How should you start a chess game? In this article, NM Dane Mattson demonstrates the key principles of chess opening for beginners, that will help you get a good position early in each game!
Control the Centre: Place your pieces in the best possible positions to take control of the center, which is the most crucial area of the board. Early in the game, try to attack those squares: e4, d4, e5, and d5. Your opponent won’t be able to locate suitable squares for their pieces if you can take control of those squares.
Develop Your Pieces: Quickly move your pieces to squares where they can control the center to gain the upper hand in the game. You want to build up your castle, bishops, and knights as soon as possible. After doing that, it’s time to connect the rooks and move the queen. This is a really good opening goal.
Guard Your King: In chess, the safety of your king is the most crucial positional issue. Castling is usually the greatest strategy to keep your king safe. This allows you to defend the king in a castled position by using your side pawns to keep them back while using your center pawns to fight for the center. The fact that casting improves your rook’s position in the center is another fantastic benefit.
Active Pieces: An active piece has a lot of movement possibilities. The knights can only advance to two squares each at the beginning of the game, and the majority of pieces cannot move at all. Moving pieces towards the direction of the board’s center is the most effective method to make them active.
Your Opponent’s Move: It’s critical to think about your opponent’s strategy for every turn. Keep an eye out for any checks, captures, or threats that the other player may attempt to make. If you don’t anticipate them, those are the moves that are most likely to land you in hot water. Take your time considering several options because your opponent might at times offer multiple threats. In these situations, you will want to choose a move that counter each one.
Phases of the Game: There are three main phases in a regular chess game. During the opening phase, both sides work on moving their pieces from the last rank. We arrive in the middle game, where both teams try to strengthen their positions while still possessing the majority of their pieces, once the majority of the pieces have grown up. In an endgame where both sides have few pieces remaining, if no one has yet won, players will probably attempt to advance a pawn and then checkmate.
The following are a few of the top chess openings for beginners:
The Game in Italy
The opening moves of the Italian game are 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. The idea is to quickly gain control of the center with your knight and pawn, and then position your bishop on the square that poses the greatest threat. Additionally, you’re getting ready to flee to safety.
The Defence of Sicily
When playing with the black pieces, aggressive players most often choose the Sicilian Defence. To acquire center space, White would frequently play 2.Nf3 and 3.d4, which benefits Black by trading a central piece for a bishop’s pawn.
The Defence of France
One of the first strategic openings that any chess player should study is the French Defence. There will be pawn chains on both sides after e5 (either now or later). The difficulty establishing the c8-bishop is one danger related to the French Defense.
The Ruy-Lopez
Among all the openings, the Ruy Lopez is among the most traditional and ancient. It has the name of a Spanish bishop who wrote one of the earliest chess publications. The knight defending the e5-pawn is attacked by Ruy Lopez. With this move, White intends to increase the pressure on Black’s center pawn.
The Defence of Slavery
The Slav Defence is a strong opening that uses a second pawn to protect the d5-pawn. A strong placement for Black’s b8-knight will be necessary, as most of Black’s pieces can grow to natural squares, but Black will typically have little less space remaining.
The “Control-the-Center-with-Active-Pieces-and-Play-Carefully Opening!” is the greatest opening of them, though!
What kind of opening do you prefer to play? Tell us in the comments below!