Openings

A few openings you know beat a thousand you half-remember.

There are only about 148 named openings. Explore them move by move, keep the ones you play, and drill those lines until they belong to you. Nobody needs to learn all of them.

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Popular, sound openings to build around

Pick one for White and one or two replies for Black. That is a complete opening repertoire for most players.

B20

Sicilian Defense

1. e4 c5

C00

French Defense

1. e4 e6

B10

Caro-Kann Defense

1. e4 c6

C60

Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5

C50

Italian Game

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4

C44

Scotch Game

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4

D06

Queen's Gambit

1. d4 d5 2. c4

D30

Queen's Gambit Declined

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6

D10

Slav Defense

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6

A48

London System

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bf4

E61

King's Indian Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3

E20

Nimzo-Indian Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4

E12

Queen's Indian Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6

E00

Catalan Opening

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3

A10

English Opening

1. c4

A09

Réti Opening

1. Nf3 d5 2. c4

B00

Pirc Defense

1. e4 d6

B01

Scandinavian Defense

1. e4 d5

B02

Alekhine Defense

1. e4 Nf6

A80

Dutch Defense

1. d4 f5

A56

Benoni Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5

D80

Grünfeld Defense

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5

C30

King's Gambit

1. e4 e5 2. f4

C25

Vienna Game

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3

Explore move by move

Follow the tree, one move at a time

Start with White's first move and see where each reply leads. The name appears the moment a line becomes a recognized opening, so you learn how the families branch instead of staring at a list.

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The starting position

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Browse the index

All 148 named openings

Grouped by ECO family. Each links to its main line, with every variation a click away from there.

A

Flank openings

English, Reti, Bird, Polish, and other first moves outside 1.e4 and 1.d4.

A10 English Opening 166 lines A40 Queen's Pawn Game 70 lines A80 Dutch Defense 68 lines A43 Benoni Defense 61 lines A45 Indian Defense 53 lines A04 Zukertort Opening 47 lines A09 Réti Opening 43 lines A40 Pterodactyl Defense 34 lines A00 Van Geet Opening 33 lines A02 Bird Opening 28 lines A00 Polish Opening 25 lines A00 Grob Opening 20 lines A00 Hungarian Opening 20 lines A07 King's Indian Attack 20 lines A01 Nimzo-Larsen Attack 18 lines A41 Old Indian Defense 14 lines A57 Benko Gambit Accepted 10 lines A45 Trompowsky Attack 10 lines A40 Englund Gambit 9 lines A00 Kádas Opening 9 lines A57 Benko Gambit 8 lines A40 English Defense 7 lines A40 Englund Gambit Declined 7 lines A00 Ware Opening 7 lines A00 Barnes Opening 6 lines A57 Benko Gambit Declined 6 lines A46 Torre Attack 6 lines A40 Borg Defense 5 lines A07 King's Indian Attack, with Bf5 5 lines A00 Van't Kruijs Opening 5 lines A48 London System 4 lines A00 Mieses Opening 4 lines A40 Mikenas Defense 4 lines A00 Sodium Attack 4 lines A00 Amar Opening 3 lines A04 Colle System 3 lines A48 London System, with Be2 3 lines A00 Anderssen's Opening 2 lines A00 Clemenz Opening 2 lines A15 English Orangutan 2 lines A00 Formation 2 lines A40 Horwitz Defense 2 lines A40 Kangaroo Defense 2 lines A07 King's Indian Attack, with e6 2 lines A47 Marienbad System 2 lines A50 Mexican Defense 2 lines A40 Polish Defense 2 lines A00 Polish Opening, with d5 2 lines A47 Pseudo Queen's Indian Defense 2 lines A50 Slav Indian 2 lines A04 Zukertort Defense 2 lines A00 Amsterdam Attack 1 line A40 Australian Defense 1 line A45 Canard Opening 1 line A00 Creepy Crawly Formation 1 line A46 Döry Defense 1 line A48 East Indian Defense 1 line A00 Global Opening 1 line A00 Lasker Simul Special 1 line A48 London System, with Bd3 1 line A40 Montevideo Defense 1 line A45 Paleface Attack 1 line A50 Queen's Indian Accelerated 1 line A41 Robatsch Defense 1 line A00 Saragossa Opening 1 line A00 Valencia Opening 1 line A56 Vulture Defense 1 line A41 Wade Defense 1 line A46 Yusupov-Rubinstein System 1 line A40 Zaire Defense 1 line

B

Semi-open games

Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, Pirc, Alekhine, Scandinavian, and related replies to 1.e4.

