The initial moves of a chess game are called the opening. There are a lot of different openings (with their own names) and we will pay more attention to some of these openings later on.
For now the most important thing to know about the chess opening is a set of general guidelines that can be used for almost all chess openings. In general learning a sequence of moves doesn’t help to understand the game of chess.

• Begin the game with a centre pawn. 
• In fact beginners should only consider 1.e4 as their first move.
• Make only one or two pawn moves in the opening, not more. 
• Develop the minor pieces so that they influence the centre. 
• Move pieces not pawns. 
• Keep your queen safe. 
• Do not bring your rooks out in the opening. 
• Develop knights before bishops. 
• Move the knights toward the center (and not on the side) of the board. 
• Don’t attack if you haven’t completed your development. 
• Don’t move a piece twice before all pieces are developed unless it is necessary. 
• Move your king to safety 
• Pay special attention to the vulnerable f2 and f7 squares (before castling) 
• Castle king’s-side or when this seems to be unwise queen’s-side.

The chess lessons continue with the Discovered Attack.