Answers.Body: <p>The idea of giving your students some guidelines for playing good chess is good in principle, but we have to be aware of its limitations too. For the "practical" ones:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>1 This is great until you play a 5-minute blitz game. You also don't often need 20 seconds in a capture-recapture sequence. This illustrates the main problem with trying to create fixed rules, they don't apply in every situation. I would go for "think until you make sure you are not blundering"</li>
  <li>2, 3 and 4 are good pieces of advice!</li>
  <li>5 is just bad etiquette. I understand what you mean but you should definitely resign if you are a queen and two rooks down in material</li>
  <li>6 is pretty controversial. Just say "I shall find a good plan". Anyway beginner games are rarely decided on planning but on blunder exploitation</li>
  <li>7, 8 and 9 sound fine to me.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>The "in-game" principles are generally OK, but meaningless outside of their context, sometimes even false or contradictory with one another. If you are going to present them, please do so by providing good examples of how those rules actually apply.</p>
  
  <p>As a final thought, please keep in mind that it's better to let your student figure out the "in-game" principles themselves rather than you showing them as if they were the Ten Commandments. Your mission should be to give them hints in their discovery, rather than being the word of Truth. For the sake of example, let's take in-game rule No. 6. I would review one of their games where they have an awful knight, then try to help them figuring out why the enemy's attack was so devastating. Eventually, they'll see how useful the knight would have been in an active square creating counterplay</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T15:54:01.567Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2019-06-25T16:02:33.757Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2019-06-25T16:02:33.757Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: David
Body: <p>I'm trying to put together a flyer of the golden rules in chess for kids that are absolute beginners. I noticed that they ran into the same trivial mistake that could be easy to fix with a simple switch, and I guess the flyer could help flipping it. Here is my list so far, kinda ranked by how important the principles are :</p>
  
