Level 4 · 6 min

Chess opening rules for beginners

Centre, develop, castle. Keep the queen at home.

ExampleThe Italian Game after three moves: a pawn in the centre, a knight and a bishop developed, and castling next. This is what the rules look like.
Italian GameWhite · Follows every rule above: a centre pawn, a bishop aimed at the weakest square, and castling soon.London SystemWhite · The same setup against almost anything, so there is very little to memorise.Caro-Kann DefenceBlack · A solid reply to 1.e4 with no early tricks to fall for.Scandinavian DefenceBlack · Challenges the centre at once, with simple ideas to learn.
  • 1Centre pawns first, then knights and bishops.
  • 2Castle early, and keep the queen at home.
  • 3Pick one opening as White and one as Black, and learn them well.
The longer explanation

1. Fight for the centre. Play a pawn to e4 or d4 on your first move. Pieces placed near the middle of the board attack more squares and are harder to push around.

2. Bring out your knights and bishops. Before you move any piece twice, get all your knights and bishops into the game. Knights usually go to the squares in front of your bishops’ pawns; bishops go where they see a long diagonal.

3. Castle early. Castling tucks your king behind a wall of pawns and brings a rook into play in one move. Most disasters at your level happen to a king still sitting in the middle.

4. Keep the queen at home. A queen out early is a target: every piece that attacks it gains a move for free. Develop the smaller pieces first, and the queen will find a good square later.

5. Do not play the same piece twice, or race pawns up the side. Every opening move should do a job. Moving a piece twice, or pushing edge pawns, usually does not, and meanwhile your opponent develops.

Next: A practice plan that works4 min

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