Control the Course of the Game with the Best Chess Opening Strategy

Chess opening strategies are crucial to win a chess game. Good strategies allow you to gain a quick control of the center, safeguard your king, create positions to mount an attack and prevent any weak links in the pawns. Moreover, pieces are placed in such a way that they protect each other.

There are quite a few chess opening strategies and the best one for you will depend on two factors: your strategy for the game and the expertise of your opponent. There are essentially two popular types of openings, viz., king's pawn openings and queen's pawn openings. Here are some famous chess opening strategies that you should know if you are into chess:

King's pawn openings: Each of these openings start with the move: e4 where the white pawn in front of the king moves forward two places. Some important king's pawn openings are:

• Sicilian Defense
• Alekhine Defense
• Caro-Kann Defense
• French Defense
• Scandinavian Defense

Queen's pawn openings: Here the opening starts with the move: d4 where the white pawn in front of the queen moves forward two places. Some famous queen’s pawn openings are:

• Stonewall Attack
• Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
• Trompowsky Attack
• London System

These openings are sometimes also divided into open games, closed games, semi-open games, semi-closed games and flank openings.

Here are some of the famous opening strategies classified according to the above categorization:

Open games: White plays e4 and black counters with e5

• King's Gambit
• Ruy Lopez
• Scotch Game
• Italian Game

Closed games: White plays d4 and black counters with d5

• Queen’s Gambit
• London System
• Slav Defense
• Torre Attack

Semi-open games: White plays e4 and black plays anything other than e5

• Sicilian Defense
• Caro-Kann Defense
• Alekhine’s Defense
• Modern Defense
• Scandinavian Defense

Semi-closed games: White plays d4 and black counters with a move other than d5

• Indian defense
• King’s Indian Defence
• Queen’s Indian Defence
• Nimzo-Indian Defence
• Black Knights’ Tango
• Dutch Defense
• Benoni Defense

Flank openings: The opening moves are played with the white starting with flanking moves

• King’s Indian Attack
• Réti
• Bird's Opening
• English Opening

These are just a few of the many opening moves in chess and mastering even a few of these will make you a strong chess player. Start with one of the many options and get set on your way to becoming a chess master.

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