TG Chess

Your move, TG.

Pawn to f5

I don't have a board with me

Let's go with Nf6 because screw mirrors.

Actually, might as well.
We Dutch Defense bois

I'm rated 1700 though, so that'd be the equivalent of High Silver on CS:GO. I don't expect to do all that well but I might as well give it a shot.

...

Never really been formaly educated on the finer aspects of chess, and I've always had some trouble with the first few turns. Is there more to it than just leaving th way open for your queen/bishops to get into the field ASAP?

You take the rooks and push them somewhere else, with the bishops chasing after them to get their stuff back.

It's about giving your own pieces room to move, avoiding getting your pieces choked.

That's why most openings take the center. If you hold the center uncontested, you've driven a wedge into your enemy's formation and they can't move their pieces freely.

It isn't so much as developing the queen and bishops, as leaving options open for the queen and bishops. Granted, that DOES mean placing them where they threaten some squares, so that your opponent can't use those squares to set up on you.

You also want to put your pawns diagonally next to each-other. All too often have I gone to the midgame with a nice flat row of pawns and end up getting wrecked because I can't defend them all.

The reinforcements for the Black army come in to flank the White Rebels and drive them back to the hells they have spilled from.

THE BEACANS OF GONDOR HAVE BEEN LIT!