35 Vital Chess Principles | Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame Principles - Chess Strategy and Ideas

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Clear and easy to follow, WITH EXAMPLES - the top 35 chess principles that EVERY chess player needs to know. These chess principles cover the opening, middlegame and endgame. Chess opening principles are crucial to help you get off to a good start. Chess middlegame principles are vital throughout the game. Chess endgame principles are important to finish off the game properly. These chess principles will take your chess strategy to the next level. These chess concepts and ideas are crucial to how to improve at chess. One of the best ways to improve your chess strategy, is to learn these important chess principles. These chess strategies will help your chess rating grow very rapidly. These chess principles are beneficial to beginners, intermediate chess players and advanced chess players as well. There are some beginner chess principles, some intermediate chess principles, and some advanced chess principles.

[teoflandoliokeefe]

One good tip that I've realized after years of playing is that you should think of Chess as a single player game, and therefore always plan out the moves for both sides. It can be easy to tunnel vision on your own side, but if you always prepare yourself by thinking "what would I do if i were my opponent" you often can perform better and formulate more complex ideas.

[snookabooka]

1. Control the center of board
2. Develop pieces quickly
3. Knights before bishops
4. Dont move same piece twice in opening
5. No queen too early
6. Castle before move 10
7. Connect rooks
8. Rooks should go on open or half open files
9. Knights on the rim are grim
10. Avoid double pawns
11. Avoid isolated pawns
12. Avoid backward pawns
13. Dont trade bishop for knight
14. Avoid moving pawns in front of castle king
15. Dont open center if king is still there
16. 2 minor pieces are better than rook+pawn
17. 3 minors is better than queen
18. Rooks are strong on 7th or 2nd rank
19. Doubled rooks on open file are very strong
20. Bishops are better in open, knight-closed
21.deal with attack on flank with atk on cntr
22. Capture toward cntr with pawns
23. End game, king is valuable
24. Rooks go behind passed pawn
25. 2 connected pawns on 6th rank beats rook
26. Atk base of pawn chain
27. Knights are best blockaders of pawns
28. If position is cramped, trade pieces
29. When ahead, trade pieces but not pawns
30. When down, trade pawns but not pieces
31. Opposite colored bishop pieces dangerous
32. End game, games are drawish
33. Dont play hope chess
34. When you see good move, stop and look for better move
35. Know right time to ignore principles

[LudosErgoSum]

I want to add: 36. Don't play "Defence chess" which is essentially you trying to NOT LOSE. You only defend and try to protect and preserve your pieces, but there's no attacks or any goal to checkmate your opponent. I see this in a lot of players that are afraid of losing.

[alkaholic]

Also don't forget to try to force your opponent into breaking the principles.

Eg try to put them under pressure to double up their pawns, try to pressure them into moving their knights to the edge of the board, pressure them into moving the same piece multiple times during the opening, etc.

[rvqx]

I don´t play hope-chess, i play hopeless chess.

[isaachimself]

0:46 Principle 1 - Control Center
0:57 Principle 2 - Develop Pieces
1:16 Principle 3 - Knights before bishops
1:24 Principle 4 - Don't move the same piece 2 times, while developing
1:36 Principle 5 - Don't bring queen out too early
2:03 Principle 6 - Castle Before move 10
2:16 Principle 7 - Connect your Rooks
2:33 Principle 8 - Rooks should go on open or half open files
3:09 Principle 9 - Knights on the Rim are Grim
3:25 Principle 10 - Try avoiding doubled Pawns
3:56 Principle 11 - Avoid Isolated Pawns and Double Isolated Pawns
4:26 Principle 12 - Avoid Backward Pawns
4:49 Principle 13 - Don't trade your bishop for knight; without good reason
5:27 Principle 14 - Avoid moving the pawns in front of your castled king
5:50 Principle 15 - Don't open the center if your king is not castled
6:12 Principle 16 - 2 minor pieces (Knights/Bishops) are generally than 1 Rook and 1 Pawn
6:44 Principle 17 - 3 minor pieces is better than a Queen
6:55 Principle 18 - Rooks are very strong on the 7th rank
7:19 Principle 19 - Doubled Rooks on an open file are Very Strong
7:38 Principle 20 - Bishops are better in open positions -Knights are better in closed positions
8:16 Principle 21 - Best way to deal with flank attack is counter attack the center
8:39 Principle 22 - Capture towards center of board
9:03 Principle 23 - Utilize King during end game
9:22 Principle 24 - Rooks go behind Passed Pawns
10:00 Principle 25 - 2 Connected Passed Pawns on the 6th rank Will beat a Rook
11:06 Principle 26 - Attack Base of Pawn Chain
11:31 Principle 27 - Knights are best blockaders of Pawns
12:00 Principle 28 - If Position cramped, Trade Pieces
Principle 29 went on vacation
12:39 Principle 30 - When Ahead material, Trade Pieces but not Pawns
13:17 Principle 31 - When Down material, Trade Pawns but not Pieces
13:57 Principle 32 - Opposite colored bishops are dangerous in middle game
- 15:15 Opposite colored bishops are draw-ish in end game
15:43 Principle 33 - Don't play "Hope chess"
16:44 Principle 34 - When you see good move - Pause and look for better move
17:11 Principle 35 - Know when to go against Principles

