General Opening Principles

The early stages of the game are know as the opening, a section of the game that sets out or strategies and plans for the rest of the game. The way in which an opening is played decides whether there will be a kingside attack, with pieces storming down on a seemingly safe king, whether the pawns will be pushed in a roller to break open the queenside, or whether counterattacks will fly from all directions. If the mid-game is the battle in action, and the endgame is using tactics to mop up the remnants of the weaker side, the opening is the introduction that sets up the game.

With basic opening theory, there are three main components to think about:

Control the centre
Develop your pieces
Keep the king safe

Controlling the Centre

There are two main reasons to control the centre. Firstly, if pieces are towards the centre they have more room to manoeuvre.

Consider the two pieces above. The white knight, toward the centre, is able to move to eight possible squares whilst the black knight, at the rim of the board, is only able to move to four squares. The white knight can attack more and has the potential to reach more squares for tactics such as forks etc.

Another reason for controlling the centre is manoeuvrability. By controlling a larger proportion of the board, there is a wider area for the pieces to move around.

White’s control Black’s control

In the diagram above, white controls a larger proportion of the board then black by controlling the centre.

White piece moves

Black piece moves

When you compare the possible moves of white and black, including defending or attacking moves, the above clearly shows why controlling the centre (and therefore controlling the board) is better. White’s knight can move to six squares, whilst black has only five. White’s bishop can move to six squares whilst black’s bishop can only move to four. So how do we control the centre?

The above shows the end result of an opening called the Four Knights. This clearly illustrates how white (and black) and trying to make their claims to the centre.

The first move is usually a pawn to either the d4 or e4 square (d5 or e5 as black). This takes control of the centre and attacks central squares ahead.

Develop pieces to attack and control the centre. The bishops are pinning knights that are attacking the centre (removing them as a potential threat to the central squares) and the knights defend/attack the central squares. The rooks are also moving to aid the central push by moving out to e1 and e8.

Developing Your Pieces

It might seem common sense to develop pieces with which to attack your opponent but many beginners see all chess pieces (pawns, knights, bishops, rooks etc) as the same. With eights of the sixteen ‘pieces’ being pawns, and having the potential to get a new queen if they get one to the end of the board, many new players look to push as many of these on as possible at the start of the game.

However, there should usually only be a maximum of two pawn moves at the start. Although pawns are an important part of controlling the centre, there are several main disadvantages about solely using pawns:

a. Pawns can only move one square (aside from the first move) and so they have much less potential to attack than pieces such as bishops and knights (the later of which can move backwards, sideways or jump).

b. A pawn can’t move backwards. Disadvantages caused by pawns, such as blocking the movement of other pieces, exposing the king and opening up attacking space for the opponent, cannot be undone

c. Minor pieces are much more likely to call checkmate than pawns

Even so, there are still mistakes that can be made when developing pieces:

Developing the queen too early leads to this piece being attacked from all sides by minor pieces. This allows one side to develop, bringing a new piece out to threaten the queen every move, whilst the player who has brought their queen out is simply moving the one piece around constantly. A queen is the strongest piece but it also has weaknesses.
Moving pieces more than once. It’s usually (though not always) advisable to note move pieces more than once until most are developed. This gives the opponent the potential to build up an attack with several pieces which is much stronger. Remember and army cannot function effectively with just one type of unit attacking.
Developing rooks via the h and a files. Many beginners like to develop the strongest pieces first (rooks and queen) and usually bring the later out by pushing the h pawn, moving the rook forward in the space provided, and bringing it out on a row. This involves three moves and will usually result in the rook being attacked on a board where it has nowhere to escape. Better to develop them last so the two rooks can work together on the back file, or double up on an open rank.
Swapping off pieces. Although not always the case, it is often quite useless to swap of pieces, particularly one that has plenty of attack and space to move to for one that is weaker.

Keeping the King Safe

In the endgame the king comes into his own, becoming a piece that is essential to the game. At the opening, the king can be attacked by the many pieces that fly around the board so keeping him safe (and thus preventing checkmate) is imperative. This is usually done through castling once the knight and bishop have developed (another good reason to develop these pieces). Take the opening position and the later below:

At the start of the game the king can be attacked from the centre, or by the weaker pawn only defended by the king. In the later, all pieces are developed and all pawns in front of the king are defended.

It should also be noted that castling queenside has one disadvantage over castling kingside.

Compare castling queenside on the left to castling kingside on the right. The former leaves one pawn weak and undefended whilst the later keeps all pawns protected. Although this does not necessarily signify a huge weakness, it makes it more advisable to castle kingside unless need dictates.