  <p><strong>Practical :</strong></p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>I shall take my time on each move, at least a good 20 seconds</li>
  <li>I shall pay attention to what’s my opponent last move and what is the intent</li>
  <li>I shall make sure that neither I nor my opponent is giving away a piece</li>
  <li>I shall keep my hand on my chin as long as I am not sure of what will be my next move</li>
  <li>I shall never resign</li>
  <li>A bad plan is better than no plan</li>
  <li>I shall not reveal my intent orally to my opponent</li>
  <li>I shall consider my opponent plays like a grandmaster</li>
  <li>Do not focus on one sector of the board. View the whole board</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p><strong>In game :</strong></p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>In the opening, I shall deploy the knights, bishops, and then castle.</li>
  <li>I shall not take out my queen in the opening</li>
  <li>I shall use my king in the endgame</li>
  <li>I shall connect my rook</li>
  <li>I shall try to control the center</li>
  <li>A knight on the rim is dim</li>
  <li>Rooks smile on open files</li>
  <li>When behind in material, I shall trade pawns. When ahead, trade pieces</li>
  <li>I shall avoid doubled, isolated or backward pawns and try getting passed pawns instead</li>
  <li>Whenever possible, I shall place my rook on the 7th or 8th rank</li>
  <li>I shall double my rooks on the 7th rank</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>What do you guys think of it? Any other important principles I didn't think of? Feel free to use it.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Edit : Here's the final look of it. Feel free to use it !</strong></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/JiOZK.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/JiOZK.jpg" alt="Chess tips"></a></p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T06:14:09.590Z
Comments.Text: 12. I shall remember that the preceding points are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Annatar
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T07:18:46.990Z
Comments.Text: You forgot No. 0: Chess has no principles! I agree with most of the Practical section, except that it is good etiquette to resign in hopeless positions. The in-game ones are more tricky, as somebody else could come with 11 alternative principles like "I shall not leave weak squares" or "I shall not push my pawns too much"
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T07:36:51.913Z
Comments.Text: I understand your points. I'm a 1700 player and I fully agree those don't apply in every scenario, especially the in-game one indeed. But I want the kids I teach to understand that playing the pons 8 times followed by a premature queen outing, isn't a solid foundation to learn other advanced concept on
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sebastien FERRAND
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T07:45:13.610Z
Comments.Text: @SebastienFERRAND It's a fine line. I disagree somewhat with rule no. 0, chess "skill" *is* based on pattern recognition after all, and you can call that "principles". Your principles are good guidelines for beginners. On the other hand however, sticking too closely to them all the time won't be that helpful in the long run.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Annatar
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T07:47:03.080Z
Comments.Text: In my experience, one climbs from 1000 to 1500 by learning such "principles" and from 1500 to 2000 by un-learning them again.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Annatar
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T07:47:28.910Z
Comments.Text: I agree with that. I intend to have them detach from those principles in phase 2, by showing those aren't the one truth
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sebastien FERRAND
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T10:32:30.207Z
Comments.Text: I shall not offer a draw or accept a draw offer. (Exceptions for really dead positions.)
Comments.UserDisplayName: bof
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T10:32:55.240Z
Comments.Text: You've essentially answered your own question, which is fine under [Stack Exchange guidelines](https://chess.stackexchange.com/help/self-answer), but *please* post the lists as a separate answer (preferably as a community wiki so everybody can edit it).
Comments.UserDisplayName: Glorfindel
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T10:33:46.137Z
Comments.Text: Also, the question has been flagged as Too Broad, which I tend to agree with, but I don't want to use the mod hammer (yet).
Comments.UserDisplayName: Glorfindel
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-25T16:07:25.257Z
Comments.Text: @Glorfindel I'm not sure about the "too broad" either. I do think it is more of a discussion topic than a question being very much opinion based as we see. I'd be more tempted to close on those grounds.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Brian Towers
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-26T07:38:49.000Z
Comments.Text: I guess there's no required action on my side right? You guys are just deciding if this will remain, isn't it?
  IMO the question do you think of other good principles to feed the list (past the argument about whether there should be a list or not in the first place)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sebastien FERRAND
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-26T07:49:14.537Z
Comments.Text: And this, my dear friends, is why this site will never become a useful site for chess players
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-26T08:00:00.740Z
Comments.Text: I'm confused, I think this could be useful to anyone teaching chess to kids AND finding the concept interesting. Plus, I can be your friend, but it's too early to be dear.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sebastien FERRAND
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-27T03:59:36.537Z
Comments.Text: Just tried it yesterday and the quality of their game drastically improved. You're welcome.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sebastien FERRAND
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-27T08:19:39.717Z
Comments.Text: Let's see if we can get some reopen votes for this question
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-28T10:15:06.673Z
Comments.Text: This site already failed when open/close votes are wasted on non-content. Stuff like this can already be found readily on chess sites. Regurgitating it to fit SE format adds zero value..
Comments.UserDisplayName: prusswan
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-06-28T10:31:40.903Z
Comments.Text: That is until you see the nice flyer I'll share here, with the nice design, and for free!
Comments.UserDisplayName: Sebastien FERRAND
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2019-07-14T13:17:19.950Z
Comments.Text: This is practical, cheerful and focused. Perfectly reasonable in my opinion that the question is one of asking for feedback
Comments.UserDisplayName: Laska
Tags: <teaching>
Title: Chess principles for beginner
ThreadText: # Chess principles for beginner
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-25)
  
  I'm trying to put together a flyer of the golden rules in chess for kids that are absolute beginners. I noticed that they ran into the same trivial mistake that could be easy to fix with a simple switch, and I guess the flyer could help flipping it. Here is my list so far, kinda ranked by how important the principles are :
  
  **Practical :**
  
  1. I shall take my time on each move, at least a good 20 seconds
  2. I shall pay attention to what’s my opponent last move and what is the intent
  3. I shall make sure that neither I nor my opponent is giving away a piece
  4. I shall keep my hand on my chin as long as I am not sure of what will be my next move
  5. I shall never resign
  6. A bad plan is better than no plan
  7. I shall not reveal my intent orally to my opponent
  8. I shall consider my opponent plays like a grandmaster
  9. Do not focus on one sector of the board. View the whole board
  
  **In game :**
  
  1. In the opening, I shall deploy the knights, bishops, and then castle.
  2. I shall not take out my queen in the opening
  3. I shall use my king in the endgame
  4. I shall connect my rook
  5. I shall try to control the center
  6. A knight on the rim is dim
  7. Rooks smile on open files
  8. When behind in material, I shall trade pawns. When ahead, trade pieces
  9. I shall avoid doubled, isolated or backward pawns and try getting passed pawns instead
  10. Whenever possible, I shall place my rook on the 7th or 8th rank
  11. I shall double my rooks on the 7th rank
  
  What do you guys think of it? Any other important principles I didn't think of? Feel free to use it.
  
