In standard chess all of the pawns are defended at the start of the game but in 960 this is not always the case. So at the start of every 960 game I quickly scan the board and take note of which pawns, if any, are undefended. If there are one or more undefended pawns then I will check to see if any of my opponent's pieces are pointing in that direction. Remember, the sides are mirrored at the start of the game so if you have an undefended pawn then so does your opponent and vice-versa.
You have to pay attention right from the beginning. Even a momentary lapse in concentration can be costly. Here are some examples of how you can quickly lose (or gain), a decisive amount of material at the start of the game.
In this first example both sides have an undefended h-pawn that is next to an undefended Rook
Now I'll show you what Black should have done and how White might go wrong:
Sometimes a Bishop is the one attacking an undefended pawn at the start of a game.
Knights can also take advantage of undefended pawns. Here is a vote chess game where my team could have been on the receiving end of a nice tactic.
Now you might be thinking that you should always go after the undefended pawns in your opponent's position as soon as you identify them but you have to be very careful. Sometimes it's ok to grab pawns in the opening but you have to make sure that you don't fall too far behind in development or get your piece trapped.
This position below is similar to the first example. In this case there is a Bishop on h8 rather than a Knight and the Rook on g8 is defended. Let's see how this can make a difference.
Here's another example of this pattern from one of my games against GM @DJ_Haubi.
Even GMs sometimes unwisely take undefended pawns in the opening. Super GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (@LyonBeast) got his Queen trapped after doing so.
Strong GM Andrew Tang (@penguingm1) got his Queen trapped on move 2!
So remember, identify the undefended pawns in the position but think twice before grabbing them.
