14 Openings Every Chess Player Must Know

Yury Markushin
08.26.2015
Category: Openings
Tags: chess, win games, opening theory,

In today’s article we will take a look at the 14 most important chess openings that chess players of
all levels must know how to play. Many of the examples discussed here were used by the strongest
players or the past and present to win world championship matches and 22nd category tournaments.
That doesn’t mean however that you have to be Kasparov to play the Queen’s Gambit, or Kramnik to
play the Catalan. By following through the examples you will be able to play these openings well,
regardless of your current level.
1. King’s Indian Defense
The King’s Indian Defense remains one of the main weapons to play for a win against white’s 1.d4.
This ever popular defense has had its ups and downs through the history of modern practice. It started
getting very popular during the 50’s, with the help of players like Bronstein, Geller, and Gligoric.
2. Queen’s Gambit
Before starting the actual presentation, we will first address a basic question to the understanding of
this article: “What is the ‘Carlsbad pawn structure’?” This notion refers to the pawn structure arising
in the Exchange Variation of the Queen’s Gambit, which made its debut in Carlsbad, in 1923.

3. Benko Gambit
The Benko gambit (also called the Volga gambit) is one of the most popular choices against 1.d4 in
modern practice. It gives the second player the opportunity of setting up a strategic battle mixed with
tactical elements that turns out to be successful very often. Although this opening never became a
main weapon at the highest level, top players like Veselin Topalov, Alexei Shirov, Michael Adams and
Evgeny Bareev employed it quite often, producing very exciting and double edged games.
4. Caro Kann Defense
The Caro Kann Defense is well known for being a solid defense against white’s 1.e4. For many years,
it had a reputation of being a passive opening, suitable for a player who is happy playing for a draw.
Nothing more distant from the truth!

Note:
In order to improve your play not only you need to study the openings but also you need to concentrate
on positional understanding and endgame play. If you want to learn how to play common endgames
well, I suggest you checking out our premium training course where we spend a lot of time drilling
most often occurring chess endings so that you will not have to guess on the winning approach, but
simply would know how to win these positions.
5. English Opening
The English Opening is one of white’s most solid start choices. It usually leads to closed positions
with very few exchanges on the board. The battle is tense from the very beginning and there aren’t
much forced lines for any side. In his prime, Garry Kasparov used the English Opening quite often,
achieving remarkable wins and doing a great contribution to the theory of this opening.

6. Spanish Opening
The Berlin variation of the Spanish Opening has become part of the main opening weapons for
black in today’s chess. The Berlin had a reputation of being a drawish/boring option for black.
However, everything changed when the Grandmaster Vladimir Kramnik used it successfully against
Garry Kasparov in the match for the World Chess Championship.

7. Ruy Lopez
The popularity of 1…e5 has increased greatly in the recent years. For a long time, this response
against white’s move 1.e4 was considered a less ambitious option for black than, for example, The
Sicilian Defense. However, times have changed, so has the way we perceive 1…e5 nowadays.
8. Sicilian Dragon
The Dragon variation is one of the most complex lines of the Sicilian Defense.Generally, those who
play the Dragon are well prepared players looking to lure their opponents into sharp positions full of
tactical traps.

9. Najdorf Sicilian
The opening will be looked at from the white’s perspective, featuring most common and successful
plans in defeating the Najdorf without playingsharp variations and risking to lose the game.
10. Grand Prix Sicilian
The Grand Prix variation against the Sicilian is among the lines that most people study once and move
on. A short knowledge of the theory and a few clear ideas is enough to play against it. However, when
meeting a specialist of the line, that may not be enough.

11. Scandinavian
For every 1.e4 player, the Scandinavian has always been an awkward defense to meet. Not because
it is especially dangerous for white, but because the mainlines in which white is meant to obtain a
theoretical advantage are quite complicated and difficult to remember.
12. Closed Sicilian
When writing about the closed variation, it is impossible not to mention the ex-World Champions
Vassily Smyslov and Boris Spassky. Each one had their own style and they contributed enormously to
enriching the theory on this great opening.

13. Catalan
The Catalan Opening is one of white’s main weapons against the Queen’s Gambit
Declinednowadays. The popularity of this opening has increased greatly for the last 10 years thanks
to the efforts of players like Kramnik and Gelfand, who used this variation frequently at the highest
level with big success.
 14. Slav Defense
The Slav defense is possibly among the top three choices for black against 1.d4. After the moves1.d4
d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3, white not only must know the main line of the Slav with 4…dxc4 but also,
but he should also be prepared against the move 4…e6, the Semi-Slav variation.

Note: Openings are no doubt a very important part of chess.

If you want to improve your chess level, you need to have a clear study plan. If you aim for
a dramatic improvement at chess you need to work on all of the elements of the game in a
systematic way:
 tactics
 positional play
 attacking skills
 endgame technique
 classical games analysis
 psychological preparation
 and much more