5 Most Common Beginner Mistakes

Hello, my name is Oliver Prescott, and I decided to make a new page for the chess forum to assist beginners with their skills in chess. Below, I have listed five common errors made by chess beginners who are just starting to learn this wonderful game along with their respective diagrams. If you're a beginner, keep scrolling to improve your chess knowledge.

1. Not Controlling The Center

In most openings, the pawns near the center of the board are pushed in a way that they are almost always controlling a centered square. The centered squares are d4, e4, d5, and e5. Controlling the center will give you more space and more oppurtunities to attack and defend. However, I've seen many players play questionable moves such as a4, h4, and Na3 on their first moves. While these are not necessarily "blunders", your position may greatly improve if you play moves such as e4(e5 for black) or d4(d5 for black. 

The diagram above portrays the "Ten Golden Moves". If yu acheive a position similar to this, you will have a very great game.

2. Not Protecting The King

Castling is also very important in chess. The king will be the main target of your opponent throughout the entire game as if the king is checkmated, the game is over. If the king stays on its starting square being e1 for white or e8 for black, it can be very easily attacked after pawns are traded off. Thus, many chess players want to secure their king's safety behind the three pawns that is on the F, G, and H files(A, B, and C files if you castle queenside). However, many beginners like to push their pawns far away from the king immediately after castling, which kind of undos the entire purpose of castling. While some moves such as h3 or g3 is needed to prevent any back rank issues, don't go overboard and play moves such as g4 and f4.

The diagram above shows a position after white has pushed his kingside pawns. While black's king is very safe behind his pawns, white's king is very exposed and can be a great weakness for white.

3. Developing The Queen Early

As the most powerful piece in the game, many beginners like to access the queen quite early. The queen is worth 9 points, and can travel the same way as a rook and bishop. Thus, they play the Parnham Opening, which is e4, e5, and Qh5. They know that the f7 square is weak, and they want to use that to their advantage. However, if black plays correctly, white will be in some serious trouble. Because the queen is worth much more than any other piece, it cannot afford to trade with any other piece. Thus, it can be attacked extremely easily. When it is attacked, it makes many moves, thus wasting tempo and giving your opponent more time to develop.

After a failed attempt for the Scholar's Mate, white's position is immediately worsened as black's pieces are all very active and the only pieces that white has developed is the bishop and queen.

4. Losing To A Pin

Pins are one of the many tactics and chess, but they are the easiest to understand(in my opinion). There is a pin on the board when a piece is attacking a piece and there is a more powerful piece behind. When there is a pin, you typically want to attack the piece that cannot move to gain material. One of the most common pins, which is the knight being pinned to the queen by the enemy bishop can be a lot of trouble for your opponent if you attack it with a pawn. Since the knight cannot move withoug the loss of the queeen, your opponent will be forced to give up the pinned piece, giving you a very solid and comfortable position.

A common opening trap in the Ruy Lopez, the knight on c6 is trapped to the king, thus making it immoblie and subject to attack.

5. Draws And Resignations

When I was just starting out in chess, I would always resign after a very small mistake. For example, if I lost a pawn, I would immediately either resign, or offer a draw, hoping for the best. When my draw was declined, I would resign. While many titled players do resign after a small disadvantage, if you're a beginner and you're playing with beginners, try not to resign or offer any draws. When you're starting out with chess, yes you will most likely make blunders frequently, but so will your opponent. If you see a combination that will lead to checkmate or a lost piece, don't give up. There's always a chance that your opponent won't see it. And even if he does, you might win on time. Try not to ever resign as a novice. As for draws, I also don't reccomend it. If you feel as if your position is balanced and neither players has an advantage over the other, don't go for the draw(unless you get a lot of points for it). Instead, just play your best. Chances are, the game will soon tip into somebody's favor. And guess what? Maybe the win will be yours!

While I was tempted to offer a draw in this position as the material was equal and the queens were off the board, I continued this game and ended up winning. See game: https://www.chess.com/live/game/4838660975

BTW, for anybody who would like to know my theme, my board theme is the Icy Sea and the piece theme is Ocean. My background is the tournament theme.