Control the Centre

You know every rule of chess. This final chapter teaches you how to start a game well, and to follow along you first need to read moves the way every chess book writes them. A game score begins like this: 1. e4 e5. The number counts the pair of moves: White's move comes first, then Black's answer. A pawn move is written as nothing but the square the pawn lands on, so 1. e4 means White's pawn stepped to e4.

Pieces get one capital letter in front of the square:

• N for the knight (the K was taken), so Nf3 is a knight moving to f3
• B bishop, R rook, Q queen, K king
• x marks a capture: Nxe5 means a knight captured whatever stood on e5
• + means check and # means checkmate, so Qxf7# reads: the queen captured on f7, checkmate

Now the first big idea of every opening. Four squares sit at the exact crossroads of the board: d4, d5, e4 and e5. They are called the centre, and the whole opening is a fight over them.

The four centre squares: d4, d5, e4 and e5. The crossroads of the board.

That is why 1. e4 is the most played first move in history. The pawn plants itself in the centre, controls d5 and f5, and opens the diagonals for the f1 bishop and the queen in one go. Compare 1. a4: a legal move that fights for nothing central and frees only a rook that is not ready to work yet.

After 1. e4. The pawn controls d5 and f5, and the lines for White's bishop and queen are open.

Why fight over four squares? Because pieces in the centre reach more squares. Watch the same piece in two homes: a knight on d4 jumps to eight squares, while its twin in the corner on h1 reaches exactly two. Central pieces are simply worth more, so the side that owns the centre plays with a stronger army.

A knight on d4 reaches eight squares. Its twin on h1 reaches two.