Everything About The King Pawns Opening

Table of content:

• What is King’s Pawn Opening?
• Why Play this Opening?
• Should Beginners Play this Opening?
• Black’s Main Response to the King’s Pawn Opening
• Why Play Games on GetMega

One of the oldest yet the most popular pawn opening, the king’s pawn opening gives the player good control of the center of the board and also provides an opening space for both the queen and the bishop.

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The result of playing this move is that it leads to an opening full of possibilities and an endless number of tactics to move forward with the game. Generally, a move played by the white team, the king's pawn opening traps later, the black pieces that try and take control of the center. The move is also preferred greatly by both beginners and intermediate players alike as the opening is not complicated but pretty straightforward, and yet effective. The king’s pawn opening was made famous by Bobby Fischer, one of the greatest chess players of all time, and is for all those players who strive to bring exciting tactics and quick attacking possibilities to the table.

In this article, we shall be talking in-depth about the king's pawn opening including how this move is played and also what responses can we expect from the opponent team.

What is King’s Pawn Opening?

There are multiple openings in a game of chess.

Each opening is played with the intent to strategically move the game forward and ultimately land a win. One of the many strategies in chess is the King’s Pawn Opening. This opening is played out when the pawn in front of the King (E2) is moved two squares forward.

Although it may look like a simple move, it has a great impact on how the rest of the game is played. The move is simple and is generally played by the white pawn because it is the white team that initiates the game with the first opening.

Why Play this Opening?

Like we mentioned in the previous point, the King’s Pawn Opening may look like a small move but has great implications on the game.

Firstly, the opening lets the pawn capture the center which is an important area on the chessboard. Secondly, the opening provides the player with a tactical advantage as it allows plenty of area of movement for the pawn, and also opens up the field for the queen and the bishop to play, both of which are powerful pieces on the board.

When you continue playing the game, that is when you realize that the possibilities of playing once the first pawn is out are endless, and these strategies can be used to your advantage to win the game. The move is also used by famous chess players such as Bobby Fischer (who calls this move ‘best by test’), Vishwanathan Anand, Mikhail Tal, Wesley, and more because of its simplicity and center control.

Should Beginners Play this Opening?

In a short and simple answer, Yes Absolutely! King’s Pawn Opening is so simple to understand with no negative implications of its own.

The move also makes it harder for the opponent team to respond as you already have achieved mid control and hence, this is the perfect move for beginners to start from. From Newbies to Intermediate players and Advanced players in tournaments, all use the move and take advantage of the impact it offers with such simplicity. The Opening is also one of the most popular and the most popular among amateur chess players regardless of their familiarity with chess.

If you are a beginner at the game, it is recommended that you play the king’s Pawn Opening, at least for your first handful of games to understand more about how the game works and how the openings can determine the course of the game. Playing a new move every time is not recommended since chess is a little complicated to understand the first time and the endless possibilities that the game allows for will leave you rather overwhelmed at first.

Hence, the King’s Pawn Opening is the go-to for new and experienced players alike, with more common uses among beginners.

The Trapped King

In the previous point, we did mention how a king gets checked and how the king moves in chess to get out of the check. However, what about a situation where the king cannot move out of the checked square, block the check with another player or capture the checking piece?

If you are unable to escape the check using any of the above-mentioned techniques, you are in what is known as the “checkmate”. What can we understand by the term checkmate?

In a game of chess, if the king is checked by the opposing team with no way to get out, then the King is trapped and the game is lost. The word comes from a Persian word called “shah mata” which means “The king is Dead” Hence, the game ends at that point, and regardless of how the king moves in chess after getting checkmated, they lose and can do nothing but admit defeat.

Black’s Main Response to the King’s Pawn Opening

Since we have now understood the King’s Pawn Opening and the basics of how it works, let’s not understand how black will respond to the move and what are the outcomes that we can expect.

The responses of black to the King’s Pawn Opening are pretty standard and well known among players. It is the classic C7 to C5 move where black too moves his pawn two steps forward but leaving one column space. Why the space you ask?

The one-column space is to create an imbalance in the game. Black could also play D7 to D5 but in most of the cases, white generally play D2 to D4 and by playing C5, black can diagonally take the white pawn if it does move D4. This imbalance that black creates by moving C7 to C5 can create a wide variety of games and can dynamically change the environment of the whole chessboard. The game can proceed in many defense playstyles, some of them are the famous Sicilian Defense, the French Defense, and even the Scandinavian Defense which is very well known among frequent chess players.

Let's talk about these defenses in Detail to further understand the outcomes of the King’s Pawn Opening:

1. Sicilian Defense

• The very famous Sicilian Defense is the example that we mentioned in the example of Black's main responses to the King’s Pawn Opening.
• When black does decide to play C5 in response to the opening, the game is quite disturbed as when white does play D4, black can swiftly swap it for his pawn, thereby capturing the first piece in the game. In response to the Sicilian Defense, white can respond in a few ways, including the Anti-Sicilian, Closed Sicilian, and more.
• This is why learning the different variations in the game is important as when you get trapped by the opponent’s moves, you can easily make your way out of it by knowing a few Anti-Defenses.

2. French Defense

• This form of defense is a little more aggressive, with black eventually gaining more control of the center.
• In the French Defense, black moves 3 of his pawns, turn by turn, and creates a stronghold by having pawns at F7, E6, D5, and C5. Since he already has mid control, even if white does advance his pawns, black can easily trade them or swap them out for his pawn, thereby taking the game in black’s favor.
• There are a few counter defenses to this defense as well, like the Advance variation and the Normal variation. However, getting out of the French Defense without losing any piece is highly unlikely. If you do find yourself to be in one of these mentioned situations, don’t hesitate to trade pieces and chess is a game of sacrifice and victory. Hence, losing players does not have to necessarily mean that you are losing the game itself.

3. Scandinavian Defense

• The last defense that we shall talk about is the Scandinavian defense.
• This is a little more of a complicated defense that majorly experienced players use in games. In simple terms, it involves arranging the pawns in a defensive position ie. A7, B7, C6, D pawn traded for white pawns, E6, F7, G7, and H7.
• The defense also makes use of the black queen and brings her to the playing field, along with the white bishop and knights. The structure of the arrangement of pawns is also known as the Caro structure and black can achieve this whilst also keeping an open position.

Why Play Games on GetMega

We hope that this article was able to explain the King’s pawn Opening clearly and even encourage players to use it in their games.

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