Automate Chess Setups

Hello everyone, in this thread im gonna show some setups and explain their pros and cons. Keep in mind that i am have only 1950 rating points in Automate so my evaluations can be incorrect.

1. Cavalry

This is a popular strat that rely on knights only. It consists of 8 pawns and 9 knights almost all the time and looks like this:

Pros:

1. It wins against medium setups quite often
2. It hasn't any weak squares to exploit (for example: opponent can't put 2 rooks to focus weak pawn)
3. Have 8 pawns so you can "skip" 2 turns and watch what your opponent wants to play

Cons:

1. Losing to strong setups

If you want to play this: place pawns on 3rd rank and only then on the 2nd rank so your setup will be consealed as long as possible.

If you want to counter this: pick bishops for you setup, at least 4 of them or 4 rooks with a good placement, place your king as far as possible so knights cannot reach him easily.

Here is an example game:

2. Conclave

This is a strategy of bishops, number of bishops can vary, usually it is 6 bishops + queen + rook + 6 pawns or 8 pawns + 9 bishops. Setup with 6 bishops is the most powerful in the game. Setup looks like this:

Pros:

1. Very strong setup, one of the strongest so far, winning almost everything
2. Safe king

Cons:

1. Can be defeated with 4 rooks on the same open files as bishops, not sure.
2. Easy to spot that you are trying to play this setup (4-6 pawns already showing your setup clearly to your opponent)

If you want to play this: Place bishops carefully so they will not be attacked by a bunch of rooks right from the start.

If you want to counter this: Place your king on a diagonal which is not occupied by enemy bishops, so it will not be targeted right from the start. Try to place rook battery on open file or use 3 bishops of the same color.

Game example:

3. Flex setup

My favourite strategy, because you can exploit weak spots, vary pieces and their places. Interesting to play.

Can contain:

1. 4 rooks + queen + 2 bishops + 6 pawns
2. 3 rooks + queen + 3 bishops + 7 pawns
3. 2 rooks + queen + 4 bishops + 8 pawns

Standard variation:

Pros:

1. Strong setup, decent chance to win
2. Flexible, you can vary your set of pieces, for example: if you don't understand what your opponent wants to play, you can "skip" turn with 7th pawn or even with 8th.
3. Flexible king position, you can place your king on b2 or g2, you can use it to place king on safest side of the board.

Cons:

1. Conclave destroys most of the variations of this setup
2. 2 weak pawns in the center can be exploited by opponent
3. Can be dangerous to place rooks on open files if you have black pieces

If you want to play this: Place your king on safest side, place 2 bishops first, so you can replace rooks in future if needed or put them to defend weak pawns.

If you want to counter this: Strats with big amount of minor pieces can win sometimes, target weak pawns, be careful with usage of "a" and "h" files as they will be occupied with opponents rooks.

Game example:

That's all for now, if you have any questions, suggestions or new setups, please write in this thread or reach me out in private. I hope this setups will help.

I usually put different setups but i don't play automate cause my computer blinders for me. It's old and it then blunders!

Thank you! You right, i uploaded same game twice, now i fixed it. You setup is great, i actually lost to similar one but bishop was on a2 instead of f1.

Maybe you can improve setup, so your weak pawns will be protected and bishops will cover more squares.

But your setup clearly better if you want to pressure a7, b6, g6 and h7. Your setup is better for white and improved version is better for black i suppose.

I don't know, what i am sure it's that my side blunders and my opponent often has weaker armies but wins as he does not blunder. In analysis every move takes a while to show up"best", "excellent", "good" ,"book", "inaccuracy", "mistake", "blunder" or"missed win"

Wow, you was pretty much crushed. You could improve your position a bit with a king placed on f, g or h file, i wrote about it in a "how to counter" section of conclave. But setup i suggested is still has major issue: you can't control same diagonals as opponents bishops, as there is too much pressure. In your case it's a7 bishop which is lost right from the start.

Maybe you can place a7, h7 bishops after everything else is placed, so you can rotate them to c7 and f7 in case of big pressure on these squares.

4. Improved Conclave

Sacrifice king safety a bit and add extra protection to bishops on open files. Interesting variation by @VodkaJellyShot

Uses 7 bishops + queen + 7 pawns

Pros:

1. Extra bishop's protection
2. Flexible queen position, can defend weak pawn or form a battery with a bishop
3. 7 pawns, so you can 'skip' turns to see opponent's setup

Cons:

1. Weak pawn on h2.
2. Easier to counter then casual conclave
3. Bishops block each other
4. Most of the variations weaker than casual conclave

If you want to play this: TBA

If you want to counter this: Place your king on a diagonal which is not occupied by enemy bishops, so it will not be targeted right from the start. Use 3 bishops of the same color to counter one color of the board.

Game example:

Nice setups! They all look really good. I don't play auto mate myself but this is still interesting.

I usually use this setup

It is a cool idea, but eliminates a preparation part of automate chess. It became more random since you can't counter opponent's setup. As for the game, i am surprised. I thought he would exploit dark squares since you have less dark square bishops and he can just trade all of them. Maybe conclave with 7 bishops is too much, it is better to pick a rook instead of pawn + bishop, so pawn will not block any diagonals and bishops can dominate the board.

I will play a few games and check if this is a strong setup or just a middle one.

Looks cool, what do you think: is it better to place queen in front of the rook or behind?

idk

idk

In terms of normal chess principles depends on if you're targeting a weak square or weak piece... When attacking the king the queen wants to be in front but otherwise the rook should be first because it has less value...

DISCLAIMER: I am really bad at automate chess.

No worries, i am bad at normal chess.  You got the point, but in most situations there will be a protected pawn in front this battery. The real question is it better to let Stockfish develop queen early or better to keep it safe and protect pawns

https://www.chess.com/automate/1438769

just destroyed my opponent with a conclave!

Yeah, I guess this is the best setup in automate, i wonder how many points you can get with it GL!

Um what about some kind of conclave vs conclave?

I believe casual is slightly better than improved conclave, as you have a rook that can control any square when you opponent have pawn (that needs a protection in the endgame) + bishop that controls only 1 color. Unfortunately, i never saw a game between any conclave variations, but i am trying to found an opponent that will play it vs me .
As for mirror casual vs casual, i think it is a draw as there no way to attack oponent's king or greatly improve position of you pieces.