16 Openings I'm Excited To Play In 2025
In this post, I'll share with you the sixteen openings I'm most excited about playing in 2025.
For the selection, I focused on systems that I haven't played relatively as often as shown in the databases, and also openings with several fresh ideas I've yet to play here on Chess.com.
1. The Dragon Sicilian (Black)
The first opening I'm excited to play more in 2024 is the Dragon Sicilian (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6). The Accelerated Dragon was my main defence vs. 1.e4 for most of the times that I was in the top 50 in the world on Chess.com blitz (many years ago), so it's not a big surprise that the 'standard' version would also suit me well.
However, I'm intending to play the Dragon with a twist that I picked up from a student's game, namely:
With this modified 'Dragondorf' approach (playing an early ...a6, like in the Najdorf), we avoid the standard plan of Bh6/g4-g5 (which is the problem with the original Dragondorf) and force White to come up with another plan. Admittedly, White should be slightly better with correct play, but that's true of the Dragon in general, and I don't mind playing an objectively worse position if there's some surprise value and good scope to outplay the opponent later.
If White avoids the Dragon with 3.Bb5, I'm intending to play almost exclusively 3...Bd7, as I already played 3...Nd7 a ton over the years, and there's still various approaches within this territory that I've yet to play as Black. Two such systems are:
2. The Four Knights Spanish (White)
The next system I'm excited to play in 2025 is the Four Knights Spanish (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5) as White. I used to assume this system was just a 'poor man's Spanish' due to the early Nc3, but there are some interesting subtleties behind the scenes. Here are a couple of the ideas I'm looking forward to trying:
Another idea in the Four Knights complex that I recently learned about is Bortnyk's 4.Nd5!?, leading to interesting complications after 4...Nxe4 5.d4, much like an improved Belgrade Gambit (4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5). I haven't played this yet, but will likely play this creative idea the first chance I get.
3. Zaitsev Ruy Lopez (Black)
This may seem a weird choice, but I am keen to get in more games with the Closed Spanish as Black, and the Zaitsev is one of those systems I studied quite deeply in 2018 (using Kuzmin's book), but somehow never got around to playing OTB.
And for those concerned about the forced draw with 11.Ng5, there are ways to avoid it:
Admittedly, I don't get a ton of Closed Spanish games in unrated bullet, but it only takes one willing opponent to play a long match and get a bunch of games in. Along the way, I may mix in some creative sidelines I've yet to play, such as 9...a5!?.
4. g3 Open Sicilian (White)
Somewhat surprisingly, even though I've tried almost every approach out there in the Open Sicilian, I have very few games with g3 against systems like the Najdorf and Taimanov:
As you can see, there are a lot of subtleties within the g3 lines, and different ways to play the variation, despite it being not one of the big main lines. This all speaks to White's scope to outplay Black in the arising middlegames.
5. Winawer French (Black)
Seeing Ding's success with the French in the 2024 World Championship Match inspired me to look more closely at this opening of late. I mostly played Ding's preference of 3...Nf6 in my OTB career, but for the sake of variety, I want to try out some fresh ideas in the Winawer, such as:
I don't expect to play the French as much as 1...c5 or 1...e5 in 2025, but I definitely want to play it here and there to keep things interesting.
6. Exchange Caro-Kann with Nf3 (White)
The next idea is one I've played in different versions over the years (starting in 2005 after reading a column by GM Ian Rogers for 'Secrets of Opening Surprises', on 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Ne5!?). In the game below, I explain why I'm not so keen on the 4.Ne5 move order anymore, and why I prefer to start with d4 and only later Ne5:
I'll still play other systems against the Caro-Kann as well, like 3.Nc3 (which it seems one can never get enough games in) and possibly some old-school system like 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 where nearly all the theory is over 20 years old. But this Naroditsky idea breathes new life into a variation I'd previously assumed was completely harmless.
