The Best Chess Opening for Beginners
Are you new to the world of chess and feeling overwhelmed by the countless opening possibilities? Don’t worry – you’re not alone! In this post, we’ll explore the best chess openings for beginners and show you how to get started on the path of mastery.
Why chess openings matter
The opening is the first phase of a chess game, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. A good opening can give you a strong position, while a poor one can leave you struggling from the start. For beginners, having a solid grasp of the first few moves can leave you psychologically in a place where you’re more confident to trust your abilities.
What makes a good “beginner opening”?
Let’s consider what makes an opening beginner-friendly:
- Easy to understand principles
- Flexibility and room for error
- Opportunities for learning fundamental concepts
- Not a lot of concrete lines to memorize (for you or your opponent)
With these criteria in mind, let’s explore the top three chess openings that are perfect for beginners.
Top 3 chess openings for beginners
1. The Italian Game
The Italian Game begins with the moves:
- e4 e5
- Nf3 Nc6
- Bc4
Why it’s great for beginners:
- Develops pieces quickly and naturally
- Creates opportunities for attack
- Teaches the importance of controlling the center
2. The London System
The London System typically starts with:
- d4 d5
- Bf4
You’ll follow up almost any move by black with moving your pawn to e3 and your knight to f3.
Why it’s great for beginners:
- Can be played against almost any Black setup
- Offers a solid, defensive structure
- Easy to remember and replicate
3. The Queen’s Gambit
The Queen’s Gambit starts with:
- d4 d5
- c4
Why it’s great for beginners:
- Leads to a variety of different popular openings, without being excessively sharp
- Teaches the importance of pawn structure and challenging the center
- Provides opportunities for both tactical and strategic play
How to practice these openings
The best way to practice openings is not to memorize lines 6–10 moves in. Most of these lines, you won’t even encounter, because your opponent makes an early mistake!
Instead, you should play real games in the opening you choose, and collect experience by facing the most common ways other humans will respond to your opening moves.
Playing real games also help you navigate the typical middlegames and endgames that arise from an opening, as well as the typical traps and tactical themes that reoccur.
Over time, you’ll notice what moves you feel insecure against, and that give you trouble. That’s a good point to pause and get feedback on your play, either by double-checking against opening databases or engines, or incorporated in your play as instant feedback.
So, what’s the plan? You have, essentially, two choices:
- Go play games online, mixing blitz and rapid time controls, and hope that your opponent plays into the opening you’d like to practice
- Play against an AI, where you can choose the opening book for the AI. Word of warning: most (but not all) computers play inhuman moves and are a pain to practice against.
If you opt for option 2, you’ll need to find a tool and setup that works for you. Lichess has a great selection of different engines to play where you can set up positions. Another great option is Noctie, a chess AI specifically built to play realistic humanlike moves at any rating level, let you pick the opening of your choice, and give you feedback and exercises based on your play.
Let’s get started!