How To Play Chess Openings (+Tips)

• After the last blog, some of you may be interested in Chess Opening Tips and Tricks.

• So, if you’ve chosen your style and you want to learn general tips to play the Opening correctly, follow along with me!

If you haven’t seen the last blog, click here.

Although every player has a different style, in order to be universal, I will choose 3 neutral openings and review the correct way of playing them.

• Again, each opening has to be slightly differently played , but you will still get value from this blog, because these rules apply to vast majority of openings.

Without further ado, let’s begin learning together!

The list of neutral openings :

1. Italian Game

This is the starting position of Italian Game

2. Queen’s Gambit

Starting position of Queen’s Gambit.

3. Scotch Game

Starting position of Scotch Game

• Now, we will review each opening’s playing plan and how we can execute them correctly and according to plan.

First, let’s begin with the time-tested, classical Opening : Italian Game.

• Although we know the starting position and the key pieces, by placing them on active squares, we control the chessboard slowly and if we succeed, we can get a dominating position.

To understand this concept better, let’s take a look at one of my games.

In this game, I was facing a National Master, with a rating of 2200+, while I was only 2000+ rated. But, the white pieces are very promising, so I sat down, ready to fight.

After I played my usual opening, he responded with the move 3.Nf6, which transposes us to Two Knights Defense for now.

This was my opponent’s choice.

Now, I see, that my e4 pawn is undefended at the moment.

Although I can give it up and play a gambit, I stay true to my style and play the move 4.d3, creating a pawn chain, free-ing up space for my second bishop and activating the pawn.

The move d3 is very important here, although 4.Nc3 is playable too.

After he plays the move 4.Bc5 (Activating the dark-squared bishop and getting his king ready to castle), I put my knight to c3, increasing its activity level and potentially making way for my rook too.

Every single move of mine is responsible for piece activity. This is the way of playing this opening.

• After he plays the move 5.d6, we get an absolutely symmetrical position.

Now, you might be thinking, that symmetrical positions are quite boring and drawish, but since it is the Opening phase, many things could happen.

Here, I decide to activate my dark-squared bishop and in this position, I can move it to either e3 or g5.

• But, when we learned about the plans, pieces should be placed on the active squares.(Assuming, that move isn’t a blunder)

Since the bishop on g5 is active and pins the knight, I obviously do it, because falling behind in development is always bad, especially against a strong player.

Now, this pin is very dangerous, if only I could use the d5 square…

• As it turns out, Black doesn’t enjoy my piece activity so much.

In order to abolish it, they try the move 6.h6, but after my move 7.Bh4, I keep the pin alive.

The bishop had to be drawn back, but the pin is still active.

• Again, Black doesn’t like my bishop’s activity, so they try the move 7.g5, completely neglecting their kingside pawn structure.

For computers, this is playable, but for humans? Not so much.

Obviously, Black is thinking about 8.Bg3 from my side and after that, my bishop ends up passive and their position is okay. However…

I am in no mood for passive play, so I bravely sacrifice the piece with the move 8.Nxg5!

Since my kingside is safe and my attack is strong, I’ll afford losing a piece for two pawns.

• Black doesn’t have to accept the sacrifice, but indeed, they do.

Since everything is going according my plans, I simply take the pawn back with my bishop and we’ll stop here. (Although White won in 28 moves, the concept is very clear)

This is the position after only 9(!) moves.

Now, before moving on the next Opening and its ideas, I’d like you to evaluate this position by yourself, without any assistance.

• You’ll see, that since White focused on activity and Black failed to respond correctly, their piece mobility is awful, while White has tremendous chances of winning.

Important Note : Before trying out any of these ideas or attacks in real games, play practice games first. This will help you to be aware of the possible ideas in rich positions (in real games).

Now that we’ve covered the first opening, it’s time to move on the next classical, time-tested Opening : Queen’s Gambit.

• Queen’s Gambit recently became more popular due to the new release of the TV series with the same name, starring Anya-Taylor Joy in the main role.

Just like last time, we are going to cover this opening by taking a modal game, where a player demonstrates the correct way of playing this.

This is one of the most common set-up in the Queen’s Gambit.

Here, as we discussed earlier in this blog, key pieces and all pieces in general, should try to be placed on active squares.

So, if we take a closer look to the position, the development is equal so far, but White tries to improve his position, so he plays the 4.Nc3.

Although this is an ingenious move, it adds value to White’s position.

• With this move, he activates another minor piece, gives his Queenside rook more space and after the dark-squared bishop gets in the play too, White’s position will be very flexible and strong.

Since Black is a strong player too, they know the opening principles very well, so they try countering White’s initiative with the move 4.c5.

One of the main rules in Chess : Always fight for the center.