7. Semi-Slav (Black)
The Semi-Slav is an opening I took a long time to start playing OTB, but when I finally did, I wondered why I hadn't started playing it far sooner. It's such a flexible and dynamic system that even though it's my most popular defence to 1.d4 on Chess.com (at least when White avoids the Nimzo with 3.Nf3), there's still a lot of good ways to play it, that I've yet to play on Chess.com.
A few examples:
It will be fun to play the Semi-Slav again with 'fresh' eyes, focusing more on exploring the different options, rather than trying to memorize extremely deep theory, as I did when playing the opening as a chess professional.
8. Bg5-h4 Classical QGD (White)
Something that really surprised me when I looked in my Chess.com games is how rarely I had played the Bg5 h6 Bh4 approach (such as with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4).
That is too bad, as there are some very fun attacking ideas for White in these positions, for instance:
9. Bogo-Indian (Black)
When I first gave up my childhood opening of the King's Indian in 2007, I switched to the Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian, as it was much easier to start playing 3...Bb4 (especially with the same dark-squared centre with ...d6/...e5 as in the King's Indian) than 3...d5 or the Queen's Indian. (and the Modern Benoni positions reminded me too much of my King's Indian trauma).
It's a relatively solid opening that can be played more on ideas than theory in many instances, for example:
Once I've got in enough games with the Bogo-Indian, I'll likely move on to something else (as it's not 100% equal), but it will be a fun ride while it lasts.
10. Qb3 Grunfeld (White)
It's been tough to get games against the Grunfeld lately, as the vast majority of kingside fianchetto devotees on Chess.com play the King's Indian instead. But the next time I face the Gurnfeld, I'm keen to play the Russian System with Qb3, as shown below:
Playing a few games with this will likely 'scratch the itch' and lead me to switching back to some more main line approach (likely within the cxd5 Exchange lines). But I've had this system on my mind for a while now and have just been waiting for a willing Grunfeld devotee to play it against.
11. ...c6 vs. Fianchetto KID/Grunfeld (Black)
In my early games on Chess.com, I was mostly meeting the Catalan approach vs. the KID/Grunfeld with 3...c5, intending an improved Benko Gambit after d5 b5.
However, I've played the Benko so much on Chess.com that I'm a little sick of it, and therefore, I'm intending to play ...c6 based setups, but in two different ways: a solid way, and a creative way.
I show both ways below:
Given that I only very recently learned of this move order myself (I always assumed ...0-0 was obligatory sooner or later), it's very unlikely that White will be ready for it. I already tried it once with the 5...0-0 6.0-0 Bf5 move order favoured by Praggnanandhaa, and this version seems even better.
I'm also keen to try out the modern engine favourite 7...h6!? in the Classical KID (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0), but we'll see how long it takes to get that on the board.
12. Colle System (White)
While I have played the Colle System in some games on Chess.com, it's still the 'system' opening after 1.d4/2.Nf3 that I've overall played the least on the site, possibly because it always feel like a 'poor man's London' with the bishop stuck on c1.
That being said, White has been winning a lot of the latest super-GM games in the Colle, suggesting it's worth revisiting. Here's an example of how annoying the Colle can be for a Queen's Indian player:
Overall, I feel like adopting the 'e3 Poison' style approach in more online games will likely enrich my overall understanding and make me a more complete player.
13. ...e6/...d5/....c5 vs. The London (Black)
In the past, I often went for ...c5/...Qb6 approaches against the London, trying to create as much early pressure as possible. But playing such lines over and over again can get a little boring, and so in 2024, I switched from my old ...c5/...Nc6/...Qb6 to playing ...e6 in place of ...Nc6, which as we'll see, has its own subtleties:
It's surprising how little I've played this, given that I already wrote about this approach in 2021, but it's never too late to give a variation a try. Admittedly, this variation is one of the main reasons I started to move from the London to other openings, as more and more opponents proved well prepared for the London (whereas when I first played it frequently in late 2016, virtually no one was ready for it).
