Opening
The opening is the first stage of a chess game, running from the starting position until most pieces have left their home squares and the kings are safe, and it shapes what kind of middlegame both players will face.
Also called: opening phase
Every opening move answers two questions at once: what does it do now, and what kind of position will it lead to later? A knight move toward the center helps development today, while a pawn move commits part of the pawn structure, since pawns never move backward. Strong players judge opening moves mostly by the second question.
In everyday use the word also names particular sequences that have been played often enough to get a label, for example the Ruy Lopez after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5, or the Caro-Kann Defense after 1.e4 c6. Each named opening comes with its own typical structures and plans, which is why players talk about choosing openings that suit their style.
No rule says when the opening is over. A useful working test is to look at three things: whether the minor pieces are out, whether the king has reached safety, and whether the central pawns have settled. Once all three are true, the game has usually moved into the middlegame.
The usual mistake is treating the opening as a memory test. Knowing twenty moves of a line helps little if you do not know what the resulting position asks of you. Another is starting an attack with half the pieces still at home, which tends to backfire as soon as the opponent finishes developing.
It sits close to Opening book. An opening book is a database of opening moves and positions that an engine or program consults to play known theory quickly, instead of calculating each early move from scratch.
Opening ideas such as "Opening" are easier to keep when they are tested on your own games, which is what a first lesson with George Li begins with.
Related terms
Opening principles are general guidelines for the first moves: control the center, develop knights and bishops quickly, castle early and avoid moving the same piece twice without reason.
Development means bringing your pieces from their starting squares to active posts, usually by moving the knights and bishops out, castling and linking the rooks, so they can all contribute to the fight.
Center control means influencing the central squares d4, d5, e4 and e5, with pawns, pieces or both, so that your forces move freely and the opponent has less room to operate.
Opening theory is the body of knowledge about the opening, made up of the known moves, plans and evaluations of the main lines that players have tested over many games.
An opening repertoire is the personal menu of opening lines a player has decided to rely on, so that with either color they know where they are heading and have answers ready for the opponent's most likely choices.
King safety is the degree to which a king is protected from attack, as determined by its pawn cover, the defenders nearby, the open lines pointing at it and how quickly the opponent can bring attackers to the area.
Openings where it occurs
Guides that go further
Most popular chess openings and win rates
The most played openings, how often White wins, and how the numbers change with rating, computed from public games.
What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.
A game review, a read on your level and a written study plan from George Li.
Want to spot this in your own games?
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.