Pawns can only advance 2 spaces the first time they move. Development refers to moving your more powerful pieces out from the back row and toward the center of the board. This opening allows you to easily maneuver across the board while freeing up the space between your rook and king so you can castle, which is when you move your king next to your rook and then put the rook on the opposite side. This helps protect your king.

After that, your opponent will need to move their king to f7 to capture your knight, which will prevent them from building a strong defense. However, you will lose 1 knight early in the game.

The Queen’s Gambit refers to sacrificing a pawn that’s on the queenside, which puts pressure on the black player to respond more defensively for the rest of the game.

Even though you lost a pawn, there aren’t any pieces blocking the way for your queen or bishop to move across the board diagonally.

You’re able to move your queen and bishop easily if you need to use them.

Leave your king’s rook and king in their starting squares so you can castle. If your opponent attacks your bishop on a3 with a pawn, capture their knight on c3 to put them in check, which means you can capture their king on your next turn. They will capture your bishop during their turn with a pawn, but the pawn will be stuck behind another one of their other pawns and won’t be able to move freely.

In the French Defense, it will seem like you’re giving more control of the center to the white player, but you’ll be able to build a strong wall of pawns that defend your pieces.

The diagonal wall of pawns on the queen’s side will help protect you later in the game and it frees up your bishop to attack the king’s side.

For example, if you’re the white player and you move your knight to f3, you can capture pieces on d4 and e5.

Remember, knights can jump over other pieces so you can advance them without moving a pawn out of the way.

If you can capture an enemy piece other than a pawn, it’s okay to use a piece you already moved. Otherwise, you can continue developing other pieces.

You can castle with either the king’s or queen’s rook. Even though you’re moving 2 pieces, castling still only counts as 1 turn.

If you can, try to line up one of your rooks with your opponent’s queen across the board to put pressure on it.