Opening

The first stage of a game, during which the players try to develop their pieces and lay the groundwork for later operations (seizing the center, building a favorable pawn structure). The opening obeys the general laws of chess strategy and tactics, and above all the key strategic principle of piece coordination with the pawns.

Seizing the center with pawns

The fight for the center rests on the fact that a solid pawn occupation of it amounts to gaining a large amount of space. This makes it easier to maneuver and coordinate one's own forces, and makes it harder for the opponent to do the same.

The fight for the center can be direct, with both sides trying to seize it right away.

The game takes on a different character when one side tries to advance the central pawns while the other hinders it. In such cases, the squares adjoining the center — the extended center — come into their own.

There are openings in which one side seizes the center while the other then tries to break it up (undermine it) — the Alekhine Defense, for example.

Finally, it also happens that both White and Black hold off on seizing the center, trying to carry it out under the most favorable circumstances.

Centralization of the pieces

Placing pieces (especially the knight) in the center of the board is highly important, provided the opponent cannot drive them back. A piece in the center usually commands more squares and can be transferred more easily to any sector of the fight. Building the most favorable pawn structure often coincides with the opening's first task — the fight for the center. What matters here is the soundness of the pawn formation, the possibility of advancing pawns further to put pressure on the opponent's position, and the coordination of pawns and pieces.

Duration of the opening

There is no precise boundary separating the opening from the middlegame. Sometimes pressure on the opponent's position begins before development is fully complete. At other times, every task of the opening has already been accomplished, yet the players are in no hurry to take active steps, and it is hard to say whether the opening is still going on or the middlegame has already begun.

In general these two stages of the game are closely linked, since an experienced player, in playing the opening, always aims for a particular character of the ensuing fight. What's more, an opening is sometimes played with an eye to advantages and drawbacks that will only really matter in the endgame.

So the duration of the opening can only be given approximately — 10 to 15 moves.