[stormy]

I also love Levy Rozman's principles of "Checks, Captures, Attacks" for analysis importance, and "disprove the move" in calculation (the latter basically means you should never justify how a move could succeed, but instead justify why the move can't fail)

[mbc-xerb]

For a ""beginner+" player like me this was a perfect video. Clear, logical, and brief/helpful explanations! Thank you so much! 👍

[bswan]

Great list!
I can totally relate to #34 "When you see a good move, look for a better move".
Against lower-level players, I have often turned a winning game into a draw with a single move. Other times, I have excitedly taken a piece only to be checkmated on the next move. Ugh!
Never let your let your guard down in a game of chess. As GothamChess said, "chess is a game of one blunder".

[-ChrisD]

This is one of the best beginner level instructional/informational videos I've seen. Spoken very clearly and well articulated. Great job!

[oscarwaterman]

My elaborate notes

*General principles*
Look for a better move when you see a good move

Know the right times when to ignore chess principles (so basically know why you use the principles)

*Opening*
Control the center

Go for kings safety

Develop pieces: first knight, then bisschop, queen not immediately because you may have to move your queen and you miss out on the chance to develop other pieces

Develop pieces on side you want to castle

When developing your pieces, don’t move already developed pieces if possible

Connecting rooks is powerful after you have castled and you have developed your pieces

*Middle Game*
Put rooks on open files or half open files (half open file is file with one pawn)

knights have more options in the centre

Avoid double pawns (two pawns on the same file)

Avoid isolated pawns (if no pawn is next to his file)

Avoid backward pawns (pawns that have no protection from side pawns)

Don’t trade bishop for knight without good reason

Avoid moving pawns in front of castled king

Don’t open up the center if your king is still centered (because your king can get exposed)

2 minor pieces are better than rook and pawn

3 minor pieces are better than queen

Rook is strong on 7th rank

Double rook on open file is strong (e.g., can prevent opponent from placing rook on open file)

Bishops are better in an open game, knights are better in closed game (closed game can be a game with pawns that block bishop lines)

Deal with a flank attack (from pawns) with a counter attack in the center

Capture towards the center if you have the option to capture a piece with two pawns

Attack the base pawn of a pawn chain (pawns that are protected by each other)

Trade pieces to open up a cramped position (when pieces are blockaded and can not move)

Opposite coloured bishops are dangerous in the middle game because you can not do anything with your bishops against his bishop. His bishop with his queen are particularly dangerous


*Endgame*
It is strong to protect passed pawn (= a pawn that could walk freely to 8th rank) with a backward rook

2 connected pawns (= two passed pawns next to each other on the same rank) always beat a rookand one pawn gets a queen.

Knights are good to blockade passed pawns

Trade pieces when you are up in material but don’t trade pawns. E.g., if you are up 2 points in material with a rook against a knight, the rook becomes more valuable after you trade pieces because it can then capture pawns.
- The opposite of that is also true, try to trade pawns when you’re down material

In endgame, opposite coloured bishops (without queen in the game) can easily result in draw

[twinpeaksVVV]

I would add Principle #36. Always think twice before moving a pawn because you can't move it back. If you make a poor move with your other pieces you can move them back, but pawns only go forwards. A lot of beginners make pawn moves when they can't think of any other moves and often they do it with little thought. I think beginners tend to underestimate their pawns.

[KumarBendrake]

I really enjoyed how you were thorough yet succinct. 35 important principles in less than 20 minutes. Great job.

[lemagicienannonyme]

I'm playing hope-hope-chess : hoping my opponent plays hope-chess and then blunders

[brenorocha]

I've been trying to play against a chess app in the level hard and had been repeatedly beaten by it in the opening. On my first game after watching this video I did significantly better. Thank you!

[davidwhite]

That was really valuable. I knew just about all these rules, but really useful to see them all together. A couple of them, such as three minor pieces are better than a queen, I had suspected, but wasn’t sure. A couple of them, such as when to exchange pieces and when to exchange pawns, was new. Great video. Keep it up!

[vanessajazp]

Whenever your opponent has a single bishop in the end game, you neutralize it by keeping your king off of that bishop’s color (as much as possible).

[rhyspowell]

Principle 5: Dont move your queen too early

Nelson: So i took that personally

[marianodemiguel]

I can not thank you enough for this youtube. I was so rusty and struggling. Following your suggestions i was finally able to beat my PC normal mode! I realized I have been doing so many mistakes. I am finally organized. Very condensed information, everything is important.

[SamFickelHomeLending]

When I saw 35 in less than 20 mins I didn't think you'd be very detailed, but was pleasantly surprised with your performance. Well done!