14. 2.g3 vs. the Dutch
The next system I'm excited to play in 2025 is the Four Knights Spanish (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5) as White. I used to assume this system was just a 'poor man's Spanish' due to the early Nc3, but there are some interesting subtleties behind the scenes. Here are a couple of the ideas I'm looking forward to trying:
Another idea in the Four Knights complex that I recently learned about is Bortnyk's 4.Nd5!?, leading to interesting complications after 4...Nxe4 5.d4, much like an improved Belgrade Gambit (4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5). I haven't played this yet, but will likely play this creative idea the first chance I get.
3. Zaitsev Ruy Lopez (Black)
This may seem a weird choice, but I am keen to get in more games with the Closed Spanish as Black, and the Zaitsev is one of those systems I studied quite deeply in 2018 (using Kuzmin's book), but somehow never got around to playing OTB.
And for those concerned about the forced draw with 11.Ng5, there are ways to avoid it:
Admittedly, I don't get a ton of Closed Spanish games in unrated bullet, but it only takes one willing opponent to play a long match and get a bunch of games in. Along the way, I may mix in some creative sidelines I've yet to play, such as 9...a5!?.
4. g3 Open Sicilian (White)
Somewhat surprisingly, even though I've tried almost every approach out there in the Open Sicilian, I have very few games with g3 against systems like the Najdorf and Taimanov:
As you can see, there are a lot of subtleties within the g3 lines, and different ways to play the variation, despite it being not one of the big main lines. This all speaks to White's scope to outplay Black in the arising middlegames.
5. Winawer French (Black)
Seeing Ding's success with the French in the 2024 World Championship Match inspired me to look more closely at this opening of late. I mostly played Ding's preference of 3...Nf6 in my OTB career, but for the sake of variety, I want to try out some fresh ideas in the Winawer, such as:
I don't expect to play the French as much as 1...c5 or 1...e5 in 2025, but I definitely want to play it here and there to keep things interesting.
6. Exchange Caro-Kann with Nf3 (White)
The next idea is one I've played in different versions over the years (starting in 2005 after reading a column by GM Ian Rogers for 'Secrets of Opening Surprises', on 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Ne5!?). In the game below, I explain why I'm not so keen on the 4.Ne5 move order anymore, and why I prefer to start with d4 and only later Ne5:
I'll still play other systems against the Caro-Kann as well, like 3.Nc3 (which it seems one can never get enough games in) and possibly some old-school system like 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 where nearly all the theory is over 20 years old. But this Naroditsky idea breathes new life into a variation I'd previously assumed was completely harmless.
7. Semi-Slav (Black)
The Semi-Slav is an opening I took a long time to start playing OTB, but when I finally did, I wondered why I hadn't started playing it far sooner. It's such a flexible and dynamic system that even though it's my most popular defence to 1.d4 on Chess.com (at least when White avoids the Nimzo with 3.Nf3), there's still a lot of good ways to play it, that I've yet to play on Chess.com.
A few examples:
It will be fun to play the Semi-Slav again with 'fresh' eyes, focusing more on exploring the different options, rather than trying to memorize extremely deep theory, as I did when playing the opening as a chess professional.
8. Bg5-h4 Classical QGD (White)
Something that really surprised me when I looked in my Chess.com games is how rarely I had played the Bg5 h6 Bh4 approach (such as with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4).
That is too bad, as there are some very fun attacking ideas for White in these positions, for instance:
9. Bogo-Indian (Black)
When I first gave up my childhood opening of the King's Indian in 2007, I switched to the Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian, as it was much easier to start playing 3...Bb4 (especially with the same dark-squared centre with ...d6/...e5 as in the King's Indian) than 3...d5 or the Queen's Indian. (and the Modern Benoni positions reminded me too much of my King's Indian trauma).
It's a relatively solid opening that can be played more on ideas than theory in many instances, for example:
Once I've got in enough games with the Bogo-Indian, I'll likely move on to something else (as it's not 100% equal), but it will be a fun ride while it lasts.
