Chess Openings for Beginners
The opening principles every chess beginner needs, four openings to learn first for White and Black, traps to avoid and how to practise against a robot.
The opening is the first ten or fifteen moves of a chess game, and beginners lose more games there than anywhere else, not because they do not know the theory but because they ignore the principles the theory is built on. This guide gives you those principles, four openings that follow them, and a way to practise against the Chess robot at Easy, Normal and Hard.
The four principles
- Control the centre. The four central squares (d4, e4, d5, e5) are where pieces have the most scope. Put a pawn or two there and aim your pieces at them.
- Develop your minor pieces. Knights and bishops first, toward the centre. A knight on f3 or c3 (f6 or c6 for Black) is almost always good; a bishop on c4 or f4 (c5 or f5) is active.
- Castle early. Usually within the first ten moves. Castling puts the king behind pawns and brings a rook toward the centre files.
- Don't move the same piece twice, and don't bring the queen out early. Each move should develop a new piece. An early queen gets chased around by enemy minor pieces, which develop with tempo while she runs.
A move that does none of these in the first ten moves is usually a mistake, however clever it looks.
Opening 1 for White: the Italian Game
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4.
White takes the centre, develops a knight attacking e5, and puts the bishop on its best diagonal, aiming at f7, the weakest square in Black's camp. Follow with d3, Nc3 or c3, castling, and a slow build-up. It is the easiest opening to understand and the best one to learn first.
Opening 2 for White: the Queen's Pawn with c4 (the Queen's Gambit)
- d4 d5 2. c4.
White offers a pawn to pull Black's d-pawn off the centre. If Black takes (2...dxc4), White recovers the pawn later with e3 and Bxc4; if Black declines with 2...e6 or 2...c6, White develops with Nc3, Nf3, Bg5 or Bf4, e3 and castles. The positions are calmer than after 1. e4 and teach you about pawn structure.
Opening 3 for Black against 1. e4: play 1...e5
Meeting e4 with e5 claims your share of the centre. After 2. Nf3 play 2...Nc6, and after 3. Bc4 play 3...Bc5 (the Giuoco Piano) or 3...Nf6 (the Two Knights). Develop, castle, and watch f7: if White's bishop and knight both point at it, keep it defended.
Opening 4 for Black against 1. d4: play 1...d5 and 2...e6
After 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 (the Queen's Gambit Declined), you keep the centre pawn, open the bishop's diagonal, and develop with Nf6, Be7, 0-0 and later c5 or c6. It is solid and forgiving.
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Traps every beginner should know
- Scholar's Mate: 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6?? 4. Qxf7#. Defend f7 with 3...g6 (attacking the queen) or 3...Qe7. Never let both the bishop and queen aim at f7 undefended.
- The Fried Liver idea: after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5, White attacks f7 twice. Black should play 4...d5, not ignore the threat.
- Leaving a piece hanging. Before every move in the opening ask: what does the robot's last move attack? The Hard robot takes every loose piece.
- Grabbing the b-pawn with the queen. Qxb2 or Qxb7 early often traps the queen. Decline the pawn.
Applying the principles
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. 0-0 0-0. Both sides have two pieces developed, a pawn in the centre, and a castled king, with no piece moved twice. From here, ideas rather than memory take over: White plays Nbd2, Re1 and h3 to stop a pin; Black plays a6, Ba7 and h6 for the same reasons. Play this position against the Normal robot a few times and you will recognise the shape in most of your games.
How to practise
- Play the Easy robot and follow the principles strictly, even when a quicker win looks possible. Build the habit.
- Move to Normal and play one opening for White and one for Black for twenty games each. Stay with them; switching openings every game teaches nothing.
- Use Undo when you blunder in the first ten moves, go back, and find the principled move. Undo takes back your move and the robot's reply.
- Read the move list after each game. Find the first move that broke a principle.
- When you beat Normal regularly, try Hard. It punishes loose pieces immediately, which is the fastest teacher of all.
Common mistakes
- Pawn moves on the edge (a3, h3) in the first five moves. They develop nothing.
- Bringing the queen out on move two or three. She gets chased.
- Castling late or not at all. A king in the centre is the target of every tactic.
- Moving a developed piece again to win a pawn. Development first.
- Memorising moves without understanding. The robot will leave the book on move four and you must know why your moves were good.
Glossary
- Development: moving pieces off their starting squares to active ones.
- Tempo: one move's worth of time; a move that forces a reply gains a tempo.
- Castling: moving the king two squares toward a rook and the rook to the square the king crossed.
- Gambit: offering a pawn in the opening for development or the centre.
- Minor pieces: knights and bishops.
- Pin: a piece that cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it.
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Questions and answers
Which chess opening should a beginner learn first?
The Italian Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4) for White and 1...e5 against 1. e4 for Black. Both follow the principles directly: centre, development, early castling.
How many opening moves should I memorise?
Very few. Learn the first four or five moves of one opening for each colour and the ideas behind them. After that, the four principles decide your moves, and the robot will leave any memorised line early anyway.
Why does the Hard robot beat me in the opening?
Usually because a piece was left undefended or the king stayed in the centre. Before each move ask what the robot’s last move attacks, and castle by move ten.
Can I take back a bad opening move?
Yes. Against the robot, Undo takes back your last move and the robot’s reply, which makes it a good way to replay an opening until the principled move is a habit.
Written by the DailyGameClub team from the rules as DailyGameClub plays them. Updated October 15, 2026. New to a word? See the glossary. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.