Project approval after AI review on 2 November 2026. Human proofreading is still pending.
Lesson 7
All your pieces want to join in
- What you will learn
- In the opening, you bring your pieces into play one after another.
- What you should already know
- How knights and bishops move
- Lesson 2: How the pieces move
Time: about 6 minutes
Thinking questions in this lesson
You can ask yourself these thinking questions in any position. They help you find a good move.
- Which piece could be better placed?new
Step 1 of 6
Look first
After three moves, each side has moved two pieces. Some are still waiting.
Knights and bishops are called minor pieces. Tap a white minor piece that is still on its starting square.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space marks a square or removes the mark.
Choose a square from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop c4
- Knight b1
- Knight f3
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c2
- Pawn d2
- Pawn e4
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d8
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c5
- Bishop c8
- Knight c6
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn d7
- Pawn e5
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 2 of 6
Decide
This lesson adds a new thinking question: which piece could be better placed? Ask it about every piece that has not moved yet.
White to move. Which plan suits the start of the game?
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop f1
- Knight b1
- Knight f3
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c2
- Pawn d2
- Pawn e4
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d8
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c8
- Bishop f8
- Knight c6
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn d7
- Pawn e5
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 3 of 6
Try it
Bring a piece into play that is still on its starting square.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop c4
- Knight b1
- Knight f3
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c2
- Pawn d2
- Pawn e4
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d8
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c5
- Bishop c8
- Knight c6
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn d7
- Pawn e5
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 4 of 6
Why does it work?
Many pieces on their starting squares are not doing much yet.
If you bring your pieces into play one after another, they will soon all be working together. This is called development.
Key idea
At the start, bring your minor pieces into play, moving each one only once if possible.
When does this apply?
This applies to the opening. If your opponent threatens something, deal with that first.
Step 5 of 6
New position, same idea
This game began with d4, not e4.
You are playing Black. Bring a piece into play that is still on its starting square.
Arrow keys move the focus across the squares. Enter or Space selects a piece and moves it to a highlighted square. Escape cancels the selection.
Choose a move from a list
Position as a list
White
- King e1
- Queen d1
- Rook a1
- Rook h1
- Bishop c1
- Bishop f1
- Knight c3
- Knight g1
- Pawn a2
- Pawn b2
- Pawn c4
- Pawn d4
- Pawn e2
- Pawn f2
- Pawn g2
- Pawn h2
Black
- King e8
- Queen d8
- Rook a8
- Rook h8
- Bishop c8
- Bishop f8
- Knight b8
- Knight g8
- Pawn a7
- Pawn b7
- Pawn c7
- Pawn d5
- Pawn e6
- Pawn f7
- Pawn g7
- Pawn h7
Step 6 of 6
Nimzowitsch and today
Source
Nimzowitsch explains development as bringing all the pieces forward together. The text and positions in this lesson are newly written for the course.
Today’s view (editorial note)
This basic rule is still taught today. But modern openings also show exceptions when a move achieves something concrete.