The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory. The other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences, known as openings, have standard names such as "Sicilian Defense". The Oxford Companion to Chess lists 1,327 named openings and variants, and there are many others with varying degrees of common usage.
A gambit is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices material with the aim of achieving a subsequent positional advantage.
The Modern Defense is a hypermodern chess opening in which Black allows White to occupy the center with pawns on d4 and e4, then proceeds to attack and undermine this "ideal" center without attempting to occupy it. The opening has been most notably used by British grandmasters Nigel Davies and Colin McNab.
The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening. It is defined by the following moves:
The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move:
Bird's Opening is a chess opening characterised by the move:
Alekhine's Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
Petrov's Defence or the Petrov Defence is a chess opening characterised by the following moves:
The Scotch Game, or Scotch Opening, is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The Budapest Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The Queen's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move 1.d4, which is the second-most popular opening move after 1.e4.
The Englund Gambit is a rarely played chess opening that starts with the moves:
The Queen's Gambit Declined is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit:
In chess, an exchange variation is a type of opening in which there is an early, voluntary exchange of pawns or pieces. Such variations are often quieter than other lines because the early release of tension minimizes the possibility of surprise tactics or sharp, forcing lines, particularly where it results in a symmetrical pawn structure.
In the game of chess, Indian Defence or Indian Game is a broad term for a group of openings characterised by the moves:
In a game of chess, the pawn structure is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Because pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus plays a large role in determining the strategic character of the position.
A Semi-Closed Game is a chess opening in which White plays 1.d4 but Black does not make the symmetrical reply 1...d5.
