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Opening principles

Chess

Centre, development, castling early and keeping the queen home.

What coaches agree on

  • Fight for the center from the first move: claim the four central squares (d4, e4, d5, e5) with pawns and pieces before anything else.
  • Bring your knights and bishops out toward the center quickly, generally developing knights before bishops.
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  • Get your king to safety by castling early rather than leaving it in the center.

Common mistakes

  • Bringing the queen out too early lets the opponent attack it with developing pieces, forcing it to retreat and costing tempo.
  • Moving the same piece again and again in the opening, instead of bringing a new one out, burns time needed for development.
  • Pushing the f-pawn in the opening weakens the king and the diagonal in front of it, and tends to backfire.