Chess Openings for White
White moves first, so White chooses the game. Eight openings that make that choice concrete - five after 1.e4, two after 1.d4, one that ignores both.
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White's advantage is one move, and the whole opening question is what to spend it on. Push the e-pawn and the game opens immediately: pieces come out fast, kings castle early, and tactics decide things while both sides still have most of their pawns. Push the d-pawn and the centre locks, the game slows down, and plans matter more than calculation. Or refuse to commit at all and play a system that sets itself up the same way whatever Black does. The list below is ordered as that decision, not as a ranking - the first five are 1.e4 openings, then the 1.d4 pair, then the flank.
| Opening | First moves | ECO | Best for | Style | Theory | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italian Game | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 | C50 | White | Balanced | Light | Beginner |
| Ruy Lopez | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 | C60 | White | Positional | Heavy | Intermediate |
| Scotch Game | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 | C45 | White | Aggressive | Light | Beginner |
| Vienna Game | 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 | C25 | White | Tricky | Light | Beginner |
| King's Gambit | 1. e4 e5 2. f4 | C30 | White | Aggressive | Moderate | Intermediate |
| London System | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 | D02 | White | Solid | Light | Beginner |
| Queen's Gambit | 1. d4 d5 2. c4 | D06 | White | Positional | Moderate | Beginner |
| English Opening | 1. c4 | A10 | White | Positional | Moderate | Intermediate |
Italian Game
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4WhiteBalancedLightBeginnerThe default first opening for White, and the one that is hardest to argue with. Three moves put a pawn in the centre, a knight behind it and a bishop on the diagonal that ends at Black's weakest square, and from there the plans are visible rather than memorised. Play it while you learn what the pieces want; most players who leave it come back to it.
Play this openingRuy Lopez
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5WhitePositionalHeavyIntermediateThe most respected 1.e4 opening there is, and the most demanding on this list. Bb5 asks a question about the knight defending e5 that Black answers for the next twenty moves. Expect to study - the Berlin, the Exchange and the Marshall are each their own world - and expect to get back the richest set of plans any opening for White offers.
Play this openingScotch Game
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4WhiteAggressiveLightBeginnerThe practical shortcut. Where the Italian keeps the tension and asks you to know four Black systems, 3.d4 simply opens the centre and gets on with the game. Fewer branches, faster development, and positions where a player who is good at tactics is rewarded on move eight rather than move twenty-five.
Play this openingVienna Game
1. e4 e5 2. Nc3WhiteTrickyLightBeginnerEverything appealing about the King's Gambit with a safety net under it. 2.Nc3 develops first and keeps f4 in reserve, so the attack comes with a piece already out and the c3-knight covering the squares a premature gambit would have left loose. A quiet way to reach a very unquiet game, and a genuine surprise weapon below master level.
Play this openingKing's Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. f4WhiteAggressiveModerateIntermediateThe most aggressive opening a person can play with a straight face. Give the f-pawn on move two, open the file it leaves behind, and attack. It is objectively dubious and practically terrifying: below master level the defender is on their own from move three, and the attacker has been here before. Learn 3.Nf3 before anything else - it exists to stop ...Qh4+.
Play this openingLondon System
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4WhiteSolidLightBeginnerThe answer for anyone who would rather play chess than study it. The same six-move setup goes up against almost everything, so your opening preparation is finished the day you learn it and the time goes into the middlegame instead. The trade is real: you rarely punish a bad move order, because you are not paying attention to it.
Play this openingQueen's Gambit
1. d4 d5 2. c4WhitePositionalModerateBeginnerThe main 1.d4 opening, and the one that teaches what a pawn centre is for. Offer c4, and either Black declines and you build the biggest centre in chess, or Black takes and cannot hold the pawn. Slower games, longer plans, and the half of chess that 1.e4 never shows you.
Play this openingEnglish Opening
1. c4WhitePositionalModerateIntermediate1.c4 is a Sicilian with an extra move, which is exactly as good as it sounds. You attack the centre from the wing, keep every transposition open, and choose the structure yourself - into a Queen's Gambit, into a fianchetto system, or into a reversed Sicilian where you are the one a tempo up. A thinking player's first move.
Play this opening
Pick one from the 1.e4 group and one from 1.d4, play a dozen games with each, and keep the one where you knew what to do on move twelve. Every page here starts with a board that hands you the pieces, so trying an opening is a two-minute question rather than a chapter.
Common questions
- What is the best opening for White?
- For most players, the Italian Game: it costs almost nothing to learn, it develops every piece to a square it wants to be on, and it reaches positions that stay interesting for a whole career. If you would rather not study openings at all, the London System is the honest alternative - one setup, played against almost anything, with the studying replaced by repetition.
- Should White play 1.e4 or 1.d4?
- They are equally good moves and they are different games. 1.e4 opens lines at once and produces sharp, tactical positions - the reason it is usually recommended to improving players, who need the tactical practice. 1.d4 keeps the centre closed longer and rewards planning over calculation. Try both for a month each; the one whose games you enjoy reviewing is yours.
- What if Black does not play 1...e5?
- That is the real cost of 1.e4: Black chooses, and the Sicilian, the French, the Caro-Kann and the Scandinavian are all common answers - so an e4 repertoire eventually needs a line against each. Two ways out. Learn one system-like answer to each defence and keep them shallow, or open 1.d4 and play the London, where Black's choice changes far less about what you do.
- How deep should White know an opening?
- To the point where you can say what your next plan is, which is usually six to ten moves. Beyond that, memorising further lines is one of the least efficient things an improving player can do with study time - the opponent leaves the book first anyway, and the position after they do is decided by the ideas you understood, not the moves you recited.
