Learn How to Develop Pieces in Chess: A Comprehensive Guide

Developing pieces is a crucial aspect of chess strategy that can significantly impact the outcome of a game. By strategically placing your pieces on the board, you can gain control of the center, create attacking opportunities, and improve your defensive position.

In this article, we will explore the importance of developing pieces in the opening, middlegame, and endgame, and provide tips on how to effectively utilize your knights, bishops, rooks, and pawns to secure victory on the chessboard.

Why is Developing Pieces Important?

Developing pieces is important because of the following reasons. Developing pieces in chess is important because it means getting them out of their starting squares. A piece on its starting square is rarely good. Developing pieces is important as it means it is now closer to various targets such as central squares, giving them more role in the game. Putting the same amount of importance on developing ALL your pieces makes it easier to maintain a harmonious balance among all your pieces. So, always try to develop most pieces as quickly as possible.

Gain Control of the Center

Control of the center refers to the central 4×4 intersection points of the chessboard. Pieces in the center of the board have maximum mobility and minimal zoomed-in attacks. Having pieces in the center makes it easier to organize attacks and defenses elsewhere on the board and the wings.

The player contriving for development puts one or more early pieces (with preference for knights and bishops) in the center so as to vie for centralized control and achieve quick and easy piece mobility to the wings. The illustration explains how each center square has 4 natural move pathways, starting at the center, within two moves to a friendly half of the board, to a side center, and within two moves to a foe’s half.

Thus, if European football field markup occupied with the new piece, a soccer player within two moves may be able to influence that spot. This principle by nature is integrated into good opening play. When developing pieces to the center, it is essential to be cognizant of opponents’ threats to the center. Sound set up before piece deployments and strong defense during deployment is necessary to prevent the repelling of central piece development. Once the center is secured and developed, pieces are used to extend control of the board. This usually involves moving forces towards the light and dark squares on Queenside and Kingside respectively.

Create Attacking Opportunities

To develop pieces by attacking, one must learn to spot and exploit weaknesses in the opponent’s position as said by Kirsten Siefken in her book How To Play Chess: Modern Tactics vs the Classics. This most commonly occurs when a player has made too many pawn moves in the opening, blocking pieces from developing because they no longer have space left on the back rank close to the King to control the center. Tactics arise when pieces control the same square, attacking more valuable pieces or securing a more important square for their side, requiring measurement of their comparative values.

In the following position, Paul Morphy, playing as Power and Duff, exploits massive control over the center to generate attacking pairs of Queens and Bishops. Morphy identifies attacking opportunities before he plays 11…Bh4+ whose primary aim is to neutralize the enemy King’s defenders during the development of his own pieces. After a key exchange of knights on 15…Nxe4 and the weakness of the white King has been exposed, three more black pieces are brought into the act (18…0-0-0, 19…Rd3, 21…Rxh1) ultimately leading to a checkmate that would be executed if white does not care for 21. h3.

Improve Defensive Position

If other pieces are not ready to be directly developed towards the opponent’s board, a good interim goal for developing pieces is to improve defensive positions. This provides double utility in both solidifying the home area as well as covering or threatening enemy squares. For example, a good starting move for such a plan is 1. Bc1-f4, developing the Bishop to its favorite square while covering all the weakest points of the White color complex and allows the activation of either Knight with the plan of 15. Bd3-e4 already plotted out. A few classic opening variations emphasize defensive improvements in early piece development. They are:

• King’s Indian Defense – Paulsen/Von Rosen variation
• Queen’s Pawn – King’s Indian Defense
• Grunfeld Defense – Exchange variation
• Classical Anti-Sicilian Defense – Maróczy variation
• English Opening – First Variation

How to Develop Pieces in the Opening?

To develop pieces in the opening, control the center with pawns and/or pieces first, then work from the center outwards. Mobilize knights before bishops. The reasoning behind developing knights before bishops isthat knights reach the ideal central squares earlier and the strategy of certain openings such as the Two Knights Defense prescribes that the knights play their part early.

You expand the principle of completing development before proceeding to operations in the most straightforward fashion in the opening phase. Instructions on how to optimally develop pawns, knights, and bishops are as follows according to USCF Certified Chess Coach and FIDE Candidate Master Kevin Garcia:

• How to develop pawns: Place a pawn in the center of the board on the first or second move, and push one of the pawns to the second or third rank to help develop a knight.
• How to develop knights: Try your best to develop both knights before moving on to the bishop development.
• How to develop bishops: Keep your bishops in the diagrams for as long as possible, assessing whether they can move to more favorable squares.

