Chess opening lays down the foundation for your game. A player should never hesitate from improving their opening game no matter how advanced their gameplay is. There is always room for some improvement. Chess openings are very basic, but a master begins with knowing the basics inside and out. Every chess game begins with so many options for the players. It is very easy for a new player to be overwhelmed and make rookie mistakes.
A player should always be attentive at the beginning of the game. Usually, players let their guard down because the gameplay is not very intense initially. In such scenarios, the game will never favour you because the opening basics hold the power to build up your attacks and defences. Start by playing a chess game online and observe how your opponents open. Here are a few things you should know before your next game.
Develop Pieces
Developing pieces is one of the most important rules in chess. It means, move your pieces in such a manner that they cover all the squares which makes them a potential threat for your opponent, as if they are ready for the battle. Rookie players usually bring out only one or two pieces and only bring in others as reinforcements after the first two are under attack. Ideally, you should first bring out your knights and bishops, then focus on the queen and rooks.
Moving Pawns
It is important to move a few pawns in the beginning, to let your pieces out. A good strategy would be moving the centre pawns. The prior movement of your pawns should serve the development of your pieces. Players often lose because they are too fixated on pawns and forget to develop their other pieces. The pawns are moved to indulge the knights and bishops in the game. So that one can castle either on the king’s side or queen’s side.
Bringing the Queen
Whenever you play chess, keep this one simple rule about your queen in your mind. Do not bring your queen too early in your game. This contradicts our tip of developing our pieces but try to understand this one simple thing. The Queen is your most valuable piece, this also makes it the most vulnerable one because the opponent will not spare any chance to capture it. Bringing the queen in early would lead to many moves that would be wasted in saving the queen which could’ve been easily used in developing other pieces.
Same Piece Twice
The underlying advice behind not bringing your queen in early in the game was to avoid moving the same piece twice. This is also applicable to other pieces on the board. If you are moving the same piece around then you are losing time. It’s only acceptable to move the same piece twice when you want to attack the enemy or capture one of their pieces. Get accustomed to playing like this by playing an online chess game.
Castling
The king is your most vital piece, your entire game depends on its safety. Once the enemy starts developing their pieces, the king will become vulnerable. So castle your king early in the game to avoid being checkmated. Always do this within 10 moves. Castling also brings your rooks out, in the middle of the board which is a great advantage
Centre Play
Once you play chess online and start understanding the game, you will realize the power of the centre. The squares e4, d4, e5 and d5 are powerful squares, placing your pieces here is like acquiring the higher ground during warfare. In chess terminology, we call this centre control.
Connecting Rooks
Connecting your rooks means clearing your backfile to create a free space between them, so they could protect one another. This can be done by castling and then moving all of your pieces. This also gives a lot of free space to your rooks and now they can actively participate in the game.
Final Thoughts
Now you know how to approach your opening strategies. These are sufficient to ace your first game as a beginner. We would love to know more about your progress, so join the MPL chess app and start practising the chess game online. Keep these tips in mind and watch as your gameplay improves. After you’ve mastered this, move on to learning advanced strategies by playing chess online.
