E4 Openings for White With Black Playing e5 e4 This estimates there are 10^120 possible chess games while the number of atoms is observed to be 10^82. In fact, it is suggested there are more legal chess moves than there are atoms in the universe (known as the Shannon Number). While not every one of these moves will be even close to the best move, it goes to show that you have to consider more than just what is going on in front of you. You get the idea that there are a ton of positions to think about. However, after white’s first move, there are now 400 possible chess posit i ons, followed by 5362 after White’s second move, then 4,897,256 after 5 moves. In the first move of chess, there are only 20 possibilities that white can make. There are so many possible openings in the chess universe. When you feel you have mastered a ton of concepts behind one opening, move on to another opening to learn it and expand your chess horizons. Practice your most comfortable openings over and over via speed chess to help you see multiple variations of these openings. Remember, openings don’t win games, tactics and strategy win chess games.Ībove all else, don’t worry about losing. Aron Nimzowich often played 1 b3 followed by 2 nf3.Īll chess openings are flexible and it’s important to understand that you could start with one chess opening but find yourself in another quickly. This opening could transpose into an English if they play c4. Just because they play 1.b3, this doesn’t mean they’re only going to play one specific line. I know I’ve had someone open with 1.B3 (the nimzowitsch larsen attack) and I just thought, what the heck is this! the nimzowitsch larsen attack Chess Openings Can Transpose Into One Another This is why basic opening theory is so important: it saves you time later. You might be seeing this opening for the first time and spend more time trying to think of what to do and get into time trouble later. But one day, you may run into someone starting the game by moving their knight to the f3 square (1. e4 is the most popular opening out there. When you first start playing, you may find your opponents using the same openings over and over.ġ. Taking less time in the opening is important to save you precious time whether you are participating in over the board tournaments or playing speed chess online.Įven in longer games where you have an hour and a half or more of time, you still don’t want to focus too long on the opening when you could have memorized basic chess openings and opening chess traps. Studying Allows You To Take Less Time in the Opening This involves knowing when to push certain pawns, where the pawn breaks are, and where your pieces are ideally placed. Instead, focus on understanding the ideas behind specific openings you run into so you are more prepared to face them head on. That being said, I don’t want you to get the idea that you should memorize every opening 10 moves deep, at least not if you are under 2000 elo. They often spend minutes thinking about their first few moves rather than seconds. It’s easy to tell when a player is seeing an opening for the first time. Studying chess openings is important is because it will help you understand what your plans are, what your opponent wants to accomplish and it will give you more time to think later in the game. How Many Openings are Possible in Chess?.Let me know in the comments if there is anything you’d like me to shed more info on: Table of Contents This article is really long, so here are some quick links to the best parts of this chess opening article that I’ll be discussing. If you’re looking for a new opening to try you’ll find a great jumping off point here. The Sicilian Najdorf, French, and London System are just a few chess openings you’ll read about today. You’ll learn the main ideas behind some of the best & most popular chess openings, all in one place.
I put this list of chess openings together to help other chess players learn basic chess opening theory. That said, you should have a basic familiarity with chess openings so you’re not surprised by them. When it comes to chess improvement, you don’t need to memorize the opening.