There are various chess openings but the best opening is the one which you could play confidently. The very basic thing in improving your opening is first choosing the opening which suits your style.
If you like positional games – play the openings which are solid for both colors. If you like creating havoc in the position- play the openings which are aggressive in nature.
There are certain chess principles that you should follow no matter which openings you choose.
Only make pawn moves that help development
The basic fundamental idea of any chess opening is developing the pieces and getting your king to safety. In openings, you should only make the pawn moves that are helping your pieces develop.
Avoid playing any pawns moves on the side of the board eg. a,b file and g,h file as they are usually the ones that don’t help to develop pieces.
Too many pawn moves in the openings not only hampers the development but most of the time weakens the pawn structure. You should only move your pawns when your pieces are ideally developed and rooks are connected. Until then avoid making them.
Develop your pieces towards the center
To develop your pieces you need to move the pawns but where exactly to develop the pieces? While developing the pieces always develop them towards the center of the board these are e4-e5-d4-d5 squares.
Pieces are usually better placed when they are in contact with the center or are on the center squares. While developing your pieces remember to develop the Knight before the Bishop.
Since the knight is a short-range piece and the bishop is a long-range piece, the bishop can play from its initial position whereas the knight cannot.
Don’t bring the queen out early
When you are developing your pieces you should never bring your queen out in the opening.
I repeat, never bring your queen out early in the opening.
Most of the time the queen gets chased away like a dog by the opponent’s minor pieces.
This helps him complete his development with tempo and forces us to move queen over and over again, resulting in the loss of development.
Most of the time queen is flexible from its initial position. Develop your queen only when all the minor pieces are developed and your king has castled.
Each piece should be moved only once.
While developing your pieces make sure while placing them that they only move once. Never make the move with the pieces which are already developed. The golden rule over here is to develop each piece’s new move.
In the opening, time is of the essence and each move adds a considerable value to the whole game. Wasting time moving the same pieces most of the time is usually considered as a wastage of tempo.
Castle early in the opening
Now when the pieces are developed it’s time to castle and bring your king to safety. Since the pieces have started coming out the king tends to become vulnerable in the center of the board and might end up in a quick attack.
Preferably you should castle before the move ten. Castling helps you bring your king to safety and helps you bring one of your rooks towards the center, which is added benefit.
Connect your rooks
And the last part but also the most important- Connect your rooks! This is the moment when the opening part of the game is complete and we move toward the next part of the middlegame.
While connecting the rook you should make sure that the back rank the open and the rooks are connected in the center. Preferably they should be placed on the square of the e and d file.
London System
London System: Ready to learn it? In a time when the opening phase has become extremely important, every chess player must give this phase its due attention. With various good books available, the quantity of information on the internet, and the powerful engines, it is no wonder that it is now very difficult to get a big advantage out of the opening, never mind win a game out of it.
Everybody knows a decent amount of theory, there is no doubt about that. However, not everybody has the time and energy to learn long and complicated lines and we’d even say that, depending on your level, it may even be completely unnecessary. Up to a certain level, it is more important to devote your energy to understanding the important concepts of the game than to learning moves by heart.
If you are one of these players, we can suggest you give the London System a look.
Here are a few reasons why this opening might suit you:
1. London System has no big amount of theory
This is perhaps the most important thing about London System. This is more of a system than an opening with long lines that involve remembering exact moves. Here the accent is more on knowing the plans, how to place your pieces, and understanding the arising pawn structures.
You will find that in the latest years many Grandmasters have included it in their repertoire with good results, with one of the most famous specialists being Gata Kamsky. Thanks to their games the theory of this opening has, of course, started to develop, but you can use it more as a guideline; it’s not a know-by-heart or get into a worse position kind of repertoire.
2. This opening is a solid option
As many 1.d4 openings are, the London System is a solid choice.
It is very difficult for black to break it, given that you face, for example, a stronger opponent. It can lead to long, strategic battles, but don’t be fooled.
Black has to be prepared to meet it otherwise things can easily go downhill for the second player, which leads us to the third reason why this is a resourceful opening choice.
3. London System has its poison
The games where white wins by incredible attacks on the kingside are not few. A quick search in the database will show that black must play with care and, most importantly, be aware of whites’ ideas.
As mentioned before, white has many resources and attacks can come out of the blue for the unprepared player.
There is an interesting idea where white doesn’t hurry to castle but instead tries to quickly install a knight on e5, but the bishop on g3 and continue with f4. In this case, the king can remain in the center, but white can even consider castling short at the right moment. As the center usually remains closed, the same idea can be used even after castling short in the first place.
4. London System can be played in different ways
As mentioned above, London System is a solid, but resourceful opening. That means that you can vary the plans; one day you can go for the attacking plans and another day play positionally.
There are different move orders and each has its ideas, giving you options inside the same system. It is important to avoid preparation and try to get your opponent on unknown territory and studying various plans can help you surprise your rivals.
5. It is an opening that allows you to improve your chess understanding
London is not an opening where you need to learn the moves by heart. It’s one where you need to study the games of the strong players. You also need to understand the plans in each type of structure.
This means that you won’t actually focus so much on the opening phase. But, on the middlegame one which will allow you to improve your positional play and attacking skills.
Reference : the chessworld dot com, fide, google, Chess dot com, Tijana Blagojevic, Chess Boost, improving chess dot com, All India chess Federation, english dot sakshi dot com , etc.
Blog : https://biratichessacademy.blogspot.com/
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