List of chess openings

Chess openings are listed and classified according to their first few moves. There are interesting statistics on the frequency of chess openings from chess databases.

Statistics

1800–1900	1901–1935	Modern
e4–e5 (64%)	e4–e5 (31%)	e4–e5 (15%)
e4 other (23%)	e4 other (20%)	e4 other (35%)
d4–d5 (10%)	d4–d5 (28%)	d4–d5 (15%)
d4 other	d4 other (16%)	d4 other (23%)
	other (5%)	other (12%)

The table shows how common each opening was for each era. It shows movement away from symmetrical defences and an increase in asymmetrical defences. In reply to 1.e4, the Sicilian and French Defence, and to 1.d4 the Indian defences become more common. It also shows an increased use of the English Opening for White.

King's Pawn openings

KP opening: 1.e4 e5

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

1...e5 replies

• King's Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.f4
• Ruy Lopez 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5
• Vienna Game 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3
• Giuoco Piano 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5
• Evans Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
• Petrov Defence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6
• Philidor Defence 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6

Asymmetric replies

• Alekhine's Defence 1.e4 Nf6
• Caro-Kann Defence 1.e4 c6
• French Defence 1.e4 e6
• Sicilian Defence 1.e4 c5
  • Open variations 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 followed by 3.d4
  • Closed variations 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 not followed by d4
• Scandinavian Defence 1.e4 d5
• Pirc Defence 1.e4 d6 (may also be played against 1.d4)
• Modern Defence 1.e4 g6 (may also be played against 1.d4)

Queen's Pawn openings

1...d5 replies

• Queen's Gambit Accepted 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4
• Queen's Gambit Declined 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6
• Slav Defence 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6

Asymmetric replies

• Dutch Defence 1.d4 f5
• Benoni Defense 1.d4 c5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5
  • Benko Gambit 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5
• King's Indian Defence 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7
• Grünfeld Defence 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5
• Nimzo-Indian Defence 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4
• Queen's Indian Defence 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6
• Budapest Gambit 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5

Other opening moves

• Zukertort opening 1.Nf3
• English opening 1.c4
• Bird's opening 1.f4

Sources

Sources for beginners

There are few opening book for beginners. Some degree of understanding is needed before the details of an opening can be grasped. The endgame and middlegame should be studied before opening theory. The following books show complete games with elementary explanations of the moves:

• Chernev, Irving 1998. Logical chess: move by move. London:Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-8464-0
• Chandler, Murray 2004. Chess for children. London:Gambit. ISBN 978-1904600060
• King, Daniel 2000. Chess: from first moves to checkmate. London:Kingfisher. Illustrated, 64 pages. ISBN 0-7534-0447-8
• Pritchard, David Brine 2008. The right way to play chess. 8th ed, Right Way. ISBN 978-0716021995
• Wolff, Patrick 2005. The complete idiot’s guide to chess. 3rd ed, New York:Alpha. ISBN 0-02-861736-3

Other sources

None of these are suitable for beginners, but might be used by chess teachers and players of intermediate strength. Tip for teachers: always check the book's reviews.

• John Watson. Mastering the Chess Openings, Gambit Publications. Four volumes by a leading American author and chess coach.
  • Volume 1 (1. e4): ISBN 1-904600-60-3 (2006)
  • Volume 2 (1. d4): ISBN 1-904600-69-7 (2007)
  • Volume 3 (1. c4): ISBN 1-904600-98-0 (2009)
  • Volume 4: a wide-ranging discussion of general opening topics. ISBN 978-1-906454-19-7 (2010)
• Openings reference works:
  • Nick deFirmian et al. 2008. Modern chess openings, 15th ed, Random House N.Y. ISBN 0-8129-3682-5 (these two versions are almost identical)
  • John Nunn et al. 1999. Nunn's chess openings. Everyman, London. ISBN 1-85744-221-0

Related pages

• Gambit