of you people love to dispense advice about how to get good at chess when you haven't been able to do so yourselves :)
#36

Learn to play openings with both sides, so you know what to do. The best to know are: Ruy Lopez (Berlin Defense) and Sicilian lines (Open,Closed, Najdorf, Dragon) are good to learn, and very common. They are often played at master level. Queens gambit is usually very positional and can strengthen that part of your play, letting you work on piece coordination etc especially with the Slav and Declined lines. The Nimzo Indian often gives some of the most promising play for black, as well as the caro kann which can provide excellent counterplay for black. The King's Indian is usually not recommended because it becomes very difficult to play unless you really know the theory, as white takes lots of space and can quickly convert if you aren't prepared. Focus on openings which immediately give comfortable positions and don't put you in a bad start at the beginning. Also learn what to do against nasty opening tricks and gambits and that'll bring your rating up a tonne.

Learn to play openings with both sides, so you know what to do. The best to know are: Ruy Lopez (Berlin Defense) and Sicilian lines (Open,Closed, Najdorf, Dragon) are good to learn, and very common. They are often played at master level. Queens gambit is usually very positional and can strengthen that part of your play, letting you work on piece coordination etc especially with the Slav and Declined lines. The Nimzo Indian often gives some of the most promising play for black, as well as the caro kann which can provide excellent counterplay for black. The King's Indian is usually not recommended because it becomes very difficult to play unless you really know the theory, as white takes lots of space and can quickly convert if you aren't prepared. Focus on openings which immediately give comfortable positions and don't put you in a bad start at the beginning. Also learn what to do against nasty opening tricks and gambits and that'll bring your rating up a tonne.
#37

@The-New-Abnormal So you’re saying the words of IMs and GMs are a joke? Which part of #31 do you actually dispute? From what I’ve seen, Kindaspongey only shares advice backed by books, articles, and blogs written by masters, something I can’t say for many other posters here. Who else should we be taking advice from, if not masters of the game? As someone who learned chess theory mainly through the internet, I find Kindaspongey’s posts particularly helpful since they bring in insights from classic texts I might not otherwise encounter.

Unrelated, but using alts to upvote yourself and downvote others? Come on, you can do better.

@The-New-Abnormal So you’re saying the words of IMs and GMs are a joke? Which part of #31 do you actually dispute? From what I’ve seen, Kindaspongey only shares advice backed by books, articles, and blogs written by masters, something I can’t say for many other posters here. Who else should we be taking advice from, if not masters of the game? As someone who learned chess theory mainly through the internet, I find Kindaspongey’s posts particularly helpful since they bring in insights from classic texts I might not otherwise encounter. Unrelated, but using alts to upvote yourself and downvote others? Come on, you can do better.
#38

@drchampionsteinv said in #1:

I am looking for an ideal opening repertoire for both white and black
Please give me your suggestions
I am open to all responses :)
Yes Open to All Responses but you haven't responded to all the ideas given or I should say you haven't responded at all to ANY responses/posts/suggestions ... What do you think @drchampionsteinv of some of the ideas given so far ?

@drchampionsteinv said in #1: > I am looking for an ideal opening repertoire for both white and black > Please give me your suggestions > I am open to all responses :) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Yes Open to All Responses but you haven't responded to all the ideas given or I should say you haven't responded at all to ANY responses/posts/suggestions ... What do you think @drchampionsteinv of some of the ideas given so far ?

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