Originally posted by whiplash08Opening's at your level should be easy.
How do I decide what a good opening move is and what one isnt?
Choose between 1.e4 and 1.d4 as white, and find an opening that fits your style.
And pick two as black, one versus 1.e4 and one versus 1.d4.
Stick with whatever openings you choose and play them for at least a year.
Analysis on which openings are good or bad can be found all over the internet. And provided the question isn't totally idiotic you can ask on here and get a good (*) answer.
*If they aren't an idiot.
Originally posted by whiplash08Copied and pasted from Thread 50887
How do I decide what a good opening move is and what one isnt?
Zebano's guide to the opening**
1. Develop your pieces and protect your king (connecting your rooks and castling is ideal)
2. Control the center of the board namely the e4,e5,d4,d5 squares. This can be done by occupying the center (probably with pawns) or from afar with pieces that cannot be attacked (these are known as hypermodern openings). The reason for this is laid out in numbers 1 & 2 below.
Some general ideas which help you get there
1. Place a bishop on c4 and consider how many squares it influences, how many does it influence on f1? How about if it is on g2 and there is a pawn on e4?
2. Repeat # 1 but with a knight, notice that the pawn makes little difference in the scope of the knight (it can restrict a knights movement options).
3. Don't move pieces more than once without a concrete reason to. You are wasting time that the opponent can use to gain a lead in development - it doesn't matter if you're up a rook but he has all 6 other pieces pointed right at your king and you have only the queen nearby to defend.
4. It is usually a bad idea to move the queen out. This is because the opponent can attack it and it is so valuable that you must move it. This generally means your opponent will gain a lead in development.
5. Forcing moves (i.e. check or a night attacking the enemy queen) are better than non-forcing moves simply because they are easier to calculate and means the opponent is playing your game not his. This is true in all portions of the game.
6. Remember to look (briefly) for tactics in all positions. This is how 90%* of games are won at our level.
7. f2/f7 are the weakest points of the pawn chain and attacking them may be worthwhile but trading your knight and bishop for your opponents rook and f2(7) pawn is almost always a bad idea.
8. There are exceptions to all rules. That said, you must first learn when the rules work if you want to know when you can break them.
**bastardized from other sources to numerous to name which give out the exact same information.
* An estimate by me. Remember that 99.3% of statistics are made up on the spot.