Chesscampeona on the Move; Rules of Reinfeld

This is the second edition of how to improve your fast chess on ChessKid.com. Have you ever been in a position where your opponent just does not play your opening lines? Or you find yourself in an opening variation in which you have no idea what to do?

Well, do not panic! I will share a few rules with you that will help you in these situations.

When I was six years old and my father discovered that I liked chess, he taught me "The Rules of Reinfeld." These five rules were, and continue to be, the foundation of my chess because they are the basic rules for the opening. Of course as you gain experience in opening play, some of these rules can be modified but they never become obsolete. Before I share "The Rules of Reinfeld" with you, I encourage you to research  Fred Reinfeld. He was a great American chess player and writer. It is important to study chess icons in order to understand their teachers.

The Five Rules of Reinfeld:

1. Do not move more than two pawns in the center. In the opening your priority is development, king safety and attack! Therefore, moving pawns like e4, e5, and e6, in the first 3 moves will not help you develop or help your king get to safety.

2. Develop you kindside pieces. Since one of your first priorities in a chess game is to provide your king with safety, we usually can accomplish this by castling. Therefore developing your kingside pieces will help you castle quickly.

3. Castle. Need I say more?

4. Develop your queenside. When you develop your pieces you not only get all your pieces into action, but you also increase your chances of advantage in the middlegame.

5. Connect your rooks. Connecting your rooks by clearing out all the pieces in between them will allow your rooks to get into the game and will allow better mobility for all of your pieces.

These rules will help you get ready for the middlegame. So remember, before you start a game, keep these five rules in mind so that you can enjoy and improve your game! We can thank Fred Reinfeld for having given us a small road map for us to travel to an exciting place called the middlegame!

As you know, I play all ChessKids on fast chess every Friday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Eastern (New York) time. Below are the best two games played against me recently. Congratulations to NormalChild and EasyKnight for two well-played games!