10. Qb3 Grunfeld (White)
It's been tough to get games against the Grunfeld lately, as the vast majority of kingside fianchetto devotees on Chess.com play the King's Indian instead. But the next time I face the Gurnfeld, I'm keen to play the Russian System with Qb3, as shown below:
Playing a few games with this will likely 'scratch the itch' and lead me to switching back to some more main line approach (likely within the cxd5 Exchange lines). But I've had this system on my mind for a while now and have just been waiting for a willing Grunfeld devotee to play it against.
11. ...c6 vs. Fianchetto KID/Grunfeld (Black)
In my early games on Chess.com, I was mostly meeting the Catalan approach vs. the KID/Grunfeld with 3...c5, intending an improved Benko Gambit after d5 b5.
However, I've played the Benko so much on Chess.com that I'm a little sick of it, and therefore, I'm intending to play ...c6 based setups, but in two different ways: a solid way, and a creative way.
I show both ways below:
Given that I only very recently learned of this move order myself (I always assumed ...0-0 was obligatory sooner or later), it's very unlikely that White will be ready for it. I already tried it once with the 5...0-0 6.0-0 Bf5 move order favoured by Praggnanandhaa, and this version seems even better.
I'm also keen to try out the modern engine favourite 7...h6!? in the Classical KID (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0), but we'll see how long it takes to get that on the board.
12. Colle System (White)
While I have played the Colle System in some games on Chess.com, it's still the 'system' opening after 1.d4/2.Nf3 that I've overall played the least on the site, possibly because it always feel like a 'poor man's London' with the bishop stuck on c1.
That being said, White has been winning a lot of the latest super-GM games in the Colle, suggesting it's worth revisiting. Here's an example of how annoying the Colle can be for a Queen's Indian player:
Overall, I feel like adopting the 'e3 Poison' style approach in more online games will likely enrich my overall understanding and make me a more complete player.
13. ...e6/...d5/....c5 vs. The London (Black)
In the past, I often went for ...c5/...Qb6 approaches against the London, trying to create as much early pressure as possible. But playing such lines over and over again can get a little boring, and so in 2024, I switched from my old ...c5/...Nc6/...Qb6 to playing ...e6 in place of ...Nc6, which as we'll see, has its own subtleties:
It's surprising how little I've played this, given that I already wrote about this approach in 2021, but it's never too late to give a variation a try. Admittedly, this variation is one of the main reasons I started to move from the London to other openings, as more and more opponents proved well prepared for the London (whereas when I first played it frequently in late 2016, virtually no one was ready for it).
14. 2.g3 vs. the Dutch
This is a system I played most of the time against the Dutch as a junior, but I haven't played it anywhere near as much on Chess.com, despite it being the main line.
Here are some ideas I'm looking to play against the Leningrad Dutch for the first time:
As you can see, I'm also excited about trying out 2.h4!? in some games, as it has almost no theory, yet asks Black some tricky questions. (It also avoids the Leningrad Dutch altogether).
15. Leningrad Dutch (Black)
Funnily enough, just after talking about ideas against the Leningrad Dutch, this is also an opening I want to play more in 2025 as Black!
The motivation behind playing the Dutch more is that I noticed I have more games in the Chess.com database with 1...g6, 1...d6 and 1...c5 than 1...f5, even though 1...f5 is more common than these moves.
So, to balance out these statistics, I'm intending to play the Leningrad Dutch every now and then for variety, as a way to get some dynamic chances without the theoretical workload of the King's Indian.
Here are the rough approaches I'm intending to follow:
As you can see, the Leningrad Dutch isn't the perfect defence to 1.d4, but you have to take at least some risks to get an unbalanced position.
16. The Potato (White)
Finally, it shocked me that I had not yet played the Potato (1.Nf3 d5 2.a4) in a game on Chess.com. (I'm sure I have played it elsewhere, though).
In any case, the idea is not limited to playing the Potato for the memes, but also the overall concept of playing the Black pieces with a useful extra tempo. For instance:
This one is clearly the most 'memey' of the openings in this post, but sometimes it can be refreshing to play something completely different, that forces you to think about the position in a different way. (Like playing your Black openings with the White pieces).
Which of these openings are you most excited about for 2025?
Let us know in the comments below!