• This move puts pressure on the d4 pawn and if White doesn’t proceed to slightly act on this, their center could be damaged in a matter of moves.

After that, if Black castles quickly and improves their Queenside pieces, White can easily end up in a lost position.

Considering all of this, White has to be active as well, so they play the move 5.e3, defending the d4 pawn and giving the light-squared Bishop more space as well.

After this move, White is ready to trade the pawns, if necessary.

• If White would decide to take on c5 with his pawn on d4, after Black’s dark-squared Bishop recaptures that pawn, White ends up a bit worse.

That’s because while White’s center is still closed and the Kingside pieces are inactive, meanwhile, Black is ready to castle at any moment.

• Now, since it is Black’s move, they quickly play the move 5.dxc4, because no matter what White does here, Black’s position will be fine.

Let’s decode it one variation at a time.

If White plays 6.Bxc4… (Which they do), Black will play 6.a6, with the plan of b7-b5 in the future.

This is Black’s plan in this position.

If White decides to be tricky and take the c5 pawn instead, Black will just trade Queens first and after that, regain the pawn.

After the Queen trade, White is only slightly worse, because they can’t castle.

If White neglects the pawns and does a random move, for example, 6.Be2, Black can simply trade the c-pawn with the pawn. After that move, Black is doing fine.

In this case, White is barely doing okay here.

Now that we’ve discovered, why Black took the pawn straight away, it’s time to focus on the actual game instead once again.

After the move 6.a6 by Black, White just calmly castles, getting their king out of the danger.

Other than the bishop on c1, White’s pieces are quite well-placed.

Here, Black plays the move 8.b5 and attacks the Bishop, so naturally, it retreats to e2, saving itself.

• Now, stop whatever you’re doing and evaluate this position carefully with your mind.

Try to visualize both sides’ plans and once you do, write them down on a piece of paper, so you don’t forget.

• After you do that, play the same position against either a human(same level as you) or a computer, who has coaching abilities.

If you practice well enough, you will become a much stronger player and Opening phase will be much easier to learn.

• Important Note : Do not use the computer before evaluating the position carefully by any means. If you do it consistently, you will experience the constant need to check every single move.

In order to avoid this, firstly, try by yourself for 15–30 minutes and if you can’t find any possible ideas (good or bad), only then, you can check it.

• Important Note N2 : Whenever you are analyzing an Opening or learning a game between 2 strong players, in the beginning of the game, pay close attention to their ideas, concepts and memorize them.

Once you do, try to apply them slowly into your games or even, innovation works too.

If you are not sure of a certain idea in an Opening, Google is a perfect helper.

• If you are interested in a tool, which will make your writing task much easier, consider choosing Grammarly.

• Grammarly is a free extension, which can be downloaded in your browser. It can automatically correct your mistakes, proofread your text, check for plagiarism, and so much more!

Now, finally, we move onto our last opening of this blog, which is called The Scotch Game.

Because we talked about the key pieces in this opening, we are going to learn one of the main variations , which is very common and popular among all types of players.

• Note, that this opening should be played with caution, because one mistake can be very damaging for either side.

With that in mind, let’s start from the basic position.

eIn this position, Black accepts White’s d4 pawn, because declining it isn’t correct in most cases.

After Black places their d4 pawn by capturing White’s own, they continue following their solid plan, by playing the ingenious 4.Nxd4.

Ingenious, but a very logical move.

• This move activates a minor piece, puts pressure in the center, controls important squares and in conclusion, is a good move.

After White gets an active knight, Black tries to take the initiative quickly, so they play the move 4.Bc5, attacking the Knight twice.

This Bishop move is very important in most cases.

• Important Note : If White tries to take the Knight immediately, Black has a very powerful response, which is 5.Qf6!

The move 5.Qf6 may seem stupid, but it’s actually the best move in this position.

• After this move, if the knight tries to save itself and doesn’t cover the g1-a7 diagonal, the White King simply gets mated with the Queen+Bishop combo!

Now, when the Black Bishop comes out to c5 and attacks the Knight, if White doesn’t move their Knight or defend it, they’re simply going to lose a piece.

So, they defend it with the move 5.Be3.

By all fairness, this is the best move in this position for various reasons.

• This move activates another minor piece, helps the piece coordination, prepares to give space to the Queenside pieces and much more.

Now, Black still tries to add the pressure to the Knight and the weak f2 square, so they play the move 5.Qf6 anyways, attacking the weak piece for the third time in a row.

• The move 5.Qf6 improves the positioning of the Queen, activates another piece and gives the King more space to breathe.

Once again, White defends it with the move 6.c3, which simultaneously creates a small pawn chain.

In this position, both sides are almost ready to battle.

• Now, we will stop here and if you want to analyse this position deeper, you can use the methods above and your improvement won’t be far away.

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