Top 5 Opening Mistakes Most Chess Players Still Making

Today we will talk about the most common opening mistakes that many chess players around the globe are making subconsciously, without realizing that they are doing something wrong. These mistakes are easy to spot and fix, but you need to know what to look for. Here they are: 

1. Neglecting development

Every chess player knows that the goal of the opening is to develop pieces. A player which does it more efficiently and correctly possesses an advantage in the early middle game. Due to development advantage he can start an attack sooner, without compromising his own king’s safety. These players often win the game in early middle-game with an impressive attack on the king stuck in the center (this is particularly important theme and we pay a lot of attention practicing attack on the king at the center in our chess training course) or struggling from undeveloped pieces.

Sounds great isn’t it? Why many players neglect development and lose games? There are 3 reasons for that:

I. These players get greedy in the opening, grabbing an extra pawn and sacrificing 2-3 important development tempos.

II. These players move one piece multiple times for no good reason. A ‘good reason’ is defined in this case as ability to win a significant amount of material due to some sort of tactics, or to deliver a checkmate.

You should be careful though, since you may waste many important tempos on winning material, which you may never get and end up being far behind in development (aka lost).

III. These players may not know where exactly to develop their pieces (we will talk about this case in one of the sections below).

2. Launching an unprepared attack

Most chess players know that in the opening they supposed to develop pieces, castle, connect the rooks, occupy the center and only then launch an attack. However, if they see a possibility to check an opponent or attack some of his pieces they will go for it even if that does not promise any material gain and requires early queen development.

You should always keep in mind that unprepared attack will delay your development, since you most likely, will have to retreat sooner or later making unnecessary moves and losing tempos.

The best strategy is to complete the development and only then launch an attack.  Otherwise, you can end up playing the opening when your opponent has already entered the middle game (trust me, you don’t want that).

3. Delaying castling

Castling is a very important part of development. Not only castling puts your king to safety but also connects the rooks. There are reasons when it is dangerous and even deadly to castle, but these are more exceptions than general cases, mostly caused by lag in development in the first place.

In most openings it is best to castle quickly and continue on with the game without too much worrying about possibility of the king getting exposed and vulnerable.

4. Not having a middle game plan

The simplest way to play the opening is to develop chess pieces to the positions where they appear stronger. Bishops should be developed on open diagonals, rooks on open files and knights at the center. However, the best approach for playing the opening is to know exactly where to position your pieces according to your middle-game plan.

For example, if you are planning an attack on short side castled opponent’s king you need to place the bishop on a long diagonal, bring up the knight and a queen. You may also want to position the rook in such a way that you can lift it quickly when needed.

When developing pieces always think about your future middle game plan. That way you can save yourself many importanttempos and obtain an advantage. In the final run that could be the difference between checkmating or being checkmated.

5. Playing intuitively

Playing intuitively means making decisions based upon feelings rather than calculations. Unless you are 2500 rated, you probably should not rely on your intuition too much. This is how games end with under 10 moves checkmates.

The rule of thumb is to evaluate the position at least 2-3 moves ahead, also taking into account the basic chess opening principles.

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How to use Chess Engines

Nowadays, most chess players learn and practice chess by using COMPUTERS. There are many chess programs like ChessBase, Fritz, etc., and they have a lot of chess ‘engines’ installed (Rybka, Houdini and so on).

Of course, engines are very strong: they calculate a lot of variations and evaluatea position in not more than a minute. The most important question for YOU, though, is: how to use chess engines PROPERLY? How to utilize the great power of chess programs for your benefit?

In order to answer this question, we’ve invited an active chess player – GM Mikhailo Oleksienko – to join us.

He’s the current Ukrainian Rapid Chess Champion, has won a couple of international tournaments and achieved an awesome 2640 rating in 2014.

This Sunday, 12 October, at 4p.m. BST (London time) you can attend GM Mikhailo Oleksienko’s webinar “Chess engines: how to use them properly?”. You can get all the details and sign up here:

                            <<Sign up for GM Oleksienko’s webinar>>

How to convert “a better position” into a WIN?

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While playing a chess game, quite often you can obtain a SUPERIOR position.

• It could happen thanks to your good opening preparation.
• Sometimes your opponent plays badly.

After that you face the famous question in chess: “How to win a won game?”

This is not as simple as it seems. An opponent gets tricky and tries to mix the things up. Often you have to play precise moves under time pressure. Then you can spoil a good game, not getting a well-deserved win.

Of course you can blame “that lucky guy” (your opponent) for that, or grieve for“an oversight in time trouble”. That’s what most players do in such cases 

However, obviously there’s a better option. You can learn appropriate techniques and always finish your opponents off! Look at “chess killers” like Topalov, Carlsen, Adams etc. In a worse position, nobody can escape from them.

If your wish to acquire those skills of “a chess killer” – you are welcome to join my webinar on Saturday 27 September (4p.m., BST). You can get all the details and sign up for the webinar here:

<< Sign up for GM Smirnov’s webinar >>

Good News: join the webinar for FREE!

The webinar’s price is really small compared to the skills and results you’ll obtain. However, I know that some of the students live in developing countries and can’t afford any additional expenses.

I’ve thought about what I can do for such students and have come up with a good idea! Help us spread the word about Remote Chess Academy, and you’ll get your ticket FOR FREE.

That’s really easy, and I hope that this time everyone will be happy! 

<< Join GM Smirnov’s webinar FOR FREE >>

Now let’s check how you should NOT play in won positions 

Caruana – NakamuraWhite’s turn

White is a pawn up and is pressuring Black’s position hardly. It’s almost winning.How to turn that “almost winning” into a real full score? What would you play as White?

Actually there are even a few ways for a quick win. You might be surprised to know that Caruana (rated 2801!) – managed to drew it!

After you came up with your own solution, please, check the actual game here:LINK

P.S. This time I allow FREE entry for my webinar, while there are only 100 seats available. It’s not that much compared to around 25,000 of my subscribers  Hurry up!