Contents
Chess Basics
Chess Pieces
Special Chess Moves
How to Read Chess Notation
The Opening Strategy of Chess
The Middle Game of Chess
Common Checkmates in Chess
The Chess Endgame
Draws in Chess
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The Opening Strategy of Chess
In a chess match, the first 5–10 moves set the tone of the rest of the game. Good early moves can lead to a sustainable advantage and eventual victory, while mistakes make it difficult to avoid a loss. Learning great opening moves is the first step toward winning at chess.
Goals
A good opening accomplishes three fundamental goals:
- Controls the center
- Develops your pieces
- Moves your king to safety
Control the Center
In the early stages of a chess game, most of the action occurs in the center of the board. Controlling this area is vital to a good opening because it allows you to attack the maximum number of your opponent’s pieces and stifle your
opponent’s attacks.
You can gain control of the board’s center in two ways:
- Occupy a central square: Move one of your pieces into the central square.
- Attack a central square: Move one of your pieces so that it can attack an opponent’s piece placed in one of the center squares.
For instance, the most common first move in chess is e4, which controls two central squares. The pawn that has just advanced controls e4 by occupying that square. It also controls d5 because
it attacks that square.
Develop Your Pieces
In addition to controlling the center, a good
opening mobilizes your pieces and moves them forward. This approach is called developing your pieces. For instance, white and black might continue from e4, shown above, to the following moves:
- e4 e5
- Nf3 Nc6
Developing your pieces in the opening increases your attacking possibilities later in the game. Notice that white and black have each developed a knight by moving it from its initial position. These moves mobilize the knights and further control the center. Also notice that the pawn moves have freed two bishops. The bishops can now be mobilized easily on
subsequent moves.
Move Your King to Safety
Since losing your king means losing the game, it’s a good idea to protect your king early on. A king that’s left in its initial square—or, worse, moved forward to the middle of the board—is vulnerable to attack. Protecting your king early on saves time and trouble later.
The easiest way to move your king to safety is to castle. Part of your opening should be to move out the pieces between your rooks and king and to avoid moving your king or rooks themselves until after you’ve castled—if you move them before castling, you can’t castle for the rest of the game. Typically, castling kingside is safer than castling queenside—on the kingside, the king protects all the pawns in front of it, while on the queenside, the king doesn’t protect the rook pawn (the pawn initially in front of the rook).
Chess Opening Dos and Don’ts
Though no rigid set of rules can take the place of thought and experience, these guidelines have stood the test of time and are an easy way to make good opening moves.
Dos
- Move knights before bishops: For white, the best positions for knights are usually c3 and f3. For black, c6 and f6. The best positions for bishops depend on the circumstances and are easier to determine after the opening has unfolded.
- Castle early: Castling is often the best way to protect the king while simultaneously moving a rook toward the center.
- Capture toward the center: When given a choice between capturing with one of two pawns, capture with the outermost pawn so that the capture moves the pawn nearer to the center.
- Develop rooks on open files: An open file is a column (a–h) that doesn’t contain any pawns. Placing rooks on these files maximizes their mobility.
Don’ts
- Move your queen too early: As the strongest piece on the board, the queen must respond to almost every threat by withdrawing. This wastes precious moves.
- Move the same piece repeatedly: Your moves are better spent developing additional pieces.
- Make superfluous pawn moves: Unless a pawn move furthers one of the three goals of the opening, consider a different move.
- Block bishops with pawns: Avoid moving a pawn so that it obstructs the movement of one of your bishops. Bishops need access to open diagonals to be effective.
Example Openings
There are literally thousands of ways to open a chess game. Two of the most common appear below:
The Giuoco Piano
Italian for “quiet game,” the Giuoco Piano is a solid, logical opening that furthers all three opening goals for both
players and is great for beginners:
- e4 e5
- Nf3 Nc6
- Bc4 Bc5
- O–O
The pawn, knight, and bishop moves increase central control. Each player develops a knight and a bishop and, by castling, white protects its king. Many opening sequences stem from these moves. Adhere to the principles in this section to guide yourself through later moves.
The Sicilian Defense
In contrast to the Giuoco Piano, the Sicilian Defense is a dynamic, exciting opening:
- e4 c5
Black’s first move exerts pressure on d4 and often leads to complex positions.
Dragon Variation of the Sicilian Defense
One of the most common variations of the Sicilian Defense is
the Dragon Variation, the first few moves of which are shown below:
- e4 c5
- Nf3 d6
- d4 cxd4
- Nxd4 Nf6
- Nc3 g6
- Be3 Bg7
Though notably different from the Giuoco Piano, the Dragon Variation still achieves the primary goals of the opening. Each side has gained central control and has freed its knights and bishops. Neither side has castled yet but could do so in the next two moves. The Sicilian Defense is an excellent opening to try as black after you’ve gained
some experience.
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