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Typical advice given to beginners you all disagree with most

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sheetspread3

"Castle early" is probably my least favorite adage. Often players castle too early. What does everyone think? "Knights before bishops" is another one. Control the center I agree with, but that's pretty general. Another misconception might be that opening moves aren't so important, just reach a playable midgame. Every move counts, you should start as strong as possible, even taking extra time for the first 5-10.

wanmokewan

Why don't you agree with those?

sheetspread3

Players often miss important shots by castling early (when it isn't ideal for the position). Knights before bishops can be terrible advice in open games. When I say opening moves are important, that doesn't mean you should memorize countless sequences, rather focus more on a strong start. Look for creative attacks, don't mechanically "set the table" as is so common.

jambyvedar
sheetspread3 wrote:

"Castle early" is probably my least favorite adage. Often players castle too early. What does everyone think? "Knights before bishops" is another one. Control the center I agree with, but that's pretty general. Another misconception might be that opening moves aren't so important, just reach a playable midgame. Every move counts, you should start as strong as possible, even taking extra time for the first 5-10.

 

Castle early is actually a good advice for a beginner. Start with the fundamentals. That is Kasparov's advice. A beginner usually don't know what he is doing, so that is a good advice. As a beginner gets better, he will know if castling immediately is appropriate or not. 

 

I remember when I am just a beginner, I have many wins against fellow beginner and castling early is  one of the main reason for that.

 

 

RaoSiyuan

yeah, as a beginner, I always think that my openings moves is for a comfortable castle ....

sheetspread3
666Buffchix wrote:

Haven't you seen my comments on this site.."Beginners MUST ONLY play e4 OPEN games" has to be the winner of all eternity.

 

I wouldn't say must, but mostly, yes. Save the queen pawn openings etc. for experimental days.

tipish

agree with OP castling early means your opponent will castle to queen side and start a pawn storm. or he will start his attack right away without even spending time to castle. look how MVL destroyed Aronian just like that recently.

Prashant_1947

In my every game castling leads to positional games which most often end up with pawn endgame (which i play horribly bad) so without casteling when my opponent play h3 or h6 i just push g pawn forward.

tipish

said the 1300 to the 1900 cool...

tipish

to be honest your right about that

stanhope13

The golden rule is there are no golden rules.

IMKeto
tipish wrote:

agree with OP castling early means your opponent will castle to queen side and start a pawn storm. or he will start his attack right away without even spending time to castle. look how MVL destroyed Aronian just like that recently.

Not true.  You dont just "automatically" start an attack.  There has to be certain parameters that have to be met.

You should castle on the opposite side when at least one of the following factors is true:

  1. When you are up in development and your opponent has already castled, you should consider castling on the opposite side. That way you will have a clear game plan and will also be able to capitalize on your development advantage.

  2. When you have a damaged pawn structure (doubled paws, missing pawns, far advanced pawns, etc.) on one side you should consider castling on the other side.

  3. When the opponent’s pieces are especially active on one side of the board, it is usually best to castle on the opposite side.

  4. If you want to complicate the game you may consider this option. That maybe true if you must play for a win due to a tournament situation, when the draw is not enough. This also maybe done when you're playing against a stronger opponent, who is much better in simple/technical positions. That maybe your best bet.

You should not castle on the opposite side when at least  one of the following factors is true:

  1. When you are behind in development and you need extra time to develop your pieces, it is usually not a good idea to give your opponent a straight forward way of launching an attack.

  2. When the opponent’s pawns are advanced towards the side you’re about to castle, it is not a good idea to castle there (especially if the opponent’s king is castled on the opposite side). It will just give him a positional edge in the attack.

  3. When there are open/semi-open files in-front of the side you’re about to castle, you should probably reconsider your decision to castle there (especially if your opponent has castled on the other side). That will give him more attacking possibilities, such as rook lifts, various sacrifices, doubling of pieces on the file, etc.

  4. If you playing against a weaker opponent you may want to avoid castling opposite sides, in order to avoid sharp game and keep everything under control.

Note: These are general rules, not laws, meaning that there are always exceptions to them. When you’re making a decision on what side to castle you should always take your time and evaluate all pros” and cons”and base your decision upon your own analysis. This is a very important decision. It pretty much dictates which way the game will continue. Take your time and think twice.

 

NukeYourChess

May I add that it depends on the opening system? Ruy Lopez castle early grin.png

jambyvedar
stanhope13 wrote:

The golden rule is there are no golden rules.

 

But a beginner must first learn the rules, so they will know later on when to break them. There are also golden rules that always work. Example are  principles of two weakness, bishop pairs are strong at open position etc.

drmrboss
stanhope13 wrote:

The golden rule is there are no golden rules.

Break the rule when you reach master level and can make your own rules. ( GM in chess or PhD in academic )

Piperose

Typical advice given to beginners you(I) all disagree with most:

 

Just keep playing.

(without analyzing, without seeking the opinions/thoughts of your opponent, without a moment of pause or reflection).

 

stanhope13
Lawdoginator

Don't drive angry! 

aaaaaaairlol
Pretty sure they’re just general principals, but what really makes you a next level player is knowing when you should castle and when you should instead just keep attacking
lfPatriotGames
stanhope13 wrote:

The golden rule is there are no golden rules.

I have found that there is one, and only one, golden rule. There are variations of it, but it basically comes down to just one. The one who has the gold, makes the rules.