Seasoned chess players around the world recognise three main parts of the game – the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. Every part is important and could lead to one side winning the game, but there is a certain fascination with the opening which is unprecedented. In these series, we will take a look at the main openings and the amazing variety of games and positions arising from them.

The opening of a chess game has always been the most serious contender for the minds and hearts of the chess improvers. One of the main reasons for this could probably be attributed to the commiting nature of the opening for the players. With their first moves, both Black and White decide the direction and more importantly the nature of the game – whether it is going to be a tactical chaos with multiple explosions about to errupt on the board, or a solid positional competition, where every piece shuffle might be the subtle advantage to turn the game. To quote our very own chairman Ben who summarised the importance of the opening a few months back in his interview for our website:

“I don’t have a favourite part of the game. I guess if I had to choose, I would say the opening. The reason is that I view a game of chess like building a house. To build a house you need a solid foundation, just like in chess you need a solid opening to build your game from.”

It is easy to underestimate the importance of the above statement, and it is fascinating how often people jump from one opening to another without a clear idea of the positions arising from their newly chosen first lines. Using the above metaphore, we could easily extrapolate that this approach is like building different house foundations without the vaguest idea of how the houses are going to look like.

Okay, we have stated how important openings are, but how should we go about picking our own opening and how much time should we spent on becoming proficient in it and the positions arising from there? It is fair to admit that this is a complicated question, depending on a few important variables: what positions do you prefer, how much time are you able to spend on studying the opening, when would you like to throw your opponent out of preparation and ‘the book’ … One thing is for sure – no matter what your answers are to those questions, there is an opening line suiting those answers. Our aim in this long series will be to present you with the main options and their peculiarities. In our above-stated line of thought, it is only fair to lay the foundations of the chess openings by listing the most common first moves from White and Black, giving a short summary of the different openings the positions lead to. We start with the two main favourites, centuries-old catalysts of many heated discussions between chess players around the world – 1.e4 and 1.d4.

1.e4…

An ancient opening which on paper has been considered the best first move forever. The e-pawn opens diagonals for the queen and the light-squared bishop, and immediately takes control of d5 and f5 in the centre of the board. There are many replies from Black, leading to many different games and positions, for example:

1…c5 – the Sicilian defence. The most popular reply from Black in the chess.com database, widely considered the best option for Black if they are playing for a win. Being one of the most combative and popular choices of reply, this opening is highly technical and people should be familiar with quite a lot of ‘book’ variations and emerging positions, including Classical, Dragon, Accelerated Dragon, Scheveningen, Najdorf, Sveshnikov, Kalashnikov, Taimanov, Kan, Four Knights, Rossolimo and Moscow variations among others.

1…e5 – another very common reply, leading to a variety of different games. A common development for both players includes 2. Nf3 Nc6 whereby White attacks the e5-pawn while Black defends it, with both players developing a knight. From this position, there are many opportunities for White to lead the game in different positions – Italian game, Spanish game (Ruy Lopez), Scotch game, etc. A very popular line from Black to reply to the threat from 2.Nf3… is to create a threat of his own with 2….Nf6, and this line, called the Petrov is quite popular and used recently in the last World Championship, played between GM Carlsen and GM Nepomniachtchi. A more solid approach for Black might be to play 2….d6, leading the game into the Philidor defence. Alternatively, if White wants to take a different path as soon as the second move, there are more options: 2.Nc3… leading to the Vienna game, 2. Bc4… which is transpositional, even 2. f4… – the King’s gambit, among others.

1…e6 – the third most common reply from chess.com database, leading usually to the French defence. Another response which is gaining popularity, is the e6…b6 setup from Black, most recently popularised by GothamChess IM Levy Rozman. A less popular, but interesting choice to continue might be St. George defence, with e6, a6 and b5, and the aim to play c5, attacking the centre.

1…c6 – another solid option for Black, leading most commonly to the Caro-Kann defence, with its multiple theoretical lines.

1…d6/1…g6 – these moves are placed in the same bracket, as they usually lead to the Pirc and the Modern – structures similar to the King’s Indian defence.

1…d5 – straight confronting White in the centre, a reply known as the Scandinavian defence.

The above are in summary the most common replies for Black, but there is no limit to the way they want to play, including with some more untypical line like the Alekhine, the Hippopotamus, or others.

