More Opening Principles for Beginners

We all know the standard opening principles, right?

1. Fight for the center.
2. Develop your pieces.
3. Castle your king.

These are straight forward - just about everyone learns them when starting on a journey of "chess improvement." To these principles you might even add "don't move a piece twice." And of course "don't move out your queen early" (except when you should - we'll return to this later).

But what about the rest of the story? Some experts advise beginners to "just study tactics." This is misguided. Beginners need a little more guidance on what to expect in their games, beyond mere "principles."

Here is the manual I wish I had when I started getting serious about chess, years ago.

Fundamental Principles for BLACK

Too often, "chess for beginners" tutorials are written from the white perspective i.e. "how to win quickly with white!" But what about black?

Well, if you are playing the black pieces, here are two more opening principles to keep in mind:

1. You are fighting for an "equal" game, not "advantage!"
2. You need to make trades to get the position open so you can organize a counter-attack.

These two principles are elaborated in some of the following examples. But first...

Principle: Be ready to refute lines that "win" a pawn.

In many common openings, your opponent may attempt to "win" a pawn with some kind of tactic or temporary sacrifice. You need to be aware of these common lines, and understand that 1) you will win the pawn back, 2) if you are black, trading pawns to open the position works in your favor (more on this later).

Example 1: Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation

It looks like Bxc6 followed by Nxe5 wins a pawn. This is a mirage: black plays Qd4 after the capture, and at the best white has a long grinding endgame ahead. Black has equality.

Example 2: Spanish Four Knights

This line is similar to the previous one, but slightly more complex. The principle is the same, however: white's "pawn win" is a mirage refuted by a deft queen move:

Wait, but you moved your queen in the opening?

Black moved the queen, which is a major "red flag" in most beginner opening guides. However, white also violated a principle: moving a piece twice. White violates a principle = black gets to violate a principle. The result: another equal game for black, with a chance at winning.

Example 3: Black Tries to Win a Pawn Early

Many players at the lower-tiers play the "Owen Defense" 1. e4 b6 - preparing to fianchetto the queen's bishop and immediately threaten capture of the e4 pawn.

You need to be aware that black wants to capture a pawn early, and NOT ignore that threat to do things like "develop" and "castle."

This opening is not great for black - unless white adheres to "opening principles" to a fault and neglects to defend the pawn. In short, you should be familiar with this opening sequence and know that after defending the pawn, you'll be far ahead on development. You won't be "winning" but black will have wasted moves.

Principle: Know Opening Traps

There isn't really a way around this. You need to be aware of common opening traps and how to refute them. I'm not talking about wild gambits here, but rather openings that are sound but have trappy sidelines.

Early on in my chess studies, I asked stronger players if there are any "general principles" you should know to refute traps. The answer is basically: "No." You just need to learn them.

Note that this isn't "rote memorization" of "deep lines." Memorizing - or at least recognizing - the most common traps (and how to refute them) only takes a few minutes of study each - followed by some refreshers occasionally. Some common examples:

Example: Petrov's Defense Queen Trap

If your opponent plays the Petrov, you need to be aware of this one. White might not want to play Qe2 early, i.e. to avoid an early queen trade. This is a mistake.

Example: Losing Fast vs. the Alapin

I have actually won quite a few games with the Alapin as white, because black snatches a pawn but doesn't see white's cheeky Qa4+ response:

(Principle: don't snatch hanging pawns without at least a few seconds of calculation).

Example: Losing Fast in the French

Here's another example where black's aspiration to "win a pawn" loses the queen.

(You probably shouldn't be playing the French as black if you're just starting out, but if you do - at least know about this).

Principle: Know Lines that Get an Equal Game for BLACK

As Black, you need to resign yourself to the fact that you are very, very unlikely to get winning position out of the opening (i.e. short of a brain-dead blunder by white). However, you *should* be aware of passive openings by white that allow you to get *equality* (i.e. a fighting chance).

One common example is the "fork trick" in the four knights. If you get the opportunity, you should just play into it - you definitely get equality.

Black isn't winning at the end of this sequence, but the evaluation is 0.0 - i.e. black has a solid chance.

Principle (for BLACK): Make Trades to Open the Position and Gain Space

As black, your job is to get the position open so you can start a counter-attack. However, some beginners (i.e. me a year ago) were hesitant to do this, instead opting for a closed position like this:

The problem here is that black will eventually run out of "useful" moves, while white improves its position until black is getting crushed and unable to defend some kind of attack - even if that attack just wins a pawn.

If you are able to play this way as black - fine, by all means. But chances are - if you're starting out - these cramped positions are going to be torture. You're better off trading pawns and maybe a piece ASAP so you can get open lines for some kind of counter-attack.

Principle: "Strong" Pawn Pyramids are a Waste of Time

At some point we learn about "pawn chains," and so take the opportunity to make a "pawn pyramid" early in the opening. Unless you are playing a specific opening line, this is likely a mistake. Your pieces will have less space to maneuver, and white can break up the chain after gaining an improved position with its pieces.

