Wild Starting Positions: Experiments With Space
"Cramped positions carry within them the germ of defeat." – Siegbert Tarrasch
This spring, two of the strongest chess engines in the world, Stockfish and Torch, played a match featuring some bizarre starting positions. We asked the Chess.com community for other interesting chess questions, and several of you delivered. In particular, one member, @chodolara, asked what happens when one side starts with all of the pawns on their third or fourth rank instead of the second. Is it an advantage or a disadvantage?
This is a fascinating question because it gets at competing strengths in the position. The side starting with advanced pawns will have a clear space advantage but also have minimal pawn shelter for the king. Which factor will decide the game?
Pawns On The Third Rank
Stockfish and Torch played a two-game match with one side taking the white pieces with pawns on the third rank, and the other the black pieces with a regular setup. Both engines preferred the side with the space advantage, but only with an evaluation of +1, leaving it unclear whether it would be enough to win the game.
Stockfish pressed with its space advantage against Torch, but the game soon reached a position resembling a Pirc Defense, where White's advantage gradually dissipated.
With colors reversed, Stockfish tried to defend with pawns on the central light squares. However, once Torch was able to trade off the dark-squared black bishop, it built a powerful attack, and forced Black to sacrifice decisive material just to extend the game.
Pawns On The Fourth Rank
Pawns starting on the third rank gave White a clear advantage, but one that was only borderline decisive. Pawns starting on the fourth rank make a more powerful impression. Neither side was able to get out of the opening in decent shape with the black pieces. With white pawns on the fourth rank, it only takes one move to force a black knight to retreat after it first moves. As a result, Black struggles to develop safely. Torch demonstrated Black's problems by winning material within the first 15 moves.
While Torch went for a quick attack, Stockfish preferred to squeeze Black's position. It was so successful that Black eventually sacrificed a piece for virtually no compensation in a position where there were no useful moves. This gets to the heart of the trouble with cramped positions: The cramped side's pieces have limited options throughout the game. Observe Stockfish's convincing demonstration.
Why It Matters
Clearly, an engine with a space advantage is a dangerous opponent. Potential king safety issues due to advanced pawns hardly matter when the other side has no activity. How has the engine's use of space effected modern chess with the standard starting position? Look at the classic Closed Ruy Lopez.
The Chigorin Variation of the Ruy Lopez has been played tens of thousands of times at the top level. It's featured in several games from GM Bobby Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games, but it is rare among top players today. Engines have too much respect for White's space advantage and evaluate the position above after the d4-d5 advance as around +1, similar to the first Stockfish–Torch match. And few modern players want to subject themselves to that sort of torture with the black pieces.
How much do you value space in chess? Let us know in the comments.