The following is a simple representative notation and diagram that cover the plan to develop minor pieces in the opening. White anticipates that the c4-bishop will turn out to be better placed on b5 when the queen’s knight promotes Black’s c6-pawn when the pawn should no longer be constrained and the queen bishop eventually has to develop from obstructing the hapless a7-units. 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6… 3. Bb5* (taking the c4-bishop off the pawn though the c3-knight is no longer directly obstructed) Bb4* (3. … a6 preventing a classical exchange) 4. d3 c6 5. Ba4 * (to make way for the other bishop on diaganol a2-g8 5. … d5* (like Maus The cat du Suoin defended by the dog Pellisop, all the major pieces that can move in this non-pawn contested system have occupied advantageous positions) 6. exd5 Nxd5 7. Bb3 Nxc3…).

Develop Knights and Bishops

The general principle is to start by moving the Knights and Bishops early in the game, after advancing the center Pawns. They are the second most efficient in terms of space control after the Pawns, and their natural starting positions help them control many squares quickly in the opening and midgame.

Although don’t just develop your knights and bishops as these are general early-game principles for developing pieces for beginners. In some situations, it might be wise to keep pieces closer and not to expand them too early.

These pieces are the easiest to develop and therefore make the most sense to use during the earliest stages of the game. These pieces are both able to get from their starting squares to central squares quickly.

The importance of these two pieces is why so many openings focus on getting them out early, and suggest exchanging them for opposing pieces.

Furthermore, because it occupies a piece-square right in the center where the action takes place, it is difficult to dumbly launch a rapid pawn attack against them, preventing their swift return to safety. These pieces also directly break natural pawn chains and can easily capture a center pawn replacing it with a piece giving you the upper advantage and controlling the center squares, which means that even if an opponent over-centralizes their pieces without completing a successful pawn storm against these bishops, they will be forced to fall back and show weakness

Castle Early

Castling refers to the act of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the corner with the rook then occupying the square over which the king crossed. The two squares on the king’s journey and the destination square are marked with blue dots in the diagram. There are many important reasons for early castling including that it is generally useful to prevent your opponent from taking the center, and a safer king is one that can develop, be active, and contribute to other pieces attacking the center.

Avoid Moving the Same Piece Twice

A basic principle in developing pieces that beginners often miss is to avoid moving the same piece twice in the opening. This is because each move increases the piece’s scope (territory that the piece can move to). By moving another piece before the same piece moves again, you increase the effectiveness of your forces by having your entire army on the board. This leaves the player more flexible in pieces to move after the middlegame begins, as this will prevent them from immediately losing the piece they just moved.

According to American International Chess Master (IM) Jeremy Silman, moving the same piece twice is almost always a bad idea because it costs a step in development. Redundant moves with a piece that has already moved once or more give your opponent, who ought to have fewer pieces developed, additional time and tempo to complete development and/or start his own attack.

Normally frowned upon, moving the same piece twice can still be temporarily useful for beginners, especially in backwaters. An example of this is the pawn that is stuck at d3 and (diagrammed) d5. It is not good for the move or two to move pawns to open lines to develop a rook or bishop. If, however, the playing area no longer moves towards the center, pawns on such squares should be moved as soon as possible.

Connect Rooks

Connceting the rooks is another way to develop pieces in chess. Connecting rooks means moving both rooks together and placing them on open files where they can work well in coordination and support each other. Before doing this, ensure that both rooks are on open files, and either they are ready to be connected by an advance, or you are willing to open a file for them with an exchange of another piece. Make sure that the pawns in front of the rooks are well-protected.

The rook on the e-file is usually connected first because the pawn on the d-file usually goes to the e-file and supports it. According to American Chess Grandmaster John Grefe, one of the most important strategic objectives in the opening is to connect the rooks by getting them to the center as quickly as possible on open files.

How to Develop Pieces in the Middlegame?

