A Chess Guide For Beginners

This guide is made for beginners and novice players to get started with chess. Nevertheless, let's get into it! Check out the role of each piece here: Podium School's Chess pieces guide

Core Opening Principles Of Chess:

The Core Opening Principles of Chess are to:

Sounds simple right? Let's get into it!

Controlling the center:

Control the center example

It is important for us to control the center. Sure, you can succeed from the sides but it is much more difficult. We need to work on the very basics of chess, and fighting for central control is crucial.

Control of the center means your pieces are in more active locations, they exert more influence over the board and the Knight, in particular, literally has more places he can attack from the center of the board.

Controlling the center is vitally important for us beginners to do.

Develop your pieces:

Develop your pieces example

Speeding up the advancement of our chess pieces is another crucial principle. Note that we're not focusing on Pawns in this discussion. Our primary focus should lie in swiftly developing Knights, Bishops, Rooks, and the Queen. These pieces can be categorized into major (Rooks and Queen) and minor pieces (Knights and Bishops). To "develop our pieces", means getting our Knights, Bishops, Rooks, and the Queen actively involved in the game.

However, this concept of development goes beyond mere movement for the sake of it. It's essential to develop strategically, which involves advancing our pieces in ways that exert pressure on the opponent's pieces. When advancing your pieces, always bear in mind that each move should have a purpose.

Think of purposeful development as gaining an extra move against opponents who fail to develop strategically. By deploying a piece with intent and having it simultaneously target an opponent's piece, you effectively gain an advantage against those who are not making strategic progress.

Three tips for developing your pieces:

These are general guidelines for beginners, though there might be exceptions. They encourage solid progress and a broader understanding of the game.

Bishops And Knights

Despite sharing a material value of 3 points each, Bishops and Knights diverge greatly in function. Bishops excel in openness, utilizing their long-range prowess to target distant pieces and pose threats from a distance. Conversely, Knights thrive in closed positions, traversing over obstacles with ease.

Thus, premature exchanges of Bishops or Knights are ill-advised. Optimal outcomes stem from aligning the piece choice with the positional context. While not universally applicable, the principle of Bishops excelling in open positions and Knights in closed holds. Avoiding untimely piece swaps prevents disadvantageous setups.

Possessing both Bishops holds potential in maximizing board coverage. Their unique attributes provide a strategic edge, reinforcing the significance of choosing wisely.

Castling:

Castling example

It's a crucial principle. Early castling secures the King and activates a Rook...

Note: Castling is not possible if:

Despite drawbacks (including checkmate if you are careless), early castling is vital for King's safety and practice. It refines skill and supports King safety. Castling can lead to checkmate; learn and improve. Analyze games for quicker development and center control. Foresight grows with time, but novices, prioritize castling.

Castled and Uncastled Kings:

If your opponent avoids castling or delays it, the strategy is to open up the board to expose their uncastled king at the center. This involves trading pawns to achieve this goal. Don't shy away from pawn trades as they can lead to a favorable position against an opponent with an uncastled king. If your opponent weakens their position, consider sacrificing pieces to exploit this and further open up the position for a king attack.

When both sides castle on opposite flanks, it's advisable to open up files and push pawns against the opponent's king (known as a Pawn Storm). This strategy capitalizes on attacking the opponent's king with numerous pieces while keeping your own king safe on the opposite side.

For beginners, simply grasping the concept of advancing pawns to target an opponent's uncastled king when castling differs will yield victories, as many opponents might not recognize this effective tactic.

Undefended Pieces

Undefended pieces example

I’d like to expand a little on those core principles now, because there are a few other little things to keep in mind.

The most important one, is to have as little undefended pieces as possible. At the beginner level, we often neglect to defend our pieces, which leaves us vulnerable to opponents capitalizing on these exposed positions resulting from inadequate development. Unprotected pieces represent weaknesses in our chess strategy. Exploiting these openings, opponents can gain an upper hand. By ensuring the safeguarding of our pieces during development and an upper hand. By ensuring the safeguarding of our pieces during development and movement, we can enhance our chances of winning.

When advancing your pieces, prioritize their protection. Prior to making a move, confirm that sufficient defenders are in place. Our goal is to minimize the creation of vulnerabilities.

Conversely, continuously assess if the opponent has any weak points. Are there undefended pieces? If yes, strategize ways to seize them.

Opponent Mistakes:

Opponent mistakes example

Opponent’s errors generally fall into two types: tactical and positional mistakes. Positional errors are complex, while tactical blunders are more straightforward. To spot your opponent's tactical mistakes, pause after their move and check for material losses. If they blunder (a mess up or mistake), calculate if you can safely capture it – beware of traps. Take the opportunity if viable.

Leveraging opponent blunders is potent for beginners and works against skilled players. Even minor oversights grant advantages, useful for piece trades when they lack material. Victory depends on minimizing errors and exploiting theirs, not just strategy or tactics.

Novices often lose due to incomplete piece development, leaving vulnerabilities, and not capitalizing on opponent mistakes. So, act swiftly upon identifying a mistake.

One blunder turns an even game into one-sided, seizing advantages. Yet, opponents can rectify mistakes swiftly if not acted upon promptly.

Exchanging/Trading Pieces:

If you are down on material, the general advice is to not trade pieces. If you are up on material, the general advice is to trade some pieces off to simplify the position

Some extra things to keep in mind here though are, if you are attacking the opponent and you have the space advantage, then do not trade pieces - keep your extra firepower on the board and go for a checkmate instead of simplifying to an end-game that might not be necessary.

If you are lacking space and are defending against the opponents attacks, then it is better to look to exchange pieces to open the position up and also remove some of the opponent's attacking pieces.

A Final Word - Krutin Jain, Editor of Peel Chess:

Hopefully this helps! If you’d like, check us out on our insta page: @peelchess, where we conduct friendly tournaments which you can participate in!

Works Cited:

Kaul, Aryan. “Learn Chess Moves - the Complete Guide of Chess Moves with Examples.” Podium School, 19 Mar. 2022, learn.podium.school.

u/garrisonkj. “Control the center!! Did I do good?” Reddit, www.reddit.com. Accessed 29 Aug. 2023.

Crisp, Johnny. “Chess Opening Principles for Absolute Beginners.” Chessable Blog, 23 Mar. 2022, www.chessable.com.

Schoolnet South Africa, www.schoolnet.org.za. Accessed 29 Aug. 2023.

Chess.com. “Hanging Piece - Chess Terms.” Chess.Com, 2021, www.chess.com.

u/FranzKnut. “Dive into Anything.” Reddit, 2022, www.reddit.com.