Three Great Chess Openings for Beginners
“Coach, what’s the best chess opening?”
Silver Knights chess coaches hear this question many times in our group chess classes. As longtime players, we all have openings we prefer to others. But what’s the best chess opening for kids to learn?
Depending on the child’s skill level, one possible answer to this question is: "There are more important things to learn than any particular opening.” At Silver Knights, our coaches will give your child a solid grasp of the principles underlying all chess openings. Rather than attempting to memorize specific opening variations, it is far more important for beginners to develop a thorough knowledge of chess tactics, checkmate patterns, and chess endgame techniques.
Nevertheless, many kids do enjoy learning openings. They have cool names, can lead to interesting traps, and can get a player into a good position. We believe that kids can learn something from studying any opening – even the “bad” ones. Once kids have mastered the basics of chess, we encourage them to explore many different openings and follow their curiosity. Opening specialization will come later, as your child develops into a well rounded chess player.
So where should newer players start if they want to incorporate an opening into their chess play?
Best Chess Openings for Beginners
There are a number of respectable openings out there and many reasons why a young player might become interested in one particular opening or another. Perhaps the opening contains a sneaky trap, was played by a world champion, or was featured on the channel of a favorite streamer. These are all good enough reasons to check out an opening and start learning it. In this article, we'll recommend three great chess openings for kids to explore. We made our selections based on the following criteria:
- Beginner Friendly: Beginners should be able to start playing the opening right away, and the basic moves should not require a ton of memorization.
- Played by Strong Players: The opening should be good enough that masters have played it in serious games so kids can stick with it if they like it.
- Clear Strategy: Ideally, the opening should have a clear strategic foundation so kids will expand their knowledge of chess by studying it.
The Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez)
When beginners start studying openings, they often try to memorize a long sequence of moves that end with a powerful attack. But most of the time, your opponent will play one or two moves that slightly differ from that long sequence, yet block that attack. Then the beginner will have no idea what to do next.
Instead, you should aim for common positions that can happen after just a few moves. Perhaps no position is more common than the Spanish Game, also known as the Ruy Lopez.
The first moves of the Ruy Lopez are:
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bb5
Instead of a long sequence, you only need to memorize three moves as White. Black will probably move the pawn to a6 to attack the bishop, then White must decide whether to take the knight or move the bishop to safety.
The Ruy Lopez is one of the best chess openings to study and is useful for beginners and expert players alike. This 500-year-old opening (yes, it is that old) is a common position every chess player should learn. The Spanish Game is a quintessential, classical opening where both sides try to control the center with pawns.
There are many, many other classical openings kids can study beyond the Ruy Lopez. Two other interesting choices are the French Defense and the Sicilian Defense. All of these openings seek to take direct control of the center with pawns and other pieces; thus, they can expand upon the core opening concepts kids learn about as beginners.
Chess Gambits For Beginners
A gambit is a special kind of chess opening that can be quite different from the classical openings described above. In a gambit, one player – typically White – will intentionally throw away a pawn in exchange for a strong positional advantage. Black will either try to keep the pawn and play with a difficult position, or give up the pawn to improve the position.
Gambits can be risky, as losing one pawn can be the difference in winning or losing a game. But by practicing gambits, kids can learn to improve their positional play and internalize something essential about the game: that there is more to chess than having the most pieces on the board.
The Evans Gambit
A simple starting gambit to try out is the Evans Gambit. This is not a gambit kids can play at the very start of the game; it happens after a few moves. The two players end up in this very common position, with White to play:
In this position, White plays b4 and lets Black take the pawn with the bishop.
Why is White giving away the pawn? The plan is to next play c3, forcing the bishop away. After that, White will often move their pawn to d4. White now has a strong pawn center as well as a supporting pawn on c3. On the other hand, Black has an extra pawn. Both players will try to use their advantages from here to secure the win.
ICBM Gambit
Good gambits like the Evans can help kids learn about positional play, but other gambits and opening traps offer less instructional value. One particularly infamous trap, which attracts attention because of its name, is the ICBM Gambit. It requires this position:
Black to move here (and not mess up).
If Black plays h6, White can take the f7 pawn with the knight. After the king takes, White can then play Bc4 and thus win the queen. Awesome!
But that’s if Black plays h6. If Black plays a different move like Nc6 or e6 instead, this attack fails to do anything.
Also, it takes about five moves to get into this position. Black might play the five moves that let you spring this trap, but they could also play something else (in fact, Black in this position made a mistake on the third move). If that happens, this crazy gambit loses much of its effectiveness.
Opening traps like this are similar to the Scholar’s Mate. A beginner player can use the Scholar’s Mate to win many games and even some beginner chess tournaments, but once the player reaches a certain level, the Scholar’s Mate is easily blocked.
Blocking the ICBM Gambit is harder than blocking the Scholar’s Mate, but once a player reaches the next level, it too will be blocked. On the other hand, sound gambits like the Evans or Benko gambits will not be blocked as easily, and practicing them will help kids improve their play.
Kids should still learn how to block dubious gambits like the ICBM Gambit, just like beginner chess players should learn how to block the Scholar’s Mate. Ultimately, every chess player should study gambits, dubious or otherwise.
Hypermodern Chess Openings
Any beginner chess player will learn to move pawns into the middle, develop pieces, and create a position that looks something like this:
But there are other ways to control the center without sending a pawn down the middle right away. In the 1900s, great chess masters like Aron Nimzowitsch and Ernst Grünfeld showed that you can control the center with pieces on the edge of the board instead of pawns.
That may sound strange at first. But by practicing hypermodern openings, you can see the possibilities Nimzowitsch and Grunfield discovered and open your mind to a new style of play.The King’s Indian Defense
The King’s Indian Defense is arguably the best known hypermodern opening. It's unusual in that a similar setup can be played by White, in which case the opening would be called the King’s Indian Attack. The first few moves of the King’s Indian Defense for Black are:
Nf6, g6, Bg7, d6.
A wonderful fortress for the black king to hide in.
These four moves can be done almost regardless of what White plays. From there, Black will often castle and look to move either the e or c-pawn up two spaces. After that, Black will often move the f-pawn and try to charge down the kingside with an aggressive attack!
The King’s Indian can be trickier after those first few moves than the Evans Gambit or the Ruy Lopez because the resulting position is less familiar for new players. Even so, it can be a good choice for players who want to try something new.
Other popular hypermodern openings are the Grünfeld Defense, Alekhine’s Defense, or the Réti Opening. Learning hypermodern openings can be a nice change of pace for kids who are used to more classical openings.
Beginners Can Start With Any Chess Opening
Openings can be fun to learn, though they should sometimes take a backseat to studying tactics and endgames. The Ruy Lopez, Evans Gambit, and King’s Indian are all openings kids can practice as they develop their core chess skills. Students can commit them to memory by reading books, trying the openings out in online games, and taking part in our online classes, where our expert chess coaches teach numerous opening strategies and how to defend against them.
Our online chess classes typically begin to discuss specific openings at the Queens or Kings levels. When your child is ready to shake up their game and try a different opening, our coaches are here to help.
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