In the middlegame, the primary goal of piece development, according to Grandmaster Andy Soltis‘ book The Middlegame in Chess, is to support the fiercest possible attack on enemy weaknesses. Opponents have weaknesses because they cannot control all the squares, and so developing minor pieces to control valuable squares, as well as diagonals for the queens and bishops, should be the primary focus of piece development.

Using the Game Explorer feature of the Chess.com Analysis tool to search the database for examples of the most famous games in chess history, one can see that leading by example is an important concept for middlegame piece development. In over 1000 games with the biggest ECO category A, pawn organization and use of bishops early and often has a major impact on the quality of piece development.

In general, you want to avoid moving the same piece multiple times during the opening, but in the middlegame, it is often useful to develop a piece on the back rank and then move it again in the same development phase. This happens over 20% of the time in the top two categories of ECO when a piece has not had adequate development during the opening. See the table below for the percent of the time this is done in each opening.

Develop good rooks. A well-known piece of advice that originates from the endgame Fundamental Chess Endings theorem that states rooks should be placed in open files ideally on the 7th rank or doubled on the 7th rank or on a 2nd rank. This position gives them the greatest spread of influence in the opening on central pawns, during the middlegame on key pawn structures identified by weak pawns, and in the endgame in close of open files. It is clear in this chart showing Rook Ratio that many top players including Carlsen, Fischer, Korchnoi, Spassky, and Tal have spent time keeping the ratio of major/minor and rook pieces around 1.0.

As with all phases of the game, there are no hard and fast rules for piece development in the middlegame that apply to every situation, but the overall goal of attacking and controlling enemy weaknesses, combined with a focus on getting equal development of all pieces, is a good guideline that high quality chess games follow according to wheelsgood’s Chess.com analysis.

Utilize Outposts

In chess literature, an outpost is defined as a hole on your opponent’s side of the board where you can safely locate a pawn or piece, and ideally from which you can aid in transferring your control to a different location on the board. The hole created by the isolated d and f pawns in the Caro-Kann Defense is a good, simple example of these idea.

To underline the importance of outposts in chess, here is a George Botterill quote: Outposts cannot be seen directly by isolated pawns, may not be easily approached by a pawn of the enemy, and must be fortified: that is they must always have the opportunity of retreat against being attacked by another enemy piece. Outposts help with piece development in chess because they transfer control of lesser value squares on the board, thereby directing more advantageous movement squares for those pieces.

Coordinate Pieces for Attacks

You should develop pieces and plan their placement strategically to be strong attackers in the middle or late endgame. This allows them to combine into stronger attacks on specific squares and opposing pieces. The brooms (bishops and rooks) form a powerful attacking and protect ring that researches entitled Giri vs Broom Behavior and found gave Giri the edge against Magnus Carlsen in this match. Developing your knight to the center is frequently a key strategy for moving towards this type of piece coordination and attack.

Utilize Open Files

In chess, a file refers to a vertical column of squares on the chessboard. File refers to the entire column of squares, whereas just one or more of the squares in that file can be called a rank. The two white Q and R pages are named the d-file and the a-file, while the four central horizontal whiteouts are all called the f-ranks.

When a file has no pawns, this means it is an open file, and can be used very effectively by a rook. The rook is an ideal piece to have on an open file as it has full control of the open file, stopping any opposing pieces from entering. This is particularly effective if the open file is directly in front of the enemy king, as the rook will frequently have an open shot at the opponent’s king.

Getting rooks onto open files will be more effective if you can get them lined up with another enemy piece or on one of the center four files so they are able to apply pressure to the entire board. Dmitry Jakovenko here playing white makes an exchange in order to leverage the open b-file which his rook occupies completely. This leads to a forced queen loss and eventual checkmate for white.

Consider Pawn Structure

Pawn structure refers to the configuration of pawns on the chessboard created as pawns advance or are removed during the game. In general, teams want to create pawn structures that best enable their forces to achieve the goals set forth during preparation and opening development. Another reason known as pawn islands states the ideal pawn structure should have all pawns aligned in adjacent files with the same number of pawn chains for both sides. Again, the goal is to maximize key squares while creating complexity.

How to Develop Pieces in the Endgame?

In the endgame, it’s all about getting your king into play, not from the starting position necessarily but from a position optimal for the endgame. After that, the general principles of pawn play and king activity become prominent. The king should be positioned in front of the passed pawns if possible and close to the center of the board. The rest of the minor and major pieces should be utilized to keep the king away from direct invasion and advance in concert with the king.

