5 More Opening Rules

 

There are many rules and principles for the three different stages of a chess game: the opening, middlegame and endgame. In our last article, Top 5 Rules In The Opening, we covered the first five rules for openings. Make sure you've read and understand that article, then you're ready for these five opening rules!

1. Get Castled Before Move 10!

Getting castled is one of the smartest things you'll ever do. It's probably the best invention since sliced bread...

Anyway, castling is the most efficient way to safeguard your king, get your rooks into the game and coordinate your army all in one move. We don't really need a diagram to show us the importance of this move, but we do need to remember the rules for castling:

• you can't castle if you have moved either the king or the rook on the side you're castling,
• you can't castle into check,
• you can't castle through check and 
• you can't castle out of check.

Ready? Now just do it. 

2. Attack (Develop) Toward The Center!

Imagine a basketball game where your team never crossed the three-point line. Imagine a soccer game where your team stayed at the edge of the field but never ran down the middle toward the goal. How would you ever score in those scenarios? What!? You're the best three-point shooter in the world? OK, but the point is you need your team where the action is, attacking the basket or the goal.

You need to be in the center!

Below is one of my favorite examples of what could happen to a player who makes just one passive developing move.

3. Connect The Rooks!

Here's a reminder in case you start following the rules of developing your pieces, but somehow get lazy along the way. Your development isn't complete until your rooks are connected. What does that mean? It means you have:

• developed your minor pieces, 
• gotten castled and 
• brought your queen out to a more active (but hopefully safe) square. 

You've connected your rooks? Good job! You have completed the first stage of the game.

 

4. ADVANCED: Develop Plans, Not Just Pieces!

You've gotten this far. You've grasped the basic concepts of the opening:

• You plan to develop your pieces and get castled, 
• you plan to attack where the action is (the center), and 
• you plan to do this while watching for your opponent's threats.

Here is the next thing I want you to think about: When you develop your pieces, develop them with purpose and initiative.

What that means is simple: Don't just get the pieces out; instead, think about where and why you are getting them out. Some ideas:

• Develop your knights looking to attack pawns. 
• Develop your bishops looking to pin knights.
• Develop your rooks to open files, not to files that will never become opened.
• The possibilities are endless.

These are principles of higher-level chess, and the fundamentals of learning chess opening theory, which means playing opening and developing moves that are considered theoretically best by grandmasters and world champions.

Here is an example opening with explanations:

 

5. ADVANCED: Attack In The Direction Your Pawn Structure!

I know this will sound a little crazy, but what if I told you that the secret to winning against the best chess players in the world was all about the pawns?! Here is the deal: Pawns are the only pieces that can't move backward, which means that every time they make a move, they are deciding something permanent about the game — something that cannot be undone.

If you know how to attack a given pawn structure, then you have a plan your opponent can't stop! 

A wise man once said, "Tactics are the servant of strategy." What did he mean, exactly? Well, he meant that if you know how to make a plan, if you can think about the bigger picture, if you can play with your pawns (the little guys), then you are using strategy.  If you are using strategy, then the tactics will work out for you. That wise man was the world champion Mikhail Botvinnik, and he was one smart dude!

So please think about what you are doing in terms of how it affects your pawns, because weaknesses created in the pawn structure can never be undone in that game. And yes, this is an opening rule because you should be thinking about your pawns from move one!

Until next time ...