Have you ever wanted to impress a friend or opponent by your brilliant skill in the opening? (well, you will after this!). Check out the following opening rules and then go through the slow-motion game. In no time you will be able to show the master touch! Here are the six golden rules:

   1. Place 1 or 2 Pawns in the center
   2. Move knights/bishops near the center
   3. Castle your king into safety
   4. Clear the back rank
   5. Try to move each piece only once
   6. Do not bring your queen out to soon

OK, we'll now look at the first ten moves of a great master game in SLOW MOTION to see how they follow the rules!

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Click "Next" to see the next position!

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1. d4 Nf6

White pushes a pawn into the center, that's rule number 1. Black brings out a horse using rules 2.

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2. Nf3 d6

White gets the knight into action, rule 2 again, while black uses a center pawn, rule 1.

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3. c4 Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. exf3 e5

More rules 1's, These players must be good!

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6. Be3 c6

White hasn't moved this bishop before so he puts it on e3. That was rules 5 by the way.

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7. Be2 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0

Very Good! Rule 3 - getting the king to safety is VERY important. Remember, the king is the most important piece. Both sides are also trying to clear their back ranks for rule 4.

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9. Qc2 Qc7

Rules 6. Both players did not move their queens out to early. This way the queen is protected and can move to a safe square.

Okay, after 9 moves both sides have been following all of the six rules. By the way, Black went on to win this game after only 49 moves.