Gaining space in KOTH

Here is how to take advantage of poor opening choices To almost guarantee wins, and a bit of how to play "jumbles" games where trading pieces is not an option at the moment, and you must develop using skill and knowledge to outsmart your opponent. Here is how to proceed and gain space:

After Queen D4, black has to choose between losing the rook with a devastating check, or the game, so black resigns. White missed a win, but was still able to force a win. Black never had a chance. Notice that the first couple moves decided blacks fate. Black failed to play the best choice, matching whites first move. The whole game Black suffered a huge disadvantage in space, not being able to advance the knights toward the center because of the pawn in black territory. The white pawn was the reason white won. Moving on now, i will provide an example of a jumble, as i call it. both sides are locked in a battle for space, and only a few moves allow the game to progress.

This position goes until white finds an opening to gain force a gain of space or material loss for black. However, black is not done yet as a small mishap from white allows black to claw back into the game. Black still has multiple defenders protecting the middle squares, and white must proceed with extreme caution. Here are some tips for this type of game:

Jumbling Tips

1. Develop pawns to the middle first
2. Trade your bishops for knights everytime, and likewise protect your knights
3. Do not avoid trades unless you have a clear vision of how the jumble will play out
4. Be creative, but be cautious. The beauty of this variant is that it is more complex than 3 check and other variants, and has more freedom in the opening than standard chess.

Now i will show the important part in this variants of taking risks. This is a puzzle showing how a risk could pay off or cost the game. This little known strategy can beat anyone with even a lot of experience

This shows how a very appealing trap turns into a loss very quickly. This is a strategy that can only be used if white encounters a black king's pawn opening. Otherwise matching a queen's pawn opening with black is the best bet. In this last situation, we will see how this strategy can backfire if you are careless.

When black responds well with moving the queen's pawn 2 spaces, white should just check the black king with the queen. If white opts to capture the queen's pawn with the queen, even worse follows. The game was even in pieces in this last situation, but black had a huge advantage in controlling the center, and white has almost no hope. Stay tuned for more variant chess advice!