1.d4…

The other representative of the e4 vs d4 debate, with ancient history behind it, is the second most common move in the chess.com database, not far away from its companion above. Similar to 1.e4, this move opens up the queen and the dark-squared bishop, and the pawn strikes in the centre, controlling e5 and c5. Needless to say, there are probably as many replies to 1.d4, as there are to 1.e4, if not even more.

1…Nf6 – arguably the most flexible reply. This move is very transpositional and it could lead to many lines. From here, White can decide to go for a variety of lines, including:

1. 2.c4…, leading to Queen’s Gambit (yes, like the series) lines or the Catalan, which is a common choice of many Grandmasters, including GM Magnus Carlsen and GM Ding Liren. The variety in Black’s reply is quite large, including the Queen’s Gambit highly theoretical lines, the King’s Indian defence, the Benoni, the Nimzo-Indian, the Grünfeld, and many others. Usually all these lines are highly theoretical, and a player should really spend some time studying them, regardless of which colour they play.
2. 2.Bf4… – the London system. This is an opening where White is usually looking for the same setup, regardless of what Black plays. Played like a system, the less theory and the solid nature of this opening makes it very often preferred by people who do not want to spend too much time studying openings or do not have the time to go for very theoretical lines.
3. 2.Nf3… is another very flexible and transpositional move and could lead to many different lines, including all of the above.
4. 2.Nc3… is a more dirct reply from White as the knight is looking to support an e5 pawn push. This move is also part of another line, known as the Jobava London system – a very transpositional opening, aiming at creating tactical opportunities for White early on in the game.
5. 2.Bg5… – the Trompowsky attack. This opening has recently received quite a bit of attention as it was another line popularised by GothamChess.

There are of course, many other replies and lines following 1…Nf6, but luckily for d4-players, they usually end up in the same setups. The move 1…Nf6 could also be substituted by the second most popular move with both leading more or less to the same lines.

1….d5 – with this move, Black states that they are going to fight for the centre. One of the most popular continuations is the Slav defence, with its many theoretical lines: Main Slav, Exchange Slav, Semi-Slav(an opening on its own), Chebanenko Slav, Alapin variation, Czech variation, and others. As mentioned in the previous line, we could again meet transpositions, as after White’s second move, 2…Nf6 leads to some of the above lines.

1….e6 – another very flexible and transpositional move. Here White can choose to play 2.e4… and opt for the French defence, while on the other hand 2.c4… leads again towards the Queen’s Gambit lines above.

1….d6 – a very interesting move which gives Black options for Philidor or King’s Indian – type setups, as well as opportunities for more enthusiastic approaches like the Hippo. It could also transpose into the Benoni further down the road.

1….f5 – the Dutch defence. Another one of the common replies from Black which looks a little like a mirror image of the Sicilian,

Although not as popular, there are other options for Black to reply to 1.d4…, some of the most notable being the Englund Gambit with 1….e5 and the Modern with 1….g6.

Other first moves

There are in total of 20 first moves that White can play, and they had all been pretty much played in the history of chess. Nevertheless, there are sounder options, and there are unsound options, although so early in the game nothing is fatal and any position could be held by either player. The openings which are not part of the above lines, are considered slightly inferior, and are often called ‘Minor’ openings. Some of the most notable representatives of this class are the following:

1.c4… – the English opening. A very popular choice which is not so different from the Catalan in the sense that White aims for similar development, including fianchetto-ing their light-squared bishop. A very tactical, yet solid positionally opening, the English is a favourite of many players, including at Master level.

1.Nf3… – another very popular choice, the Réti, named after the great 20th century player Richard Réti. Possibly the most flexible opening move, this very transpositional move gives options for most of the lines above, with either e4, c4, or d4 played on the second move, or just fianchetto-ing the light squared bishop in the lines of the King’s Indian Attack.

1.f4… – the Bird opening, named after the 19th century player Henry Bird. Although not as direct as the main opening moves, this move also aims at controlling the centre. However, White always has to be careful about kingside attacks and checks on the e1-h4 diagonal. Nevertheless, a solid minor choice by White to open.

1.b3…/1.g3… – although these moves can lead to vastly different positions, they are quite similar in the sense, that White does not attack the centre straight away, and is looking to get a bishop fianchetto-ed and then attack the centre of the board.

There are, of course, other alternatives to the all of the above moves and lines, from the ‘creepy-crawly’, to the Sodium opening, there are many ways for White to open and Black to reply. However, in the series we will be looking at the main lines played by Masters, tested and passed the challenges of history. Join us next time, when we will be looking at one of the most popular and old lines, favourite of the tactical players and lovers of the sharp lines, the Italian game.