Best Chess Openings Ranked by Level
The "best" chess opening depends on your rating, your style, and your available study time. An opening that works brilliantly at 2500 may be terrible at 1200, and vice versa. Here is an honest ranking of the most popular openings, evaluated at each level, with recommendations for who should play what.
For White: beginners (below 1400)
Tier 1 (recommended): London System (1.d4 2.Bf4), a setup system you can play against everything. Low theory, clear plans, solid structure. Also: Italian Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4), natural development, clear attacking ideas.
Tier 2 (good alternatives): Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4), open and tactical. King's Indian Attack, another flexible system.
Avoid at this level: Ruy Lopez (too much theory), English (too positional), Catalan (requires deep understanding).
For White: intermediate (1400–1800)
Tier 1: Italian Game or Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5), time to learn the classical openings properly. Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4), the gold standard at club level.
Tier 2: London System (still solid), Scotch Game, Colle System.
Now accessible: Catalan (if you enjoy positional play), English Opening (1.c4).
For White: advanced (1800+)
Tier 1: Ruy Lopez, Queen's Gambit, Catalan, the three pillars of White's advantage at high level. English (1.c4) for transpositional flexibility.
Tier 2: Italian (Giuoco Piano), Réti (1.Nf3), Vienna Game. The London System still works but offers less winning chances against prepared opponents.
For Black: all levels
- Against 1.e4 (beginners): Scandinavian (1...d5), simple and solid.
- (Intermediate): Sicilian Defence (opening page) (1...c5), the most popular and most effective. French Defence (1...e6), solid and strategic.
- (Advanced): Sicilian Najdorf/Sveshnikov, Caro-Kann, Berlin Defence.
- Against 1.d4 (beginners): Slav Defence (1...d5 2...c6), solid, no bad bishop problems.
- (Intermediate): King's Indian Defence (1...Nf6 2...g6), dynamic and attacking. Nimzo-Indian (3...Bb4), the most respected defence.
- (Advanced): Grünfeld, Queen's Gambit Declined, Nimzo-Indian.
Choose your repertoire
Explore all these openings in our opening explorer. For a deeper guide on how to build a coherent repertoire, see Building an Opening Repertoire and Openings Explained by Ideas.