The Very Best Moves

Hello to all who love chess. My name is Michael.

I've been thinking about topics to write about and it dawned on me that everyone who plays chess really wonders what the best move is in every position.

So let's jump right in and start from the very first move of our beloved game!

It's the start of the game and we have the white pieces. Let's think about this very first move seriously.

Our goal in chess is to hunt our opponent's king and keep our own King safe.

If we look at the position before we move it seems likely that both sides will want to secure squares for their pieces where they will aim at taking the opponent's king down and also prevent their opponent from doing the same thing.

If we focus on one side of the board our opponent will likely send his king in the opposite direction. So it does make sense to concentrate on the middle of the board. The King's start on one of the middle files so if we aim for squares in the middle he would have to pick a direction to go into at some point and probably soon!..

This idea of using the middle of the board will allow us to readjust our attacking pieces quickly to the side he has chosen for his Majesty.

Bishops work on diagonals so we also need to identify the ideal ones for them.  The F file pawns are only defended by our respective kings right now so that would make the c4 square the best square for Kingside bishop at this point in time and c5 for our opponent's Kingside bishop.

It's not so simple to figure out where we want our queenside bishop. If our opponent's king goes to the kingside we would enjoy having this bishop on b2 or somewhere safe along the a1-h8 diagonal. But if our opponent's king goes to the queenside we would like our queenside bishop on g3 actually.

The knights can easily reach their best initial posts on f3 and c3 for white and c6 and f6 for black where they control key central squares and maneuver from one side of the board more easily.

Since there won't be all that much our opponent will be able to do to prevent us from developing our knights to these squares it makes sense to start with slightly more pressing matters such as enabling our bishops to move and controlling central squares with our pawns to keep enemy pieces off of them.

With all of this information and our ultimate goal in mind, it makes sense to first open up our bishops and at the same time put a pawn shield for our knights in the middle of the board.

That brings us to the two best first moves e4 or d4. But Wich one is really the best? 

This question is why I've decided to start this blog. It has been disputed throughout the history of chess and even the cream of the crop in the chess world still does not have a definite answer. They may prefer one move over the other most top players would declare these two moves equal.

I don't. Taking all the factors pointed out earlier it is simple to figure out that the oldest recorded move in the history of chess is also in fact the very best one.

1.e4! 

Why?

Firstly it is easier to play d4 rather than e4 later on in the game since the queen is backing up the d pawn. If you start with the d pawn you may have to take a long time if you want to get both of those pawns in the center. And sometimes it's just not possible.

 The king bishop's best square immediately becomes available after 1.e4

 The queen's bishop doesn't necessarily want to move along the diagonal opened by 1.d4 at first. 

 It is the initiative that you need to gain in order to try and force your opponent into a defensive state and so the King's bishop is really the first piece that may be able to start inducing these defensive moves from your opponent. So it makes sense to prepare its activation as quickly as possible.

 So there is the answer to our perplexing question of Wich move really is the best.

1.e4

I do like the other good moves as well but when it comes down to it. That's the truth.

1.d4 is almost as strong as 1.e4 but not completely. What it does do is keep blacks kingside bishop off of c5 and the a7-g1 diagonal. However, you shouldn't be thinking defensively on your first move as white.

Here's my list of the moves available to white in the order of strength they objectively are 

- e4 / c4

- d4 

- Nf3 

- g3  

- e3 

- f4 

- d3

- Nc3

- b4

- b3

- f3 

- a3 

- h4 

- h3 

- a4 

There are very specific reasons for this order of the strength of playing them as your first move and these reasons are mostly based on the information contained within this particular blog post and also because of the replies from the player of the black pieces and which plans would still be on the cards later on in the game.

Hope you enjoyed a look into the mind of someone hoping to challenge Magnus Carlsen someday in an over-the-board game. It doesn't matter if it's only for fun since that is the only reason I play chess. 

Good luck with your games and I wish you all have fun ...