  **Edit : Here's the final look of it. Feel free to use it !**
  
  [![Chess tips](https://i.sstatic.net/JiOZK.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/JiOZK.jpg)
  
  **Tags:** teaching
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: 12. I shall remember that the preceding points are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.  
  > **username_2**: You forgot No. 0: Chess has no principles! I agree with most of the Practical section, except that it is good etiquette to resign in hopeless positions. The in-game ones are more tricky, as somebody else could come with 11 alternative principles like "I shall not leave weak squares" or "I shall not push my pawns too much"  
  > **username_0**: I understand your points. I'm a 1700 player and I fully agree those don't apply in every scenario, especially the in-game one indeed. But I want the kids I teach to understand that playing the pons 8 times followed by a premature queen outing, isn't a solid foundation to learn other advanced concept on  
  > **username_1**: @username_0 It's a fine line. I disagree somewhat with rule no. 0, chess "skill" *is* based on pattern recognition after all, and you can call that "principles". Your principles are good guidelines for beginners. On the other hand however, sticking too closely to them all the time won't be that helpful in the long run.  
  > **username_1**: In my experience, one climbs from 1000 to 1500 by learning such "principles" and from 1500 to 2000 by un-learning them again.  
  > **username_0**: I agree with that. I intend to have them detach from those principles in phase 2, by showing those aren't the one truth  
  > **username_3**: I shall not offer a draw or accept a draw offer. (Exceptions for really dead positions.)  
  > **username_4**: You've essentially answered your own question, which is fine under [Stack Exchange guidelines](https://chess.stackexchange.com/help/self-answer), but *please* post the lists as a separate answer (preferably as a community wiki so everybody can edit it).  
  > **username_4**: Also, the question has been flagged as Too Broad, which I tend to agree with, but I don't want to use the mod hammer (yet).  
  > **username_5**: @username_4 I'm not sure about the "too broad" either. I do think it is more of a discussion topic than a question being very much opinion based as we see. I'd be more tempted to close on those grounds.  
  > **username_0**: I guess there's no required action on my side right? You guys are just deciding if this will remain, isn't it? IMO the question do you think of other good principles to feed the list (past the argument about whether there should be a list or not in the first place)  
  > **username_2**: And this, my dear friends, is why this site will never become a useful site for chess players  
  > **username_0**: I'm confused, I think this could be useful to anyone teaching chess to kids AND finding the concept interesting. Plus, I can be your friend, but it's too early to be dear.  
  > **username_0**: Just tried it yesterday and the quality of their game drastically improved. You're welcome.  
  > **username_2**: Let's see if we can get some reopen votes for this question  
  > **username_6**: This site already failed when open/close votes are wasted on non-content. Stuff like this can already be found readily on chess sites. Regurgitating it to fit SE format adds zero value..  
  > **username_0**: That is until you see the nice flyer I'll share here, with the nice design, and for free!  
  > **username_7**: This is practical, cheerful and focused. Perfectly reasonable in my opinion that the question is one of asking for feedback  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2019-06-25. Score: 1 | Accepted answer
  
  The idea of giving your students some guidelines for playing good chess is good in principle, but we have to be aware of its limitations too. For the "practical" ones:
  
  * 1 This is great until you play a 5-minute blitz game. You also don't often need 20 seconds in a capture-recapture sequence. This illustrates the main problem with trying to create fixed rules, they don't apply in every situation. I would go for "think until you make sure you are not blundering"
  * 2, 3 and 4 are good pieces of advice!
  * 5 is just bad etiquette. I understand what you mean but you should definitely resign if you are a queen and two rooks down in material
  * 6 is pretty controversial. Just say "I shall find a good plan". Anyway beginner games are rarely decided on planning but on blunder exploitation
  * 7, 8 and 9 sound fine to me.
  
  The "in-game" principles are generally OK, but meaningless outside of their context, sometimes even false or contradictory with one another. If you are going to present them, please do so by providing good examples of how those rules actually apply.
  
  As a final thought, please keep in mind that it's better to let your student figure out the "in-game" principles themselves rather than you showing them as if they were the Ten Commandments. Your mission should be to give them hints in their discovery, rather than being the word of Truth. For the sake of example, let's take in-game rule No. 6. I would review one of their games where they have an awful knight, then try to help them figuring out why the enemy's attack was so devastating. Eventually, they'll see how useful the knight would have been in an active square creating counterplay
  
  
  ---
  
  