I really don't like and don't have the time to study openings deeply. Also, I think that my strong point isn't memorization. I prefer to play a move that isn't so good - but which is able to take my adversary out from known territory - than to dispute openings knowledge.

I ask you then, since you must surely have a much greater openings knowledge than me, which would be good opening moves to avoid deeply analised lines, but still presenting good chances, if not the best. I want to study opening moves which would avoid positions from the sicilian, the ruy lopes and so on... both for black and white.

Just play according to the opening principles (controling the center, developing the pieces, etc) and you should be fine. Sometimes you will be surprised for how long you have been making 'book moves' without even knowing it. Play what you think it's best in the given position and don't worry about the book. Thats what I do. I don't know any opening by it's name. OK I do know what Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, Caro-Kan etc. is, but if someone would ask me to give the line for Sicilian Dragon/Yugoslav attack then I could not answer. All I know is that dragon is when black fianchetoes the dark bishop and if white stormes with his kingside pawns then this is called Yugoslav attack, but I can't give you an exact line.

I can give you an example and explain why I played the move (I was white)



1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 {Here I like to play 3.b3 which throws almost anybody out of book. But since I played this in the previous game (against the same opponent) I chose not to repeat it.} 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 {OK, this is standard book stuff} g6 {According to Chessmaster this is first out of book move. If anybody would ask me I would swear this is all book.} 5. Nc3 {Just a normal developing move.} Bg7 6. Be3 {Logical move - it develops the piece, it protects the d4 knight which could easelly get under fire with Nc6 and Qb6. And it also makes way for castling queenside (I always prefer castling queenside against sicilian)} Nf6 {Now this brings us into the book again. I had no idea and don't even bother asking myself if this is standard or not.} 7. Be2 {7.f3 would have been the above mentioned Yugoslav attack, but I prefered 7.Be2 - the classical attack. Yeah, like I knew . I played Be2 simply to develop a new piece and to prevent Ng4 manacing my bishop.
I actually thought about f3, but this is a pawn move and its always better to develop the pieces and Be2 also makes way for kingside castling if I wanted to. These are the reasons why I chose Be2 over f3, not because i prefered classical attack ove Yugoslav attack.} O-O 8. Qd2 {Now the book says that I should castle kingside or play Nb3. I really don't know why I should do that. Like I said, my plan was to castle queenside (and to start a pawnstorm on the kingside) so I had to move the queen. d2 is the only good place for her so I moved her there. Of course Qd2 makes Ng4 possible so I had to consider what I would do if black played this. I would take the knight with my bishop and after black recaptures I would play f3, which I want to do it anyway (there is no pawn storm without f3). So after 8.Qd2 Ng4 I would gain a tempo. Qd2 also reinforces the c1-h6 diagonal, so I really don't understand why I should play anything else but Qd2. But the book disagrees.} Re8 9. f3 {Going with my plan.
I could (and maybe should) castle before storming the kingside, but I saw no reason to castle yet.} a6 10. g4 {Still I saw no reason to castle.} b5 11. O-O-O {OK, now I saw a reason to castle because after b4 I would probably play Nd5 and after Nxd5 exd5 e6 the whole center is just going to open up.} Bb7 12. h4 {Continuing my plan. My attack is just faster than blacks. I ended up winning with a speculative (=crazy) attack, but I don't have the time to annotate the whole game right now. Maybe I will do it later. I just wanted to show you my opening play and why I played something. I didn't follow any book, I just followed the opening principles and made logicaly what the position demanded. I realise that my opponent was no grandmaster, but then again I would lose against a grandmaster even if I literally had the opening book beside me } Nfd7 13. h5 e6 14. hxg6 fxg6 15. Bh6 Bh8 16. Bg5 Qa5 17. Bxb5 axb5 18. Rxh7 Kxh7 19. Qh2+ Kg8 20. Rh1 Bg7 21. Qh7+ Kf7 22. Nxe6 Rg8 23. Rh6 Nf8
24. Nxf8 Kxf8 25. Rxg6 Nd7 26. Bh6 Bxh6+ 27. Qxh6+ Ke7 28. Qh4+ Kf8 29. Qh6+ Ke7 30. Qh7+ Kd8 31. Rxg8+ Kc7 32. Rxa8 Bxa8 33. Qf5 Bc6 34. g5 Kb6 35. g6 Qa8 36. Qf7 Ne5 37. Qf6 Qg8 38. Qxd6 Nxg6 39. Nd5+ Kb7 40. Qc7+ 1-0



To view just copy this and paste it in your Chessmaster(Edit--Paste--PGN) and open the annotation window (Windows--Annotation). You can resize it so that you make the 'Player annotation' section bigger (position the mouse on the border between the 'Analysis and auto annotation' and 'Player annotation' section).

Thanks Ebutaljib for such a complete answer. I think you are right and will begin to face it that way.
I used to get angry when I entered, by bad luck, a line my adversary knew very well and could play immediately and I had to think about my moves, so that I ended up with time trouble when the game came to the point I could have an advantage (or not). But thinking about it, I realize that it doesn't happen very often... at least for a great number of moves.