How to Learn Chess Openings Without Memorization

One of the things that I cringe in the method of teaching chess is memorization. Beginners who are taught to memorize chess opening positions, and not to understand the principles behind it, does not improve the chess growth of the player. In this article, let me expound to you the basic opening principles of chess and how you can use it to improve your game.

For the purpose of simplicity, I would like to separate the opening principles into two concepts. Space and Time.

Space

When playing chess, a player who controls most of the 64 squares on the board have a higher chance of winning the game. It is also an important stuff to take control of the center squares of the board to give us more flexibility and cover a lot of squares. For the purpose of our discussion, lets take a look at the knight. If the knight is at the corner of the board, it looks silly. Not only it does control less squares, but also have less options in going for the kingside or queenside for an attack! On the other hand, if our pawns and pieces are geared towards the center, we have a huge spatial advantage to work with.

Time

Tempo, as called in the chess world, is essential in quickly building an attack. If for example, you have 3 moves ahead of your enemy, then, you have a lot of pieces activated than your enemy. This is a good thing for us since it gives us a lot of advantage when it comes to space and number of attacking pieces. Generally, the best attacking players sacrifice a pawn or a piece just to gain time or tempo. If you take your time to learn how to utilize it, you can beat any strong opponent in chess!

Putting it Together

With this guiding knowledge, we learned that we should make moves that takes control of the most squares in the board without wasting a lot of time. To do this, develop your pieces without moving it twice in an opening, while taking control of the central squares. If you do these simple things, you will notice an improvement in your game.

Conclusion

This article cannot possible cover everything about chess. My only advice is to learn additional chess principles and avoid memorizing chess positions. Remember, chess openings have principles behind them so you don't need to memorize openings blindly. I promise you, if learn the principles of chess, then, it will guide you along the path of the masters!