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Guide to Chess 960 - Part 5: Queens in the Corner

Guide to Chess 960 - Part 5: Queens in the Corner

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Michael-Holm
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As the title suggests, this is when your Queen starts in the corner, often with a Rook directly to the side. In these positions I've found that it's usually a good strategy to push the pawns in front of your Queen and Rook to gain space for these pieces on the flanks. There are some variations on this pattern. For example sometimes the Queen and Rook are switched and sometimes it's just a Queen or Rook on the b/g file. In these cases it's often still acceptable to push flank pawns early. Just don't forget to control the center to some extent as well. 

I've noticed that even Magnus Carlsen likes to push flank pawns early when this pattern occurs. Here are 2 of his games from the Lichess Chess 960 Titled Arena that was played in March of this year. His username on lichess is DrNykterstein and he was playing against Grandmasters in both of these games. You can watch a video of this event with excellent commentary here.

And here's 2 of my own games. Interestingly, this first game below has the same starting position as the Magnus game above. I played in a similar way.

Sometimes the Queen will be in the corner without a Rook to the side. In these instances I don't think it makes as much sense to push the b/g pawn if there's no Rook behind it, especially if there's a Bishop on the long diagonal opposite the Queen. You can still push the pawn in front of your Queen though to give your Queen some breathing room. 
This example below comes from a daily 960 tournament. My opponent was a National Master.

This final game is from the last round of a live 10|0 960 tournament. My opponent and I were both undefeated after 4 rounds so I needed a win to secure first place.

I had a lot of good example games for this section and wanted to make use of them all. I appreciate if you took the time to read all the way through! If you did then you have a lot of patience.