Chess For Novices - A Guide for Fresh Beginners and Aspiring Novices

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Specific Chess Openings - A Guide for Novices and Beginners

Every chess opening has it's own unique personality. Choosing an opening repertoire to spend time learning involves matching these personalities to your own skills and tastes. We've put together a guide that provides a general overview of the most common openings - and the ideas behind them.

Don't expect to find complicated variations and lines. The guide is light on theory. It's intended to be an enjoyable introduction to the beauty behind the openings. Hopefully it will inspire you to take up study - and help you build your opening repertoire.


A Word of Caution

Spending time learning openings can be very intoxicating. Many beginners and novices spend a great deal of time learning a myriad opening variations at great depth. This is a mistake! When you are early in your chess career, your time is far better spent studying tactics, playing games, and relying on general opening principles.

That being said, it's quite healthy for novices to have fun experimenting with different openings and their associated strategic ideas. Enjoy the guide!


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Chess Openings - Table of Contents
Introduction
Open Games - Centre Game - King's Gambit - Bishop's Opening - Vienna Game - King's Knight Opening - Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez) - Italian Game - Scotch Game - Philidor Defense - Petrov Defense
Semi-Open Defenses - Scandinavian Defense - French Defense - Caro-Kann Defense - Sicilian Defense - Alekhine Defense - Modern & Pirc Defense
Closed Games - Queen's Gambit
Indian Defenses - Nimzo-Indian Defense - King's Indian Defense - Queen's Indian Defense
Flank Openings - Reti Opening - English Opening - Bird's Opening
Conclusion