Chess opening principles for beginners

Mony a mickle macs a muckle (scots - many small things accumulate to form a larger whole)

George Washington, included this phrase in his writings in 1793:

"A Scotch [steady on George, we prefer to be called Scots] addage, than which nothing in nature is more true 'that many mickles make a muckle'."

In chess terms this means that if we take care of the small events, they will accumulate into larger ones.  What do we mean by small events, those decisions we make on the basis of principles which guide our thought process, in this instance, in the opening phase of a chess game. Many of these principles are neglected, ignored entirely by those who are unaware of them or flaunted by those who know the rules and how to break them.  Please consider the following simple opening plan,

in conclusion, the goals are really simple and easy peasy,

1.we develop our pieces
2.we connect our rooks (post the queen)
3. we castle

to help us

1.we move pawns only to help us develop our pieces
2.we develop the least active pieces
3.we develop our pieces towards the centre and on squares of maximum activity

these things may seem simple but I can show you zillions of games where these principles were violated to the detriment of the player who neglected them! These players are chess criminals and must be brought to justice, follow these simple opening principles, take care of the little things and you will be good to go - kind regards Robbie.