I learnt to play chess when I was young but only in the past few days have I been motivated to try and learn the game properly. I'm still very much the novice/beginner though, it must be said. Anyway, I have a question or two about the opening stages.

I read a bit on the common openings, but what I really want to know is what I should be trying to accomplish during the opening stages. I gathered that controlling the middle is desirable, but am not so sure what that means - would having pawns on E4 and D3/4 with knights on C3 and F3 once the queen is out be a strong position for white in this sense? Is another goal of the opening stages to get a good deal of the mobile pieces (queen/bishop/rook/knight) either out from behind the pawns or in a position where they can 'see' the open board without making too much of a mess of the pawn defensive line? (that's generally what I always aimed to do before now).

What do you aim for in your opening game?

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During the opening it is generally important to develop rapidly and efficiently (usually you shouldn't move the same piece multiple times, don't weaken your pawn structure or build a weak one, castle - moves your king towards a corner, connects rooks and allows you to centralize them) obtain a desirable pawn structure, provide for the king's safety. It is generally desirable to have pawns on e4 and/or d4, and knights on c3 and f3 before the queen is out! Generally knights are developed before bishops. Bishops before rooks, at least one rook (generally by castling) before the queen. It is also very important to develop a plan.

My general aim in the opening is to survive with at least equality. Though not necessarily with both material and positional equality. My general aim in the middle game is to enter an endgame with an advantage. Hopefully, both aims are met by following my plan.

In order to try to move from the middle game to the endgame with an advantage requires knowledge of endgames. I always advise study of endgames so that one has an idea of where they should be heading.

That's fantastic advice. Thanks fegary!

I don't recall the year, but sometime in the 1960s Robert Fischer wrote a regular column for Boys Life magazine titled Checkmate. In one of the columns he gave what he felt was the 'ideal' opening setup for White and Black.

For White he gave:

followed by moving the Q to the second rank and castling:


I don't clearly recall what he gave for black. I know it included:

I'm not sure about the additional pawn move and where he showed the Queen's Knight and Bishop. But I ::: think ::: it was something like this:

Though the Queen's knight may have been on d7 instead of c6...my three remaining neurons aren't firing well this morning.

Of course, it's always very dangerous to blindly play to obtain a certain setup without any regard for what your opponent is doing.

I think a good place to start is by looking up Reuben Fine's 10 rules of chess openings.

In my newbie experience what i advice is to play in function of what the other has played. White usually make the attack as they play first and Black should get a "correct" response to the opponent's attack. Thing is all the logical "correct" moves to keep the board balanced in terms of nº of pieces has already been observed and studied so a pattern is found (if i play this he most likely will play that to keep up with the game) and a name given to the opening. If you think of it in a mathematical way there is a finite nº of plays possible in the first moves, of course despizing the ones that don't make any sense and are a lot more than the ones that do make sense.

To control the middle is a good way of thinking as it allows you to be strong further in the game. I think it's a mistake to stick to an opening and play blindfold to how the other responds, but hey, that 's me. It's my way of perceiving the game. Ironically I don't even know the name of one opening - or i do but i don't know what it correspond to - although i'm pretty sure i've used a lot in different games without knowing it.

I know that this may sound like a cliche, but the opening is a race. What do you mean by that, you ask? Well, it's a race to see which side develops his/her pieces faster, gets into a better position, and etc. Why is this important? It's because the person who has the better development can launch a good attack first, and the opponent has to counter it, and then you launch more attacks and win (this is what's theoretically supposed to happen, of course ).

Yah that's basically it. We have unwrapped the secrets of chess, we should be all gamemasters by now.

One opening i have used a lot is the first one fegary posted. But it was not intentional as i kept playing and it happened naturally and it revealed itself pretty strong. What's it called?



I should read more chess books.

It tries to develop its parts thinking about an attack plan. To concentrate forces in the section of the lady or the one of the king. To dominate a central and also good column as well as one of the great diagonal lines.