3 Basic Opening Strategy Principles | Chess

3 Basic Opening Strategy Principles | Chess

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Hi my name is Rebecca Taxmen and I'm with Chess NYC. I'm going to talk to you today about the three principles to opening strategy. So when we get to the game we're always like, 'Uh, what do I do? There's so many pieces. I don't know how to start." Well I'm going to give you three steps that are going to help you create a strong, confident opening.

First thing that we need to understand is these four center squares. These are considered a super square because this is where the center of the board is, the control center. For example, if I have my knight in the center of the board, my knight can control up to eight different squares, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. We can see that this is a very strong place for my knight. If I have my knight on the side of the board it can only control up to four squares, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Therefore, my knight is stronger in the center whereas most pieces are stronger in the center of the board. So at the beginning of the game you want to think about center control. First thing we can try and do is get our pawns into the center. Very important to try to get our pawns to control the center. The next important step that we want to focus on is piece development.

Now I like to think about my pieces as they are working for me. I want to give my pieces a job. If they're sitting back here they're not happy and they're not doing anything. So my next step is to bring my pieces out and have them working for me. Usually we bring out the knights before the bishops. So I can bring my knight to F-3 and my other knight to C-3 and then I'm bringing them towards the center. Notice how I did not bring my knight to H-3, that would not be a good choice. Towards the center.

Next, I want to bring my bishops out, again towards the center controlling the center squares. The next step that we always want to consider is king safety, very important. I like to consider the king like a baby. The reason I consider the king a baby is because we always want to protect our babies just like we always want to protect our king. Therefore, the best way to protect your king at the beginning of the game is to castle. Now we have two places, two ways that we can castle. You can either castle on the king's side or on the queen's side.

Right away I can see that I can castle on the king's side. To castle I move my king two spaces and then bring my rook to the other side and now my king is stuck behind a little fortress or, to keep with the theme of a baby, a crib and it is protected and safe. Just to review, the three important principles are controlling the center, piece development, and king safety. Those are the three things that we can do at the beginning of the game to go into the middle game confidently.

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[Jremyisawsome]

Her- "The King is like a baby"
Me- "Because it's useless"
Her- "because you want to protect your baby"
Me- "or that"

[XxalightnerxX]

Half the time I just move random places and try to win XD

[GrERDoc]

I totally agree  with the first two principles. But, I strongly disagree with early castling. Don't castle until your opponent has already built his attack so you confuse him by moving the king to the side.

[georgemathai]

00:25 Control the center
01:25 Piece development
02:03 King safety

[vaishalipethe]

And what do I do if my opponent has a brain?

[Shaddow]

This actually make you understand how to think when playing chess ..oppose to other videos teaching you a move, but not understanding why your making that move….nicely done thank you

[seanplays]

i cant even beat an easy mode computer.

[raymondeusoffmendoza]

Me after doing the center control strategy in a game: What now.

[Lucasa]

I like to think of the King as a king so keeping with the theme of chess I say he's protected like he's in a castle

[PolyanaGM]

I tried to do that and I failed miserably lol

[captainx]

Black didn't get a chance to move :3

[elsastark]

Omg thank you!! I was not aware of controlling the center. Can’t wait to play again armed with this knowledge!

[theparabaik]

Her-“ I like them working for me”
Me-“slavery “

[pretty]

Just beginning this journey @ 57.That was very helpful.Thank u

[Taichistretchingspace]

She is trying to help people who need books like Chess For Dummies. Not for know it alls. also. I respect her effort to keep the game alive and recruiting new players. 🙉🎈🍃💫

[mariakedang]

I'm a 42 year old female learner of chess. Nice to have a beginners tutorial from a woman. Thank-You for the tips

[shemgriffiths]

sorry i cant get over how much she sounds like meg from family guy lol

[tn]

While this tip is good for begginers, once you face an opponent of higher skill expect them to make "strange moves" such as moving the A pawn to 4.

Chess is a strategy game, it is not a good idea to start the same way as previous games. The moves that one will make should be taylored to their strategy.

[alexandersuvorov]

1. Move (attack) your pieces carefully towards opponent. 2. Have pieces protected (covering each other up) as much as possible (discourages attack from opponent). 3. Develop pieces to a position, where opponent's move is a losing move (i.e. your pieces control squares where opponent's pieces can go and thus whatever move s/he takes forces loss of a piece). 4. Power of pieces: queen, rook, knight, bishop, pawn (based on how much control it has over the board). 5. If opponent has only one bishop ("black squares" or "white squares") you can protect your pieces from that bishop by simply placing them on squares of opposing colors. 6. Pawns can protect themselves by standing in diagonal - that gives freedom for your "officer" pieces to block / control opponents pieces at larger distances and overall more control over the board. 7. That "center of the board" idea... that's not about where the pieces stand, but how much of the board pieces control and how well protected they are from an attack.

[mesofius]

Thanks, this was very helpful. Although the reference to King as a baby kind of destroys half the fun.