Development, and finishing it before move ten

The opening is not about memorising moves. It is about getting four pieces out and a king to safety before your opponent does, and almost every beginner game is decided by which player managed it.

Target four minor pieces out and castled by about move ten
Costs a move moving the same piece twice
Finished when the rooks are connected

A piece is developed when it has left its starting square for one where it does something. That is a slightly harder test than it sounds, and it is the reason two players can both have four moves played and be in completely different states.

Rooks are the exception. A rook is developed when the pieces between it and the centre have gone and it is standing on a file that is open or about to be, which normally means after castling rather than before.

Ten moves of an Italian Game, and what each one buys

The Italian Game, played the straightforward way. Nothing here is clever and that is the point: every move puts a new piece on a square it wants to be on.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.d3 d6

Five moves each. White has a knight, a bishop, a castled king and a rook that has come to f1 as a side effect. Black has a knight, a bishop and a knight, and the king is still in the centre. That one move of difference is the whole opening argument in this line, and it is why Black is usually in a hurry to castle next.

Look at what the pawn moves are doing there. 1.e4 opens lines for a bishop and the queen; 5.d3 opens a line for the other bishop. Neither is a developing move and neither is wasted. A pawn move that frees no piece and fights for no ground is usually a move you did not have time for.

What counts as developed

A knight on c3 or f3 is developed. A knight on a3 or h3 has moved but is not doing much, which is where the phrase "a knight on the rim is dim" comes from.
A bishop is developed when its diagonal is open. A bishop on e2 behind an unmoved e-pawn has left home and is still stuck.
A castled king counts as progress even though the king is not a developing piece: it connects the rooks, which is the last step.
A queen on d2 or e2 is often fine. A queen on h5 on move three is a target that will donate a tempo to every piece that attacks it.
A rook that has nothing in front of it and nothing to attack is not developed yet, it is just waiting for a file.

Why moving one piece twice hurts

Every move in the opening is one of about ten that you get before the position becomes sharp. Spend two of them on the same knight and you have brought out three pieces where your opponent has four, and that missing piece is exactly the one that is not defending your king when the game opens up.

The guideline is not absolute. Moving a piece twice is fine if it wins material, if it answers a real threat, or if the second move is the one that makes the piece good. It is losing the argument when the second move happens because the first one was a reflex.

The same goes for the old advice to develop knights before bishops. The reason behind it is sound: a knight has one obviously best square in most openings and a bishop has three or four, so playing the knight first is committing to the thing you are already sure about. It is a way of postponing a decision, not a rule. Plenty of sound openings start with a bishop, and in a fianchetto the bishop is the whole plan.

The order that almost always works

If you want one habit rather than a set of principles, use this one. Play a central pawn. Bring out both knights and both bishops, each to a square where they are not attacked by a pawn. Castle. Then connect the rooks by moving the queen off the back rank. When that is finished you have completed the opening, and the moves after it are the ones where thinking starts to pay.

Then count your opponent's pieces the same way. Whoever is behind in development cannot afford an open position, and whoever is ahead should be trying to open one. That is the entire strategic content of most club openings, and it is worth more than twenty memorised moves.

Practise on the gentlest positions in the courseOne idea per position, no notation needed first. It is the same engine that checked every diagram on this page.Open the beginner puzzles

Questions people ask

What does develop your pieces mean in chess?

It means moving your knights, bishops, rooks and queen off the back rank to squares where they attack something or control the centre. At the start of a game every piece except the knights is blocked in by pawns, so development is the work of opening those lines and using them. A developed position is one where all your pieces have something to do.

Should I develop knights before bishops?

Usually, but it is a guideline rather than a rule. A knight normally has one clearly best square, while a bishop has several, so playing the knight first commits you to nothing and lets you see what your opponent does before choosing the bishop. If you already know where the bishop belongs, play it.

Is castling a developing move?

It counts as one of the jobs of the opening, yes. Castling does not put a minor piece on a good square, but it takes the king out of the centre and brings a rook towards a file it can use, and until it is done your rooks cannot help each other. Most strong players treat the opening as finished only once the king is safe and the rooks are connected.

Development sits under Time and plans in the reference. Nearby: