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List of chess openings

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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

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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.[1]

King's Pawn openings

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KP opening: 1.e4 e5
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
e5 black pawn
e4 white pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
g1 white knight
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh

1...e5 replies

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Asymmetric replies

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Queen's Pawn openings

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1...d5 replies

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Asymmetric replies

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Other opening moves

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Sources for beginners

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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

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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.[2]

  • John Watson. Mastering the Chess Openings, Gambit Publications. Four volumes by a leading American author and chess coach.
  • 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
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References

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  1. Watson, John 1998. Secrets of modern chess strategy. Gambit, London. Part 2: New ideas and the modern revolution. p93
  2. "John Watson's review columns". Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2010-05-24.