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10 - Opening Principles

1) The document provides 7 rules for the opening stages of chess: develop pieces, don't make too many pawn moves, don't bring the queen out too early, don't move the same piece twice, castle early, develop towards the center, and clear the back rank and connect rooks. 2) The most important rule is to develop all pieces as quickly as possible to gain control of the center. Pawn moves should be limited and the queen should not be brought out too early due to risk of loss. 3) Players should castle before move 10 to protect their king from attack and bring rooks into the game. Developing pieces towards the center is key to controlling the game.

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Hubert P. CANTO
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86 views7 pages

10 - Opening Principles

1) The document provides 7 rules for the opening stages of chess: develop pieces, don't make too many pawn moves, don't bring the queen out too early, don't move the same piece twice, castle early, develop towards the center, and clear the back rank and connect rooks. 2) The most important rule is to develop all pieces as quickly as possible to gain control of the center. Pawn moves should be limited and the queen should not be brought out too early due to risk of loss. 3) Players should castle before move 10 to protect their king from attack and bring rooks into the game. Developing pieces towards the center is key to controlling the game.

Uploaded by

Hubert P. CANTO
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Opening Principles

In this section we will lay down a set of rules to follow in the opening
stages of the game. While there are exceptions to every rule in chess, you
need to be quite a strong player before you're truly ready to decide which
ones to break. Until then, you should treat these rules like laws of nature -
break them at your peril!

1. Develop your pieces.

This is the absolute number 1 most important rule of the opening. In


chess, Development means moving your pieces out from their starting
squares ready for battle. Many players make the mistake of only bringing
out one or two pieces and moving them around, and only bringing out
reinforcements when the first few get stuck or captured. In chess, you need
all your pieces in play to have the best chance of winning.

Time is of the essence in the opening - you can't afford to waste a


single move. If one player can develop their pieces faster than the other
player, that player is said to have a lead in development. Being ahead in
development is a good thing because whoever has their pieces ready first
can attack first. White has the first move in a game of chess, so usually
white has a very slight lead in development to begin with.
Is there a particular order you should develop your pieces in? Well,
knights and bishops should come out before queens and rooks. Usually
you want to develop the knight and bishop on the side you want to castle
before the other pieces, so you can get castled quickly. You should try and
make sure that none of your knights or bishops are still on their starting
squares after 10 moves.
2. Do not make too many pawn moves.

You have to move at least a couple of pawns in the opening to let


your pieces out. Usually, it's a good idea to start by moving one of your
centre pawns two squares. Moving the king's pawn two squares opens
lines for the queen and kingside bishop, so is usually the best choice for
beginners. However, a lot of players waste time by making other pawn
moves that don't help to develop their pieces. Here's a rather extreme
example.
1. e4 e5 2. h3 Lots of players make moves like this in the opening. It
doesn't help white develop any pieces, though, so it must be a waste of
time.2... Nf6 3. d3 Nc6 4. a3 Bc5 5. b3 O-O White has made too many
pawn moves. All the white bishops and knights are still on their starting
squares, but black has already developed three minor pieces and castled.
Black has a big lead in development, and will be able to start attacking
soon while white has a long way to catch up.
3. Do not bring your queen out too early.

Wait a minute, wasn't the first rule to develop the pieces? So why not
the queen? Remember, the queen is the most valuable piece besides the
king, so you can't afford to lose her (unless you can get your opponent's
queen in exchange). Early on in the game, that means your opponent has
fourteen pieces which are less valuable than the queen. If you bring your
queen out early on, your opponent can develop his pieces and attack your
queen at the same time. You would then have to waste a move saving your
queen when you could be developing instead. Here is an example.

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 White's queen has to move again


now.5. Qa4 Nf6 Now black has two pieces developed to white's one. White
has lost the advantage of the first move, and it is now black who has a lead
in development. All white did was move the queen twice, but this was
enough to let black gain the advantage.

This brings us neatly to the next rule:


4. Do not move the same piece twice.

It's absolutely vital to not waste a single move in developing your


pieces. If you start moving the same piece around while your other pieces
are still on their starting squares, you're losing time. The only time you
should move a piece twice is if you need to capture an enemy piece - such
as in this example:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Here it's okay for white to move the
knight again to recapture. Black moved the pawn twice to capture, so white
hasn't lost any time by moving the knight twice.

It's usually always worth the time to capture an enemy piece other
than a pawn, but sometimes it's better to keep on developing your pieces
and not waste time capturing pawns in the opening. Going pawn hunting
early on in the game while your pieces are undeveloped can sometimes
lead to trouble.
5. Castle early!

Once the pieces start coming out, the king will start to feel a bit
vulnerable in the centre of the board. To avoid being a victim of a quick
checkmate, you should try and make sure your king gets castled early in
the game. Preferably, this should be before move 10. Castling also has the
bonus effect of bringing one of your rooks to the middle of the board, where
it can menace the enemy king if he has neglected to follow this rule!
The following game demonstrates the dangers of leaving your king in
the centre for too long. It was played between two masters, Richard Réti
and Savielly Tartakower, in Vienna, 1910. It goes to show even the
strongest players sometimes get caught out in this way, but that's not an
excuse to do it in your own games!
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qd3 e5 6. dxe5 Qa5+ 7. Bd2
Qxe5 8. O-O-O Nxe4 White has castled already, while black's king is
looking a little vulnerable in the centre. Black should really be thinking
about getting his king to safety. 8... Be7 9. Re1 O-O and black survives.

Now white has a knockout blow:


9. Qd8+! Kxd8 10. Bg5+ Kc7 11. Bd8#. Not every opponent will be able to
knock you out like that, but there are plenty of other ways to get
checkmated by leaving your king in the middle too long.
6. Develop towards the centre.

As you get better at chess, you'll start to learn that the most important
area of the board is the centre - that is, the squares e4, d4, e5 and d5.
Think of these squares as being like the high ground. Just as in real
warfare, controlling the high ground in chess is often the key to victory. The
ideal deployment for your pieces should perhaps be something like the
diagram below.

All of white's pieces help to control the centre of the board, even if
they aren't placed directly in the centre. Of course, this position is a bit of a
fantasy, because your opponent will get to move too, and they will be trying
to control the centre as well. You might not get to put all your pieces on the
absolute best squares, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try!
7. Clear the back rank and connect your rooks.

By connecting your rooks, we mean clearing the space between them


so that they protect each other. You can do this by moving out all your
pieces and castling your king. Having the back rank clear means your
rooks can easily move back and forth along it - either for defensive
purposes, or to support a pawn push. Ideally, you want to move them to the
centre as in our fantasy position above. Placing a rook opposite the enemy
queen is sometimes also a good idea, even if there are currently pieces in
the way. Here is an example of what can happen:

Here the white rook is placed opposite black's queen, but there are
two pawns in the way so black has not paid attention. But look: 1. dxe5
Black cannot recapture with the pawn as then the d-file would be open and
the black queen would be lost. Capturing with the other pieces doesn't help
either: 1... Nxe5 2. Nxe5 Bxe5 3. Bxe5 Black still can't recapture, so white
has won a bishop.

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