How many chess openings are there?

There is no definitive count, but the ECO classification system documents over 500 main opening codes with thousands of variations. Our database contains 13,589 unique named opening variations.

The number continues to grow as players discover new ideas and variations receive names. Some openings like the Sicilian Defense alone have hundreds of variations (Najdorf, Dragon, Scheveningen, etc.).

For practical purposes, most club players focus on learning 5-10 main openings deeply rather than memorizing thousands of variations.