Although the Engine prefers 6. ... b6 (to prepare ... c5), there's nothing wrong with an immediate c5.

Additional principle: When white plays a d4 opening, you should be looking to play c5. Definitely do NOT play Nc6, blocking c5!

Principle: Know When to Give Up the Bishop Pair

This one that took me a while to appreciate. Early on, you learn that the "bishop pair" gives an advantage, and that Grandmasters often to work to preserve the "Pair." However, there are some openings where you simply need to give up the pair to avoid a worse position.

Here is one notable example from the Spanish Four Knights:

If black doesn't give up the dark-squared bishop, white is very likely to jump the c3 knight to d5 - potentially setting up a crushing kingside attack.

The best move for black is Bxc3. It loses the bishop pair but doubles white's pawns. In addition, the position is likely to remain relatively blocked, meaning knights are of greater utility in the short-term.

Engine evaluation: 0.0 - equal. This is good for black.

Principle: Know Just Enough Theory to Survive Early Aggression

Opening principles are not going to help you if your opponent is going for the throat out-of-the-gate. In fact, those very same principles may lead to a quick loss. As with opening traps, you could learn "the hard way" through grueling losses - or you could soak in some common examples below:

Example: Failing against the Scotch Gambit

If you play e5 (which you should), you need to know how to fight back against the Scotch Gambit. Key is meeting 5. e5 with ... d5. If you don't know this - extremely counter-intuitive - move, you are going to suffer a lot agonizing games where you are on defense for the first 15 - 20 moves (if you don't lose immediately).

For example:

Black did not play 5. ... d5. The subsequent moves are "reasonable" - but white has a great, aggressive position. Black is sweating on every move - with equality nowhere in sight.

Example: Fighting back against the Halloween Gambit

This is another opening where you should just learn a few key moves to get equality as Black.

Remember a key principle as BLACK: you are trying to get equality, not advantage, out of the opening. As such, black should give back the sacrificed knight for development and an open position:

The Engine says +0.3 but for practical purposes this is equal - black has open lines and a fighting chance. Meanwhile, it's white that has to deal with an annoying pin.

Principle: Don't Castle into the Attack

Admittedly, this is going relatively deep into Scotch Game theory - but the principle I want to emphasize is that 1) white is pushing aggressively and 2) black needs to recognize and defend against that aggression correctly.

In this example, it may seem like castling kingside is mandatory, since the queenside is "open." However, with the white pawns bearing down on black's king, castling queenside is the way to go (and actually the top Engine move!)

I don't have a ready example - but if you play the French Defense you need to be acutely-aware of this principle. Many French games end early for black after short-castling into a mate-in-4 sacrifice by white.

Principle: Be Ready to Defend Unsound Sacrifices

There are a few TikToks and YouTube videos circulating that preach "always sacrifice on f7!" The "theory" is that low-rated players are very bad at defending, so the sacrifice can be justified by the quick tactics that follow.

You know what? They're not wrong - which is why you need to invest some time in learning - or at least analyzing - lines where white sacs on f7 (or any other completely unsound - but aggressive sacrifice) early.

Example: Four Knights Fork Trick

I often face this not as a "pre-move" but rather after a long pause during which white realized that they are about to get forked by 5. ... d5. This is kind of an "f-u" move that goes nowhere for white (if black defends correctly!)

Example: Ruy Lopez Exchange Variation with Unsound Nxe5

If you play into the Spanish as Black, you need to just be aware of this absolutely silly unsound gambit by White:

You absolutely should capture the knight with fxe5 - but then you need to be ready to defend against the series of queen checks by white. Rather than figuring this out of the board, you need to be aware that it is possible and work out your response ahead of time. (Unless you like frustration and suffering, of course).

At the end, White is just down a knight for nothing, and black has a more open position and attacking lines. In fact, black is has an advantage! If your opponent wants to play into this, you should welcome it. Just be aware that you have a full game of chess ahead of you to prove that advantage.

Principle: Don't Fear Early Pawn Storms

A final principle not covered in any opening manual: be ready for - and do not fear - early pawn storms.

Often, low-rated players will find success with early pawn storms that violate all sorts of opening principles, but net them quick victories against unprepared opponents. Their general strategy is one of the following:

1. Hope their opponent castles into the pawn storm (if they haven't already), so they can launch a checkmating attack (after blasting open the position).
2. Lock up the position and then hop their knights around for some tricky tactics.

These early pawn storms are certainly annoying, but you should know that - with some calculation - they are usually easily defended and leave your opponent under-developed and open for a counter-attack.
I don't have an example opening that illustrates this, but I do have an illustrative OTB game where my much higher-rated opponent tried an early pawn-storm only to end up in a worse position, ultimately losing:

Closing Thoughts

The objective of this blog was write down some ideas that have been stewing in my head for several months now. Any observations or counter-examples are very much welcome in the comments!