1/ Don't move your pieces out to the side. Always aim for the centre where they will guard more squares. For example a knight in the middle of the board could cover 8 or 10 squares but knight at the side of the board may only cover 4. The same can be said for all the pieces. If you take the centre stage your opponent has no option than to attack you from the flanks and this will be a weakened attack.Control the centre and you control the game.
2/ Don't castle too late. Get your King tucked in to the corner as soon as possible and out of harms way. A King left in the centre is vulnerable to attack. By the same token, try to castle to the Kings side as it is safer. If you do have to castle to the Queen's side it will take and extra move to get your King tucked in. A word of caution. Take note of what your opponent is planning. If it looks as if there is going to be an all out assault on the Kings and you cannot stop it side then it would probably be safer to castle Queens side.
3/ Do not move your Queen out to the centre of the board in opening play unless there is a very good reason to do so. A Queen can be chased around the board by a host of pieces and while your Queen a running about like a headless chicken your opponent is developing all his pieces.
4/ The oldest Don't in the book. Don't move one piece twice until you have moved all your pieces once. When I say pieces this does not include the pawns. Your pieces should move as a unit. As one galvanized fighting force all covering for each other. The chess board is no place for individual heroes. Again, this is a guideline and not a hard and fast rule. There will be many times in your chess games where it would be dangerous to do this just for the reason that it is best practice. Also, do not miss an opportunity to take a piece or to move to a good position just because it means moving a piece twice.
5/ Don't get blocked in by your own pawns. Try to move the middle pawns out 2 squares at the beginning to let you bishops and knights out into open play. Nevertheless, remember you can not move pawns backwards and therefore when moving them forward make sure they are going to a safe square and by moving them you will not weaken your defence. Give them back up from other pawns and other pieces.
6/ It here are only two Kings and some pawns left on the board during the end game Don't follow your pawns up to 8the rank with your King for promotion. Try to get your King in from of your own pawns. This prevents the opponents King getting in and blocking your pawns. On the subject of promotion Don't always opt for a Queen. I saw a game once where a player was struggling but managed to promote a pawn but realising this was going to be tool late to save a checkmate opted for a knight. This put the opponents King in immediate check and te King had only one move and he was instantly checkmated. Had he gone for a Queen the King would not have been in check and he would have been checkmated himself in the next move.
7/ If you want to continue improving you chess. Do not forget to record each game you play and go over the positives and the negative moves. Remember when you start playing chess you will lose most of your games. Nonetheless, if you learn from each defeat you will start to win. It took me years to beat my Dad but when I was 12 I studied chess books and practiced what the masters did and low and behold I not only beat my dad totally wiped the floor with him. It was my proudest moment and probably my dad's as well but he would not admit it.