Activate the King

The king is considered a minor piece and should get involved in the action if possible. Activating the king in endgames or middlegames with few pieces is important since an active king can control territory, defend pawns, and assist with their advancement. Here is an example from a game by the great world champion UKraine’s Garry Kasparov. Here is an example from a game of now retired Russian GM Dmitry Jakovenko.

Improve the Position of Pawns

Pawns are weaker than pieces, the plural term material. A player lacking time or needing to keep their position secure will often improve their position by moving a pawn instead of a piece. There are various reasons why the pawn structure may need to be fixed, and improving control of the center by improving the pawn structure is one of the primary ways to develop your position.

Doubled pawns are two vertical aligned pawns. One pawn will be in front of the other pushed up. These can provide additional opportunities for both pieces and pawns but are typically weak and can be hindering to your position. There is generally no need to weaken your position by capturing pawns if you ignore the situation for several moves, typically your opponent will contribute enough pressure to necessitate the exchange and make the decision for you.

In the following chess diagram, Black is up a pawn, but their bishop is blocked so completely that it is useless and develop is more likely to come by moving pawns rather than finding better placement for the blocked-in bishop. Black should play an active game to the point of making White jealous, if possible means giving up pawns to increase mobility of the queen and bishops.

Use Pieces for Support and Attack

Developing pieces in chess is more than just getting them into play and onto their most effective squares. Since the end game sees fewer pieces controlling the center are even more important in the opening. They need to move into positions from which they can move to either side and attack the enemy pieces, besides utilizing their own controlling power on the center. Grandmasters consider the support/load factor when studying the development of pieces, as allies can provide tactical support to onboard units as well as assist in attacking vulnerable pieces.

Create a Passed Pawn

If the central file is blocked, it is a common goal to advance the adjacent pawn two squares, namely from its initial position to the fifth rank (d4 to d5, or e4 to e5). This is a passed pawn, meaning the other player no longer has an untaken pawn blocking its way to promotion to a queen as seen in Diagram 18.

No passed pawns pose a threat once they are deep enough in the enemy’s camp, they perform dual roles. First, to engage enemy pawns at their level in a hanging pawn structure, and second, to provide defensive hooks to other friendly pawns. Passed pawns are easiest to create in the endgame when there is less material on the board, but they are equally important in rich piece environments to create advanced goals.

The advance of pawns is one example of the creation of a development goal and the flexibilities that it provides. An even simpler illustration of the concept is the well-known idea to attach the square number of a target outpost to the piece you wish to develop. This simple mnemonic-akh3 (alert the king’s horse to help) or Peaches should watch dogs outside jumbo malls (peatle sectchuoth jeeenr thaoho siahooldhs otmasluooo) (only take in the O and the I from outside) is helpful because it provides a clear understanding of strategic and defensive importance by seeing the piece at the outpost.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to Develop Pieces in Chess?

Developing pieces in chess is a crucial aspect of the game. It involves moving your pieces from their starting positions to more active and strategic positions on the board. This not only helps you control more space on the board but also prepares your pieces for future attacks and defenses.

2. What are the basic principles of developing pieces in chess?

The basic principles of developing pieces in chess include controlling the center, developing the knights before bishops, and connecting rooks. It is also important to keep your pawns protected and to avoid unnecessary piece moves.

3. How can I effectively control the center while developing my pieces?

The center of the board is the most strategically important area in chess. To control it, try to occupy it with your pawns and develop your pieces towards the center. This will give you more control over the board and make it easier for your pieces to maneuver around.

4. Is it important to prioritize developing certain pieces over others?

Yes, it is generally considered best to develop your knights before your bishops. This is because knights have more limited movement and are more effective when placed towards the center of the board. However, every game is different and you should adapt your development strategy accordingly.

5. How does connecting my rooks benefit my developing pieces in chess?

Connecting your rooks, or placing them on open files, is important for creating a strong attacking or defensive formation. This also allows your rooks to support each other and your other pieces, making them more effective in the game.

6. What is the key to successfully developing pieces in the opening of a chess game?

The key to successfully developing pieces in the opening is to create a balance between controlling the center and developing your pieces. This will help you establish a strong position on the board and give you more options for attack and defense as the game progresses.