Introduction
It can be described as the beginning of a game from the very first move until all minor pieces are developed, the major pieces are coordinating and one has safely castled; but with the Hypermodern chess the description is broad. In this opening section we would like to acknowledge IM John Watson and many other authors who have shared their invaluable knowledge through books and journals.
Common rules to consider in the Opening
- Open with a center pawn in order to try and control the center. You also get to expose the bishops and the queen, ready to get in the midst of the attack.
- Develop with threats in order to keep your opponent always on his toes because you are not giving them room to conduct their attack. They will be thinking of defense and this is a good practical rule adhere to if you are the one having the White pieces.
- KNIGHTS before Bishops; we develop Knights before Bishops because they tend to control more squares in the center. But there are situations where developing them might block squares that other pieces are defending which might lead one to succumbing to an attack.
- Don’t move the same piece twice in the opening because it will delay development – bringing pieces out to favorable positions. That is why it is very important to consider piece placement from attacks
- Make as few pawn moves as possible in the opening. The disadvantage with pawn movement is that they can never go back once they have been moved forward. Furthermore, the more they are up the board the more susceptible they are to an attack.
- Don’t bring out your QUEEN too early. Queen is the second highest value from the King and might be susceptible to attack. In the process of the opponent attacking your Queen they get to develop a piece and you might find yourself lagging behind in development.
- Castle as soon as possible, preferably on the King side. Castling removes the king from the central position where it is susceptible to an attack from both flanks. Most Professional players prefer short castling as compared to long castling. This mainly is due to preference through practice and style of play but the position of the game should dictate which side you castle.
- Always play to gain control of the center. Controlling the key squares of d4, d5, e4, e5 ensure mobility of your pieces and creates way for placement of pieces which might influence the game outcome.
- Try to maintain at least a pawn in the center to help balance the equilibrium of the game. Central pawns tend to have more influence on the position than pawns on the flanks. That is why you might a master giving a flank pawn just to maintain the central pawn.
- Don’t sacrifice without a clear and adequate reason; most novice players try to emulate giants in the game of chess who sacrifice pieces just to gain a good position. Unfortunately, most of these novice players are unable to find a good continuation to their sacrifice because they didn’t understand the position properly.