The first few moves of a chess game can be some of the most important moves you make. In those moves, you will establish your early plans and fight for your place on the board. Most beginners don’t need to memorize exact opening moves and should instead focus on good opening principles like controlling the center and developing your pieces. However, it is useful to know some openings as they can be common, and they do help reinforce good plans. But don’t become too reliant on memorization or you will soon find yourself feeling lost.

Some of the best chess openings for beginners are:

#1 The Italian Game

The Italian game begins with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. The point is to control the center quickly with your pawn and knight and then put your bishop on its most dangerous square. You are also preparing to castle to safety.

#2 The Sicilian Defense

The Sicilian Defense is the most popular choice of aggressive players with the black pieces. Often White will play 2.Nf3 and 3.d4 which will gain central space, but it allows Black to benefit by exchanging a central pawn for a bishop's pawn.

#3 The French Defense

The French Defense is one of the first strategic openings every chess player should learn. After e5 (now or later), both sides will have pawn chains. One risk of the French Defense is that the c8-bishop can be very hard to develop.

#4 The Ruy-Lopez

The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest and most classic of all openings. It is named after a Spanish bishop who wrote one of the first books on chess. The Ruy Lopez attacks the knight which defends the e5-pawn. White hopes to use this attack to build more pressure on Black's central pawn.

#5 The Slav Defense

The Slav Defense is a very solid opening which defends the d5-pawn with another pawn. Most of Black's pieces can develop to natural squares, but Black will usually have a little less space and will have to find a good place for their b8-knight.

But the best opening of all is "The Control-the-Center-with-Active-Pieces-and-Play-Carefully Opening!" And you already know how to play that one.

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