[seamyb88]

Looks like good information for beginners, but the hardest part of chess, for me, is the opening and how to play from move 4 onwards. It is less obvious why a strong position is a strong position early on, unless your opponent makes some very poor choices.

[noir_lord]

There are certain metrics that can be used.

Pieces developed onto unattacked squares, squares under control (because more attackers than defenders), undefended pieces, a balance of control on the white/black or both, open files, half open files, open diagonals, half open diagnals, pawn structures, doubled pawns, isoated pawns, pawn islands.

It's a nuanced thing, it's also largely how chess engines evaluate a position - it's not something humans can do because to do all of the above would take too long however strong players get an intuitive grasp of all of that and more and use it to assess a position.

[iKlsR]

I started playing this year and the first game I won (after playing about 30) was after I watched this video[1]. I made nearly every mistake he advised against. My openings are fairly good now for a beginner, working on tactics now. I'd recommend watching the whole playlist. Also doing puzzles daily really helps you to spot stuff faster when playing.

TL;DW - Develop your pieces, you need your whole team to play effectively.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21L45Qo6EIY

[omega3]

Typically in the opening you'd want to develop your pieces, control the center and move your king to safety. There are a lot of lectures for beginners covering opening strategies. For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh4sO1ICS_Q

[bluGill]

Even at the high levels all openings are played. That basic e4 (pawn in front of the kind moves forward 2 squares) is the most popular for a reason, but all possible first moves are played from time to time. Looking for tactics and trying to make them work will serve you at all levels until well after 2000.

[MauranKilom]

I feel that this is something that ChessNetwork (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCDOQrpqLqKVcTCKzqarxLg) explains very solidly in most games he covers.