Sam Trenholme’s blog
Sam’s Micro Repertoire
Let’s look at the starting position of Chess:
It’s a mess. All of the pieces, except the knights, are trapped by pawns. The rooks are far away from each other. All of the pieces are on the back row, and need to get out on the field to fight. The pawn in front of the King’s Bishop (the “f” pawn) is weakly defended only by the King, resulting in a weakness next to the most valuable piece.
The general opening principles are this:
- Develop knights before bishops.
- Do not move the queen early in the game.
- Do not advance the f pawn early in the game.
- Castle early, preferably on the kingside.
- Move pieces towards the center.
This is how one pieces would be developed, assuming the other player allows it:
A micro Chess repertoire
Beginners should not worry too much about memorizing Chess opening moves. For beginners, it’s far more important to sharpen one’s midgame tactics and have a better strategic understanding why certain positions are reached.That, said I will provide a few really basic opening moves.
White: Open with 1. e4
White has four really good moves to start the game with: 1. e4, 1. d4, 1. c4, or 1. Nc3. Grandmaster Larry Kaufman waffled between whether 1. e4 or 1. d4 was best for White’s first move, ultimately settling on 1. e4. World Champion Bobby Fischer almost always played 1. e4.
1. e4 results in open, exciting tactical games and will make beginners learn how to hunt down the opponent’s king.
Black: Usually play 1...e5
Black should usually respond with 1...e5. For example, if White plays 1. e4, Black’s very best response is 1...e5
That said, there are a few exceptions (1. d4, 1. Nc3, 1. Nf3, 1. f4, and 1. g4) where Black should respond 1...d5 instead.
If Black plays, 1. d4, respond with d5. 1. d4 e5 (the unsound “Englund gambit”) causes Black to lose a pawn without compensation.
With 1. Nc3, again d5, to be able to threaten the knight with d4.
With 1. f4, 1...d5. 1. f4 e5 loses the pawn without compensation.
With 1. Nf3, 1...d5. 1. Nf3 e5 loses the pawn without compensation.
With 1. g4, 1...d5. This threatens the g4 pawn with Bxg4.
More discussion
1. e4 e5 should be responded to with 2. Nf3.
The Petroff trap
If 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 (Petroff’s defense), with beginners it usually continues 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 and now Black is in trouble unless he moves very precisely (then he merely loses a pawn).
If, for example, 4...Nf6, then Black loses his queen with 5. Nc6! I have an article showing a game I won many moons ago with this trap in the Petroff.
The Slav Defense
If 1. d4 d5 2. c4, Black should respond 2...c6. This is the Slav Defense, and the simplest way to handle the Queen’s Gambit.
The Sicilian Defense
The best way for White to handle the Sicilian defense at club level play is to play the Grand Prix anti-Sicilian. After 1. e4 c5 (the Sicilian), 2. Nc3 is usually followed by 3. f4 then 4. Nf3. While 3. f4 goes against the principle of moving the f pawn early in the game, Black is usually concentrating on the queenside early on in the Sicilian so the move is relatively safe. If Black were to play, say, 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e5? then 3. f4 obviously doesn’t make sense (White would get a strong advantage with 3. Bc4 in that position).Pragg won his first game in the 2026 candidates with this opening; this is how that game looked after the fourth move:
I have an entire article on the Grand Prix using that game.
Further reading
As I warned before, beginners should not be memorizing too many opening lines, but working on basic principles. At the club level and playing one’s friends, they are unlikely to play, say, the first 20 moves of the Sicilian Najdorf. They will make mistakes long before that.That said, here are a couple of resources for studying the opening: