Why 1.e4 and 1...e5
Openings teach by repetition, and what you want repeated early is the stuff every game needs: developing pieces quickly, castling, fighting for the centre, and punishing an opponent who does none of those things. Open positions teach that faster than closed ones, because mistakes get refuted in five moves instead of thirty.
1.e4 e5 is the most open start there is. Both bishops get diagonals immediately, both kings can castle by move five, and the tactics that appear are the ones in every beginner's book — forks, pins, the back rank. You are not memorising an opening so much as running drills on the fundamentals.
The Italian Game is the natural first opening: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 points a bishop at f7 and follows every rule you have just been taught. The Scotch Game is an equally good pick if you prefer to open the centre immediately rather than manoeuvre.
What about the openings people recommend on YouTube
Two categories get pushed hard at beginners, and both cost you something.
System openings — the ones where you play the same six moves regardless of what your opponent does — are genuinely easy to remember. That is also the problem. They let you reach move ten without ever having asked why a move is good, and the understanding you skipped is exactly what you need at move twenty when the system runs out. They work well for players who already understand the middlegame and want to save preparation time. That is not the beginner's situation.
Gambits and traps win a lot of games quickly, which feels like evidence that they are good. What they actually train is the habit of hoping. The Fried Liver Attack is worth knowing because it can happen to you, not because it should be your plan.
What to actually learn first
Learn the first four or five moves of one opening as White and one answer to 1.e4 as Black, and understand the point of each move well enough to explain it out loud. That is a weekend's work, not a project.
Then stop. The next thing that improves your results is not a sixth move — it is not hanging pieces. Come back to the opening when you start losing games because of the opening, which will be later than you think.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should a beginner learn the Ruy Lopez?
Eventually, not first. The Ruy Lopez is the most respected 1.e4 e5 opening and it will still be there in a year. Its ideas — the pressure on c6, the slow kingside build-up, the manoeuvre Nb1-d2-f1-g3 — only make sense once you have seen enough positions to know what the alternative would have been. The Italian teaches the same opening principles with less theory in the way.
Is it bad to play the same opening every game?
No, it is the fastest way to improve. Playing one opening repeatedly means you keep reaching similar positions, so you start recognising plans rather than calculating from scratch each time. Variety is what you add once the positions have stopped teaching you anything new.
How long should a beginner spend on openings?
Much less than feels natural. Below roughly 1200 rating, games are decided by pieces left hanging and mates missed, not by move eight of a theoretical line. A rough split of one part opening study to four parts tactics and endgames matches where the points actually come from.