Objectives in the opening

Having played a few games here I am amazed at two things about the way the opening has been played against me.

1) Time wasting pawn moves in all but one of the games

2) Meandering pieces instead of developing moves

The objectives in the opening are

1) to pawn 1 or 2 pawns to allow your pieces to get out

2) to develop your kingside (or queenside) to allow castling

3) to castle as early as possible

4) most importantly to fight for the centre

If you get your pieces out quickly in everygame you play (sub 1500) you will get a good position, it's almost guaranteed! So if you feel the urge to push the a pawn to prevent a pin on move 3, stop!, look! and develop your pieces!

An analogy with Rugby; in my school Rugby wasn't very popular, football was the dominant game played and hence we struggled to get 15 players on the pitch for our games. In the 12 matches we played we managed it twice, we won both games. The moral to this story is.....

Playing without using ALL of the pieces the game gives you is like playing with pieces missing and you will, at some point get into trouble.