How can improve my opening?

Oh yeah and for black, mirror the opponents FIRST move. If they play e4, you play e5. If they play d4, go d5. What about c4? C5. You get it. These are called the classical responses and every master has mastered them.

You should study openings at any level above 800. It is very important. The depth you study though can vary by rating.

Goal should be to learn the first 4-5 moves of most openings. I also recommend playing e4, d4, c4, nf3.

This might help you get started

Ruy Lopez - Ruy leads to slow manoeuvring games where the white c knight goes to g3
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
most popular for black after this is to play nf6 or a6.

Italian
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
Can lead to very slow games or complicated tactical games.

Sicilian - Najdorf the most popular chess opening often leads to sacs and complicated play.
e4 c5 nf3 d6 d4 cxd4 nxd4 nf6 nc3 a6

Sicilian - Kan (my personal choice to play from black right now)
e4 c5 nf3 e6 d4 cxd4 a6

Queens Gambit - my favourite opening
d4 d5 c4

Blacks best option is to decline the gambit with ether c6 or d6. Nf6 is also legal and so is Bf5.

d4 d5 c4 d6 nc3 nf6 cxd5 exd5 Bg5 < qgd exchange positional line that is my personal favourite opening.

Kings indian

d4 nf6 c4 g6 nc3 Bg7 e4 d6 white can play g3, nf3, f3 and even f4. Probably the better ones are g3 nf3 and f3. All leading where white mostly will play for activity on queenside and black will play on the kings side with a timely f5.

I do suggest learning openings play developing moves and get castled. Dont bring the knights to the rim and play in the center.

I would also recommend you to play different openings, but I think 1.e4 is more suitable for beginners than 1.d4. 1.e4 generally leads to more open positions. You may lose more at the beginning, but as the positions are more open, tactics play an important role in the game and after all, tactics are the heart of chess.
For Black I would recommend to answer 1.e4 with 1...e5 because the play is more intuitive than after, for example, 1...c5. Against 1.d4 I would choose either 1...d5 or 1...Nf6. One thing that you should know about 1.d4-openings, is that it's often important to attack the centre with ...c7-c5 or to defend the pawn on d5 by playing ...c6. Otherwise you might end up in a very cramped position. So try to keep your knight on b8 until you have moved the c-pawn. (Yes I know, there are exceptions, but in general the c-pawn is important in these openings.)
Some general opening principles are: control the centre (usually by making pawn moves in the centre), bring your knights and bishops out as quickly as possible, and get your king to safety (usually by castling). Don't waste your time on making many pawn moves, 2-3 is generally enough in the first 8 moves, and don't move the same piece twice unless you see a very good reason (winning material or preventing the loss of material) to do so.
Hope this helps.

Are we allowed to link to other web sites for suggestions? Don't want to break any rules?

Thank you everyone :)

#15 You can link websites.

There is a decent website for chess openings. It is at:

chessopenings.com

He walks through various openings, showing you some of the ideas of what both sides are trying to accomplish. I think it is good to learn about openings and the potential drawbacks.