Chess Strategies for Beginners

Rule 1: control the center

The four central squares, d4, e4, d5 and e5, give your pieces the most room. A piece in the center attacks more squares than a piece on the edge. Start with a pawn to e4 or d4, and bring your pieces to support it.

Rule 2: develop your knights and bishops

Development means moving your pieces off their starting squares to places where they can act. In the first ten moves, move each minor piece once, and do not move the same piece twice unless you have to. Knights go to f3 and c3, bishops to c4 or b5 and e2 or d3.

A beginner mistake is to move the queen out early, which costs time when the opponent attacks her with developing moves. Keep the queen at home until the knights and bishops are out.

Rule 3: castle early

Castling puts your king behind a wall of pawns and activates the rook. Aim to castle within the first ten moves, usually on the kingside. A king left in the center can be attacked by every piece your opponent develops.

Rule 4: keep every piece protected

A piece that nobody defends can be captured for free. Before each move, look at your pieces and ask which of them are unprotected. When you attack, make sure the attacking piece is defended too. This one rule removes a large share of lost games below 1200.

Rule 5: check what your opponent just did

After your opponent moves, always ask: what does that move attack, and what does it threaten next? Spend ten seconds on this question before you play your own plan. It catches forks, pins and mates.

1. What piece moved, and what does it attack now?
2. Which of my pieces are unprotected?
3. Is my king safe?
4. Can I take something safely?

Rule 6: trade when you are ahead

When you are ahead in material, trade pieces. A one-point advantage is a lot when there are only a few pieces left, and the opponent has fewer ways to attack you. When you are behind, avoid trades and keep the pieces on the board to create threats.

Rule 7: use your king in the endgame

In the endgame, when queens are off and few pieces remain, the king is a strong piece and should walk to the center. It can protect pawns, attack pawns and escort your own pawn to promotion.

The rules in action: Morphy's opera game

One famous game shows what happens when a side ignores the rules. In Paul Morphy's opera game, Black fell behind in development, did not castle and left the king in the center, while Morphy developed every piece with a threat. White finished with a checkmate in only seventeen moves.

Count the rules that Black broke: the king stayed in the center, the queen and the knights were slow to join, and the pinned knight on d7 could not move when the rooks came to the d-file. White followed the rules: center first, pieces out, castle, rooks on the open file. The game is more than a century old, but the lesson is current. Play through it once with a board in front of you.

What to do in the first ten moves

The first ten moves have one plan. Take the center with a pawn or two, bring out a knight and a bishop on each side, castle, and connect your rooks. Do not attack anything before then unless your opponent leaves a piece hanging.

A simple model line for White is 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O O-O. Every move has a job. The page on how to play chess explains these moves in detail.

What to do in the middlegame

After the opening, you need a plan. A plan is a goal for the next five or ten moves. Use one of these three: attack the enemy king, attack a weak pawn, or improve your worst piece. If you cannot pick, improve your worst piece: put it on a better square and repeat.

A beginner checklist for every move

Use this short list before you move, every time, until it becomes a habit.

• Is my piece safe on its new square?
• Does my move leave anything unprotected?
• What does my opponent threaten after this move?
• Does the move follow my plan?

If you answer the first three, you will avoid most blunders. If you answer the fourth, you will start to play with a purpose. A teacher can watch your games and tell you which question you forget.

Why these seven rules and not more

Beginner games are decided far more often by a piece left undefended than by a clever plan. The seven rules above are the shortest list that prevents those losses: three for the opening, two for staying safe, and two for the game after the opening. Longer lists do not help a new player, because nobody can apply fifteen rules at once. Learn these until they run on their own, and add one new idea only when the old ones feel automatic.

A useful test is to play a game and, afterward, mark each move where you broke a rule. Most beginners find that they break the same one or two rules again and again. That pattern is the first thing to fix, and it is exactly what a coach looks for in your games. If you want to see how the rules fit together over a whole game, read the page on how to win at chess.