B20 Sicilian Defense 385 lines B10 Caro-Kann Defense 107 lines B02 Alekhine Defense 56 lines B01 Scandinavian Defense 45 lines B00 Nimzowitsch Defense 43 lines B06 Modern Defense 39 lines B00 King's Pawn Game 38 lines B00 Pirc Defense 28 lines B00 Rat Defense 11 lines B00 Owen Defense 8 lines B00 Lion Defense 6 lines B00 St. George Defense 4 lines B00 Carr Defense 2 lines B00 Goldsmith Defense 2 lines B00 Hippopotamus Defense 2 lines B00 Ware Defense 2 lines B00 Barnes Defense 1 line B07 Czech Defense 1 line B00 Duras Gambit 1 line B00 Fried Fox Defense 1 line B00 Lemming Defense 1 line

C

Open games

Double king-pawn openings, including the Ruy Lopez, Italian, Scotch, Petrov, and gambits.

C60 Ruy Lopez 234 lines C00 French Defense 211 lines C50 Italian Game 184 lines C33 King's Gambit Accepted 137 lines C30 King's Gambit Declined 53 lines C44 Scotch Game 53 lines C42 Petrov's Defense 50 lines C47 Four Knights Game 48 lines C41 Philidor Defense 44 lines C23 Bishop's Opening 41 lines C25 Vienna Game 41 lines C20 Center Game 18 lines C40 Latvian Gambit 17 lines C44 Ponziani Opening 16 lines C25 Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense 15 lines C40 Latvian Gambit Accepted 9 lines C21 Danish Gambit Accepted 6 lines C46 Three Knights Opening 6 lines C40 Elephant Gambit 4 lines C40 King's Knight Opening 3 lines C20 King's Pawn Opening 3 lines C20 Portuguese Opening 3 lines C20 Bongcloud Attack 1 line C21 Center Game Accepted 1 line C21 Danish Gambit 1 line C21 Danish Gambit Declined 1 line C44 Dresden Opening 1 line C40 Gunderam Defense 1 line C44 Irish Gambit 1 line C30 King's Gambit 1 line

D

Queen pawn games

Queen's Gambit systems, Slav structures, London lines, and other 1.d4 d5 openings.

D06 Queen's Gambit Declined 171 lines D31 Semi-Slav Defense 68 lines D80 Grünfeld Defense 59 lines D10 Slav Defense 52 lines D20 Queen's Gambit Accepted 51 lines D32 Tarrasch Defense 26 lines D00 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Accepted 22 lines D00 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit 18 lines D70 Neo-Grünfeld Defense 15 lines D00 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Declined 9 lines D01 Richter-Veresov Attack 8 lines D05 Rubinstein Opening 6 lines D01 Rapport-Jobava System 3 lines D00 Amazon Attack 2 lines D06 Queen's Gambit 1 line D01 Rapport-Jobava System, with e6 1 line D44 Semi-Slav Defense Accepted 1 line

E

Indian defenses

Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Indian, King's Indian, Catalan, Benoni, and related 1.d4 Nf6 systems.

E60 King's Indian Defense 119 lines E20 Nimzo-Indian Defense 98 lines E12 Queen's Indian Defense 53 lines E00 Catalan Opening 30 lines E11 Bogo-Indian Defense 21 lines E14 Queen's Indian Defense, with e3 14 lines E10 Blumenfeld Countergambit 3 lines E10 Blumenfeld Countergambit Accepted 1 line E14 Queen's Indian Defense, with e3, Bb4+ Line 1 line E60 Queen's Pawn, Mengarini Attack 1 line