I just know the rules of chess. I don't know much else. I did hear one piece of advice, which was to try to control the center in the opening.

Like in Go, it's my understanding that many opening moves are viable, though there are openings that are taken to have an edge over others. Classically, you try to control the center directly with pawns and then pieces, as Kirby is doing. Since I'm not particularly interested in learning a wide variety of openings yet, I basically always go for the Modern defense as Black and the Nimzo-Larsen as White, which both involve moving a knight pawn in order to fianchetto a bishop early to contest the center indirectly. Both are pretty much viable against any opening, so it makes things easy. They both belong to a style of play called 'hypermodern', and with a name like that, how can you not play them?

I think this is consistent with controlling the center. I don't have any other particular strategy.

Not much to say here! Kirby's reply is the best one for W as far as I know, since he can now take the center directly with two pawns! Since I need to put pressure on the center, of course I am going to fianchetto my bishop. My sniper is now perched in his nest, with a diagonal the length of the entire chess board in his scope.

Here is where I'm lost already. You can see the extent of my chess ability

He has a bishop there that can threaten my pawn. So I guess the best thing to do is to move one of my pieces to protect the square that the pawn is on...

On the other hand, the queen already protects the pawn. So maybe I should try to develop another part of the center?

Not sure.

My instinct is here, to help out the pawn... Not that I have much chess instinct, yet. But I don't directly see a way that this is bad, so I'm going to try not to overthink it.

Freeing my other bishop and possibly supporting a pawn push to E5 one day

I don't really know what to do.

On one hand, I feel like moving this bishop out or something so that I can castle:


On the other hand, he has a white bishop open there that can go down to like H2 later, potentially. If I castle, will my king be trapped in there?

For that reason, I guess I'll just build up on the left side a bit more?

Really no idea on strategy here.

I guess this is what it's like learning a new game.

This is the typical response in the modern defence against the classical development of W with both center pawns and both knights. I confess, I don't often end up in this position, so I'm not sure I fully understand it, other than that it aims to push the B pawn forward to B5. I take it this has two important results if I get the pawn to B5. One is that W's light bishop is becoming stifled, and another is that I'm developing a pawn chain that's putting indirect pressure on the center, and I'm also further opening up my queenside to develop pieces.

I don't know what I'm doing... Hmm.

On one hand, being a beginner is fun, because I don't have habits to fall back on like I do with go. So I can try to think of each position more actively.

On the other hand, being a beginner is less fun. Because even if I think a lot about a position, my choice ends up seeming arbitrary at times. I don't have a clear plan, so I don't really know what I'm trying to achieve... So even though I can think more actively... What should I think more actively about?

I guess that's some pleasure I can derive from go: even if I have some habits that make things seem mundane, I can focus on having a clear plan. That's easier for me to do with go since I have some experience.

Both players are doing totally fine so far. Monadology's opening, the Modern, is rather sassy, daring White to come after him and planning to counterattack if White overextends himself. (Pawn to c5 is a good eventual aim, working with the bishop on g7 to target d4 and break up White's center.) It's not quite top-tier but totally playable up to almost the top levels, although for most intermediate players I'd recommend playing more traditional openings that uphold traditional principles. Kirby is doing the right thing in response by just developing all his pieces. Without much knowledge of middlegame strategy it may be difficult for him to formulate a good plan afterwards, but hopefully he will!

The D4 pawn is no longer guarded by the queen, which means that this pin of the knight with my bishop becomes appropriate, since it eliminates the other guard. W now has a pawn that is at risk of being lost to my fianchetto'd bishop

I guess I should think about what he is trying to do. Seems in this case that if I move the knight, he will get the queen. So I guess I should see if I can counter that or something?

Or maybe I should try to attack something on his side...