Best chess openings for beginners under 800 elo

Under 800 on chess.com, the Scotch Game (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4) gets White the best results, 55.2% across more than 53,000 games. With Black, the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6) does best against 1.e4 and 1...Nf6 against 1.d4. All of it comes from 2.1 million rated online games where both players were under 800, so these are results against the kind of opponent you actually get paired with.

Which openings score best under 800?

A score is wins plus half the draws, from the side playing the opening. White scores 51.8% on average at this level, so a White opening has to beat that to be doing better than usual. For Black the number to beat is 48.2%.

Three points doesn’t sound like much. Over a hundred games it’s three extra points, the same as three more wins, and you get them before the middlegame even starts.

What should you play as White?

Play 1.e4. Two games in three at this level open with it, and after 1...e5 the position opens up fast, so getting your pieces out quickly counts for a lot. Here’s how the main lines after 1...e5 compare.

Most of us learned the Italian first, and there’s nothing wrong with it. The Scotch scores better, though. Probably because 3.d4 blows the centre open before Black is ready, and plenty of players at this level don’t know where their pieces go after 3...exd4.

If you’d rather open 1.d4, the Queen’s Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4) also scores 55.2%, and the London System (1.d4 and Bf4) scores 53.6%.

What should you play as Black against 1.e4?

Go for the Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6) or the Sicilian (1.e4 c5). Both score above 50% for Black, so you come out ahead even though White moved first. 1...e5 is by far the most common reply, and it scores the worst.

There’s nothing wrong with 1...e5 as a move. The trouble is that open games under 800 turn into a race to attack, and White starts that race a move ahead. The Caro-Kann keeps things closed and gets a solid pawn to d5 next move, so the quick shots at f7 are much harder to pull off.

What should you play as Black against 1.d4?

Play 1...Nf6, which scores 49.4% for Black. Half of all players answer 1...d5 instead, and that scores 46.8%. 1...c5 and 1...g6 do a touch better than 1...Nf6, but they come up far less often, so their numbers are less solid.

What will your opponents play?

Mostly 1.e4. It’s 65% of games under 800, and 1.d4 is another 22%. When you have White, more than half your opponents answer 1.e4 with 1...e5, and one in eight goes for the Scandinavian (1...d5).

If you’re going to study anything, make it one answer to 1.e4 and one to 1.d4 for Black, plus one line after 1.e4 e5 for White. That has you covered in nearly every game.

Does the early queen attack work under 800?

Less than you’d think. 2.Qh5 shows up in 5% of games that start 1.e4 e5, and White scores 52.3% with it. Plain 2.Nf3 scores 53.3%. When Black misses the threat on f7 you win in a few moves. When Black sees it, your queen gets chased around and you fall behind in development.

Games do end fast down here. 8.6% of games under 800 are over within ten moves each, against 2.3% between 1500 and 1800. Learn the f7 and f2 traps from both sides, because at your level they decide a lot of games.

Does it change in blitz or rapid?

Not really. The Scotch and the Queen’s Gambit stay above 54% for White in bullet, blitz and rapid. The Caro-Kann does best for Black in bullet, at 52.1%. Probably because you can play its first moves on autopilot when the clock is running down.

Should beginners learn openings at all?

A little. Pick one first move with White and one answer each to 1.e4 and 1.d4, and learn why those first moves are played. After that, get your pieces out, castle and watch f7. Most games under 800 are decided by tactics anyway, so that’s where the rest of your study time should go.

Where do these numbers come from?

From 2.1 million rated online games played in October 2026, taken from a public game database. Ratings were converted to chess.com equivalents with a published rating comparison, and a game only counts when both players were under 800. Games against computers and abandoned games were left out.

An opening’s score also reflects who plays it. Players who pick rarer lines are often a bit stronger than their rating, so a gap of a point or so doesn’t tell you much. The conversion is also rougher under 800 than higher up, because the rating comparison has little data that low.

You can check any line yourself in the chess.com games database, filtered by rating. Once you’ve played your new openings for a while, Chesslord’s insights show how they’re scoring for you, with White and with Black.