The Crowood Press

This makes sense if you consider that by moving the same piece several times you take moves away from the other pieces.

Don’t make too many pawn moves.

Centralise the pieces.

Don’t attack early in the game; you may only have brought out one or two men in the first moves, so you will be fighting with two units against a whole army.

Keep your king safe

Castle your king.

the pawns now in front of the king should be disturbed as little as possible, as they provide the protective shield around the king.

Here the pawns are already performing this double function. By attacking the squares at c5, d5, e5 and f5 they clearly prevent any enemy knights and bishops from reaching these desirable central squares.

Pawn occupation or control of the centre, as a consequence of the differing values and functions of the pieces, is thus the first modification to our positional rules. The second modification concerns the development of the queen and the rooks