Answers.Body: <p>Your four main goals in the opening are:</p>
  <ul>
  <li><p>Develop your pieces : playing (only once, and toward the center, if possible)  each knight, bishop, central pawn, queen, and later rook.</p>
  </li>
  <li><p>Control the center</p>
  </li>
  <li><p>Put your king to safety ; most often, by castling</p>
  </li>
  <li><p>Annoy your opponent : as much as possible, prevent them to do the same and to reach a comfortable position; this requires carefulness about their options and tactical alertness.</p>
  </li>
  </ul>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-07T09:54:55.267Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Answers.Body: <p>I like Evergalo's answer, although I would modify it a bit.</p>
  <ul>
  <li>Develop your pieces. No one could disagree with this. But not <em>necessarily</em> toward the center. Fianchettoed bishops can be very good. Rooks, since they start on the edge, always move toward the center (at least on their first move) but the key for rooks is not center vs. not, but open file vs semi-open vs. closed.  And which pawns should move isn't absolute, just look at hypermodern openings.</li>
  </ul>
  <p>and I would add &quot;connect your rooks&quot; which will involve a queen move.</p>
  <p>I do like the last bullet about &quot;annoy the opponent&quot; -- that one doesn't get mentioned so much.</p>
  <p>Also, if you lost to an FM in 28 moves, it may well not be because of opening knowledge. I don't know your rating so excuse me if I am way off, but if you are asking this question, you probably aren't close to FM strength and 28 moves is a pretty long game.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-07T16:44:51.750Z
Answers.Text: I agree with the last sentence
Answers.UserDisplayName: qwr
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Answers.UserDisplayName: Peter Flom
Answers.Body: <p>I think @Evergalo's <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/43212/26335">answer</a> is 100% the best due to its conciseness. For those seeking a bit more detail...</p>
  <p><strong>10 Opening Principles</strong> from <em>A First Book of Morphy</em> by Frisco Del Rosario:</p>
  <ol>
  <li>Open with a center pawn.</li>
  <li>Develop with threats.</li>
  <li>Develop Knights before Bishops.</li>
  <li>Don't move the same piece twice if you can help it.</li>
  <li>Make as few pawn moves as possible.</li>
  <li>Don't bring your Queen out too early.</li>
  <li>Castle as soon as possible, preferably on the kingside.</li>
  <li>Play to get control of the center.</li>
  <li>Try to maintain at least one pawn in the center.</li>
  <li>Don't sacrifice without a clear and adequate reason.</li>
  </ol>
  <p>Also very relevant is this answer: <a href="https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/30034/26335">just play good chess</a>.</p>
  
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Answers.CreationDate: 2023-11-09T13:26:00.400Z
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Answers.UserDisplayName: SecretAgentMan
Body: <p>Recently I lost to an FM in 28 moves due to lack of opening knowledge. Can someone help me out and summarize the general principles to follow in unfamiliar openings? Please make it easy to memorize.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-11-07T07:52:14.287Z
Comments.Text: Sounds like a doublon to me but I cannot find the previous time this question was asked...
Comments.UserDisplayName: Evargalo
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-11-07T13:03:49.233Z
Comments.Text: Can we take a look at the specific game? General advice here would probably be too broad and not enough to cover most situations
Comments.UserDisplayName: David
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-11-07T16:43:28.283Z
Comments.Text: Which opening? Some have a lot of theory specific to them.
Comments.UserDisplayName: qwr
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-11-07T22:54:54.263Z
Comments.Text: Much good sense has already been put forward. I will mention one point that I found helpful as I started to encounter stronger players. However good they are, they cannot do better than play the best move in the position, so DONT PANIC! Play according to the best principles you know. And if you do go down in flames, a decent opponent will teach you a nice lesson.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Philip Roe
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-11-08T03:03:31.553Z
Comments.Text: You might be interested: https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/24243/how-should-one-respond-to-the-sodium-attack
Comments.UserDisplayName: Allure
Tags: <opening><memorization>
Title: What do I do in unfamiliar openings?
ThreadText: # What do I do in unfamiliar openings?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-11-07)
  
  Recently I lost to an FM in 28 moves due to lack of opening knowledge. Can someone help me out and summarize the general principles to follow in unfamiliar openings? Please make it easy to memorize.
  
  **Tags:** opening, memorization
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Sounds like a doublon to me but I cannot find the previous time this question was asked...  
  > **username_2**: Can we take a look at the specific game? General advice here would probably be too broad and not enough to cover most situations  
  > **username_3**: Which opening? Some have a lot of theory specific to them.  
  > **username_4**: Much good sense has already been put forward. I will mention one point that I found helpful as I started to encounter stronger players. However good they are, they cannot do better than play the best move in the position, so DONT PANIC! Play according to the best principles you know. And if you do go down in flames, a decent opponent will teach you a nice lesson.  
  > **username_5**: You might be interested: https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/24243/how-should-one-respond-to-the-sodium-attack  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2023-11-07. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
  
  Your four main goals in the opening are:
  
  * Develop your pieces : playing (only once, and toward the center, if possible) each knight, bishop, central pawn, queen, and later rook.
  * Control the center
  * Put your king to safety ; most often, by castling
  * Annoy your opponent : as much as possible, prevent them to do the same and to reach a comfortable position; this requires carefulness about their options and tactical alertness.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_6 on 2023-11-07. Score: 4
  
  I like Evergalo's answer, although I would modify it a bit.
  
  * Develop your pieces. No one could disagree with this. But not *necessarily* toward the center. Fianchettoed bishops can be very good. Rooks, since they start on the edge, always move toward the center (at least on their first move) but the key for rooks is not center vs. not, but open file vs semi-open vs. closed. And which pawns should move isn't absolute, just look at hypermodern openings.
  
  and I would add "connect your rooks" which will involve a queen move.
  
  I do like the last bullet about "annoy the opponent" -- that one doesn't get mentioned so much.
  
  Also, if you lost to an FM in 28 moves, it may well not be because of opening knowledge. I don't know your rating so excuse me if I am way off, but if you are asking this question, you probably aren't close to FM strength and 28 moves is a pretty long game.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: I agree with the last sentence  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_7 on 2023-11-09. Score: 1
  
  I think @Evergalo's [answer](https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/43212/26335) is 100% the best due to its conciseness. For those seeking a bit more detail...
  
  **10 Opening Principles** from *A First Book of Morphy* by Frisco Del Rosario:
  
  1. Open with a center pawn.
  2. Develop with threats.
  3. Develop Knights before Bishops.
  4. Don't move the same piece twice if you can help it.
  5. Make as few pawn moves as possible.
  6. Don't bring your Queen out too early.
  7. Castle as soon as possible, preferably on the kingside.
  8. Play to get control of the center.
  9. Try to maintain at least one pawn in the center.
  10. Don't sacrifice without a clear and adequate reason.
  
  Also very relevant is this answer: [just play good chess](https://chess.stackexchange.com/a/30034/26335).
  
  
  ---
  
  