However, the more tempi (time) that you can gain to mobilize your pieces; by development, by checking your opponents king and maybe causing them to lose the right to castle, or by preventing them from developing normally, the better prepared you will be in the middle game.
Basic Opening Principles
These are some of the five key elements every successful player needs to understand for opening play.
- Fight to control the centre
- Rapid and purposeful development of the pieces
- The creation of a sound pawn structure with no weaknesses
- The co-ordination of the pieces and pawns
- King safety
Additional Opening Principles
1) Major pieces (rooks and queens) should not be developed prematurely since pieces of lesser value may develop with an attack on them resulting in loss of time.
2) Don't make unnecessary pawn moves. Only move pawns that facilitate the development of the pieces.
3) Begin the game with a central Pawn move.
4) Avoid useless checks, this wastes time.
5) Always assume that your opponent will find the correct reply and don't play for crude threats unless your position is desperate.
6) With the aid of pawns try to gain space advantage
7) Don't be too eager for material gain. In the opening stages it is more important to develop all the pieces rather than search for material gain.
8) Chess is played on the total board so don't concentrate your attention on one sector.
9) Seize open lines.
10) Try to prevent your opponents king from castling
11) If cramped, free your game by exchanges
12) If your opponent is cramped then try to avoid exchanges
13) Try to exchange bad minor pieces.
Typical Opening Problems
These are some of the most common problems faced by many beginner to Intermediate players, and in some cases even the pro's! By listing them below, hopefully you will be aware of them and not encounter them in your games.
Here we go
1) The player has chosen an opening unsuited to their style and temperament. Quite often it is glaringly obvious that the player has chosen an opening that fails to complement their talents. This is where developing your opening repertoire and sticking to it is most important (more on this in the bonus)
2) The player has chosen an opening that is ideally suited to the opponent. This assumes prior knowledge of the competitor.
3) The player has played the opening by rote and didn't understand the middle game ideas that followed.
4) Being intimidated or overawed by a higher rated opponent
5) Underestimating the ability of a lower rated opponent
6) Playing for Win at all costs.
2 BEST Initial Moves
the strongest initial moves that you can make are the ones that allow you to get closest to the center squares. The two best opening moves you can make are:
¨ 1d4 The Queen's Pawn Opening
¨ 1e4 The King's Pawn Opening
Pawn to d4 The Queen's Pawn
The White Pawn moves to d4
The reason that White Pawn to d4 is such a smart move is that it immediately allows you to take advantage of the three famous moves:
#1. The Indian Defense: In this scenario the Black will probably move his piece to Nf6. Your best response is to move a pawn to C4. This is called the Indian Defense. Your goal here is to prevent black from overtaking the four center squares. After that you have the option of playing the following moves.
¨ The Benoni: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6
¨ The Old Indian Defense: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e4
¨ The Budapest Defense: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5. e3 Nc6
¨ The Nimzo Indian: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6. This combination leads to variations in the game such as:
¨ d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4
¨ 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qb3
¨ 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bg5
¨ d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2
#2 The Closed Game: In this scenario the Black moves his pawn to D5. White has difficulty playing e4, so the Pawns on d4 and d5 often remain in place for a long time. This blocks the activity in the center which means that the White and Black pieces do not come into contact with each other for age After 1.d4 d5, the white pawn is almost always moved to 2.c4. If Black is tempted to capture the white pawn then he usually pays a heavy price for temptation as the game usually plays out like this:
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 b5 4.a4 c6 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Qf3
#3 The Dutch Defense: White opens with d4.Black responds with f5. The Game then plays out as
¨ The Staunton Gambit: 1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5
¨ The Leningrad System: 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O
¨ The Stonewall Variation: 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.O-O d5 7.Nc3 c6
¨ The Old Dutch Defense: 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.O-O d6
1e4 can lead to several kinds of well-known chess battles.
#1. The Open Game: In this scenario the black responds with an equally bold move by moving his pawn to e5. White can play d4 because the d-Pawn is protected by the Queen. White is then free to move his bishop. The Bishop's move is 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4.
From there the game can evolve into a number of variations from the bishop's move including:
¨ 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5
¨ 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qxd4
#2. The Sicilian Defense: Black responds by moving to e5. As soon as White plays d4, Black will exchange the c-Pawn for the d-Pawn.
From here the game can evolve into:
¨ 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6
#3. The Caro-Kann Defense: This allows the two knights to battle it out and the sequence of the game often plays out like:
¨ 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 Bg4 or
¨ 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6 gxf6
¨ 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7
¨ 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7
#4. The French Defense: Black moves his pawn to e6. The action then plays out as one of the following
¨ 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5. This almost always ends up in a draw
¨ 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2
¨ 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3
#5. The Robatsch Defense: Black responds by moving his pawn to g6. The game can then pursue two routes:
¨ 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Qe2
¨ 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c3 d6 4.f4
#6. The Nimzovitch Defense: Black responds by moving his knight to Kc6. This usually leads to an open game. The game then might transpire as follows:
¨ 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 e5 3.d5 Nce7
¨ 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.d5
#7. Alekhine's Defense: Black responds by moving to Nf6.
The game may then be played out as:
¨ 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6
¨ 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4
#8. The Scandinavian Defense: Black reacts to white move to e4 by moving a pawn to D5. The game often plays out as:
¨ 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5
¨ 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5
#9. The Pirc Defense: Black moves to d6. White's options are as below
¨ 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7
¨ 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7
Benoni Used as A Way into the English Opening
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3
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