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Classical Development

"Move every piece once before you move any piece twice, unless there is a tactic" is the grandaddy of all opening principles. But it's certainly not the only thing you need to know about openings (to say the least). One piece of opening knowledge that turns out to be very helpful is to understand the generalities of the two main opening philosophies, Classical and Hypermodern. There is no official chess dictionary, so what I am about to show you is my understanding of Classical Development (so it won't make sense to write "But Tarrasch said...!").

One reason this is helpful is that if your opponent makes a move where you don't know what to do (or if the opponent's move basically does nothing at all), sometimes it is helpful to ask "What would Classical (or Hypermodern) Development suggest I do next?" or "When would Classical Development suggest I develop my queen's bishop?", etc. The opponent, of course, is not only going for similar aims, but will often do things to prevent your pieces from getting so powerful. That's one of the fun things about chess, but first things first: let's just start by assuming the opponent is not moving at all, so you can at least get the idea of what you are "ideally" trying to achieve.

Classical development consists of a bunch of steps that enable you to activate all your pieces (read this as non-pawns), emphasizing occupation (as opposed the Hypermodern's "control") of the center.

One reason why Classicists preferred occupation is because it implied both superior mobility and flexibility. For example, a knight in the center of an empty board has 8 possible squares to move; a knight in a corner only has 2. Moreover a knight in the center can get to any (random) part of the board much more quickly than a knight that is not centralized (obviously it can get to the area it already stands most quickly). 

Here are my steps of Classical Development. Each move assumes certain basics like the move is safe and the best squares very much depend on what the opponent has done. Then, after all the steps, I will give an example diagram of each (it's easier that way for blogs...):

1. Move out a central pawn (d or e-pawn) two squares.

2. If the opponent does not make it inconvenient, move the other central pawn two squares so that now you have e4/d4

3. Move out the knight on the side you are going to castle toward the center.

4. Activate the bishop on the side you are going to castle.

5. Assuming you are going to castle kingside, Castle kingside. If you are going to castle queenside, move the queen out a little to a safe square so you can castle next move. The following steps will assume you castled kingside.

6. Move the knight out on the opposite side, preferably toward the center and preferably not blocking the bishop.

7. Move the bishop out on the opposite side to an active square.

8. Move your queen up a little to connect the rooks.

9. Activate one of your rooks

10. Activate the other rook.

 


Comments


  • 6 months ago

    Barnstorm

    This topic was very helpful. I am not well versed in chess jargon so I don't really know the difference between Hypermodern and Classical Development. After reading this, I can see that I leearned Classical Development with out realizing it. I try to occupy and control the center, castle early and get the rooks connected asap. Im not so comfortable with fianchettos, and I hate moving pieces more than once during the opening, and I despise knights on a or h. Also I know if the game is going to be positional, it is usually a struggle for me, because I feel oftentimes I am guessing to get the pieces on the right square. 

  • 7 months ago

    NM danheisman

    Martin0 - Thanks. I apologize for disappointing you; this blog was "Classical Development", not "Classical and Hypermodern Development" or, hopefully, anything that would indicate I was going to cover more. I did briefly mention the difference with Hypermodern Development and I might write a follow-up blog on that, but that was not the intention. It was written more for several students who asked about how to get started understanding at least one way to get their pieces out. Smile 

    Although openings like the Four Knights or the Giouco Pianissimo are usually about as Classical as it gets, most modern opening treatments have some element of both. For example, the Main Line of the King's Indian Defense is fairly Classical for White (broad center occupation) and Hypermodern for Black (fianchetto and breaks against the central buildup). Ditto for the Exchange Variation of the Gruenfeld. I could have done a longer writeup with a Chess.com "article" or a Novice Nook column. There are more other sources with more extensive coverage on opening philosophies but, given the title, I hoped you would expect just a short overview of this one philosophy in this blog (which, by design on Chess.com, is meant to be shorter than an article)Smile.

  • 7 months ago

    Martin0

    Wait... Is the article already finished or is this part one or something? I expected some explanations on hypermodern openings as well and at least 1 practical example of an opening that clearly follows these principles (for example white playing classical development against black playing hypermodern.

  • 7 months ago

    IndestructibleKing

    Good article.

  • 7 months ago

    Romans920

    Very helpful.  Thanks.

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