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I'm trying to put together a flyer of the golden rules in chess for kids that are absolute beginners. I noticed that they ran into the same trivial mistake that could be easy to fix with a simple switch, and I guess the flyer could help flipping it. Here is my list so far, kinda ranked by how important the principles are :

Practical :

  1. I shall take my time on each move, at least a good 20 seconds
  2. I shall pay attention to what’s my opponent last move and what is the intent
  3. I shall make sure that neither I nor my opponent is giving away a piece
  4. I shall keep my hand on my chin as long as I am not sure of what will be my next move
  5. I shall never resign
  6. A bad plan is better than no plan
  7. I shall not reveal my intent orally to my opponent
  8. I shall consider my opponent plays like a grandmaster
  9. Do not focus on one sector of the board. View the whole board

In game :

  1. In the opening, I shall deploy the knights, bishops, and then castle.
  2. I shall not take out my queen in the opening
  3. I shall use my king in the endgame
  4. I shall connect my rook
  5. I shall try to control the center
  6. A knight on the rim is dim
  7. Rooks smile on open files
  8. When behind in material, I shall trade pawns. When ahead, trade pieces
  9. I shall avoid doubled, isolated or backward pawns and try getting passed pawns instead
  10. Whenever possible, I shall place my rook on the 7th or 8th rank
  11. I shall double my rooks on the 7th rank

What do you guys think of it? Any other important principles I didn't think of? Feel free to use it.

Edit : Here's the final look of it. Feel free to use it !

Chess tips

Sebastien FERRAND
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  • I shall remember that the preceding points are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules.
    • – Annatar Jun 25 '19 at 06:14
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    You forgot No. 0: Chess has no principles! I agree with most of the Practical section, except that it is good etiquette to resign in hopeless positions. The in-game ones are more tricky, as somebody else could come with 11 alternative principles like "I shall not leave weak squares" or "I shall not push my pawns too much" – David Jun 25 '19 at 07:18
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    I understand your points. I'm a 1700 player and I fully agree those don't apply in every scenario, especially the in-game one indeed. But I want the kids I teach to understand that playing the pons 8 times followed by a premature queen outing, isn't a solid foundation to learn other advanced concept on – Sebastien FERRAND Jun 25 '19 at 07:36
  • @SebastienFERRAND It's a fine line. I disagree somewhat with rule no. 0, chess "skill" is based on pattern recognition after all, and you can call that "principles". Your principles are good guidelines for beginners. On the other hand however, sticking too closely to them all the time won't be that helpful in the long run. – Annatar Jun 25 '19 at 07:45
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    In my experience, one climbs from 1000 to 1500 by learning such "principles" and from 1500 to 2000 by un-learning them again. – Annatar Jun 25 '19 at 07:47
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    I agree with that. I intend to have them detach from those principles in phase 2, by showing those aren't the one truth – Sebastien FERRAND Jun 25 '19 at 07:47
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    I shall not offer a draw or accept a draw offer. (Exceptions for really dead positions.) – bof Jun 25 '19 at 10:32
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    You've essentially answered your own question, which is fine under Stack Exchange guidelines, but please post the lists as a separate answer (preferably as a community wiki so everybody can edit it). – Glorfindel Jun 25 '19 at 10:32
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    Also, the question has been flagged as Too Broad, which I tend to agree with, but I don't want to use the mod hammer (yet). – Glorfindel Jun 25 '19 at 10:33
  • @Glorfindel I'm not sure about the "too broad" either. I do think it is more of a discussion topic than a question being very much opinion based as we see. I'd be more tempted to close on those grounds. – Brian Towers Jun 25 '19 at 16:07
  • I guess there's no required action on my side right? You guys are just deciding if this will remain, isn't it? IMO the question do you think of other good principles to feed the list (past the argument about whether there should be a list or not in the first place) – Sebastien FERRAND Jun 26 '19 at 07:38
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    And this, my dear friends, is why this site will never become a useful site for chess players – David Jun 26 '19 at 07:49
  • I'm confused, I think this could be useful to anyone teaching chess to kids AND finding the concept interesting. Plus, I can be your friend, but it's too early to be dear. – Sebastien FERRAND Jun 26 '19 at 08:00
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    Just tried it yesterday and the quality of their game drastically improved. You're welcome. – Sebastien FERRAND Jun 27 '19 at 03:59
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    Let's see if we can get some reopen votes for this question – David Jun 27 '19 at 08:19
  • This site already failed when open/close votes are wasted on non-content. Stuff like this can already be found readily on chess sites. Regurgitating it to fit SE format adds zero value.. – prusswan Jun 28 '19 at 10:15
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    That is until you see the nice flyer I'll share here, with the nice design, and for free! – Sebastien FERRAND Jun 28 '19 at 10:31
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    This is practical, cheerful and focused. Perfectly reasonable in my opinion that the question is one of asking for feedback – Laska Jul 14 '19 at 13:17