Hello,

Could anyone recommend a couple of different starting moves and the points for and against?

 My starts are all very aimless until the board develops a bit.

 Many thanks

General opening principles:

1. Control of the center, either by occupying it with pawns or preparing to attack your opponent's central pawns.

2. Development of all the pieces. Bring all your minor pieces (knights and bishops) off the back row and castle.

3. Combining 1 and 2, develop your pieces so that they influence the center (stay away from Na3 for example, Nc3 or Nd2 are more central ways to develop the knights).

4. Avoid making lots of pawn moves. A few pawn moves are necessary to control the center and make way for pieces to develop. But too many pawn moves mean you are neglecting the deployment of your more powerful pieces.

5. Don't bring your queen out too early. Typically you want to develop your minor pieces before your queen.  When the queen comes out in the opening, she is likely to get attacked. So you will spend time moving your queen around while your opponent deploys pieces.

try this interesting article...

http://www.chess.com/article/view/3-simple-opening-systems

Many thanks. I'm trying out your advice at the moment.

 Cheers

Here's a great article on general opening principles for beginners:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman53.pdf

--Fromper