WTA strategy guide

I must have played about 50 ish WTA games and I'm starting to get a pretty good feel about what it is a player is supposed to do in any given situation, so I'd like to share my input.  So here it is, the very first Winner-take-all strategy guide!

Disclaimer:  these considerations take for granted that you are playing with good players who remain rational during the game.  In reality people are often very emotionally driven and or simply miss the ball and do horrible blunders that cost them the game while bringing you down with them. Either way,   the better the players you are playing with,   the truer what I will write will be.

PHASE 1: 4 players

Same old idea as  normal FFA: ATTACK!!   team up with your opposite, eliminate one of your flank!   In WTA though,   you want to do this in a way that doesn't either:

A: give all the points to you or your opposite

This is simply because if you mate without capturing any material,  and one player ends up with 20 points while the  two others have 0 points,    the player with  20 points will be in a bad spot.   If he is aware of that,   he might simply decline to join the mating attack and you will likely end up in a bad spot.

B: involve a disproportionnate material investment from yourself or your opposite

You want to avoid doing all the work, or letting your opposite doing all the work.   Share the burden!  Make sure the player who gets the mate invested some material in the attack or somehow got into a weakened position.  Try  to keep the game somewhat equal ( balanced between positional strenght and points) while coordinating an attack with your opposite on one of your flank players.

C: leave both you and your opposite in a position where the 3rd player can crush you both

Obviously...   If you eliminate a player  but both you and your opposite invested so much material that the other player can beat you both,   well you lost. You don't want that.

Also,   it is often wise  to coordinate material winning attacks with your opposite instead of mating attacks.  Just score some points and cripple a flank. Dont necessarily finish him off and become the target...

NB:  sometimes  when all the players  have traded off most of their material , the game enters an endgame phase even though 4 players are still alive. You are in the '' endgame phase'' when kings start marching to the center of the board to support pawn pushes. when this is the case, the concept of opposite  doesn't really matter anymore.  In you ever enter a 4 player endgame,   you may treat it as if you were in the  3 player phase. 

PHASE 2: 3 players

This phase is all about mainting balance.  There are generally 3 potential scenarios which all involve different strategies.

Scenario A:  A player is ahead on points and has a stronger position

This one is easy:   coordinate an attack with whoeverelse  is behind on points at the time untill balance is restored. Then reevaluate. Wash, rince, repeat if necessary...

Scenario B: the game is balanced

If all 3 players are somewhat equal in points and positionally, then just build your position,   dont be affraid to trade as long as your king remains safe.  It doesn't really matter if you trade material since at any given time,   if  one player starts to become too strong,  the 2 others will team up against him and balance will be restored.   Material will need to be traded anyway if the game  is ever going to transition into the heads up phase without anyone commiting a major blunder.

Scenario C: a player is ahead onpoints  while another is ahead  positionally

That one is tricky.   This is where you seperate men from children.   I'm not going to  try to explain how to deal with this situation because the best strategies are position specific and it would take forever. Besides, I still get kind of lost at times.  Make sure the player who is ahead positionally doesn't get so strong that he can overpower the 2 others,   and also make sure the player ahead on points can't just resign and win. 

PHASE 2.1: Transitionning towards heads-up

So during the 3 player phase alliances will come and go,  material will be traded while players improve their positions.  eventually a point will come when  someone gets tricked into entering a line that makes one of the player's position strong enough to overpower the 2 other players. Let's call this the '' Tilting Point''

Now how to do this is unclear.   There is game theory involved: most of the  time a player  ends up tilting.     If no player goes on tilt,  well you'll have to make one  ' BEND!'  as Hikaru would say...  That is another of those moments where you get to seperate men from children; (which is why WTA is far superior to the previous rating system) the art of reaching a favorable tilting point is very subtle and there is no  way I can explain how to achieve it because I simply don't know how to.   I just noticed that there is such a thing as a tilting point and that you need to make it tilt your way somehow with some mind trick or some kind of deep zugzwang that the others didn't see coming.

PHASE 3:  Heads up

Well this one is easy:   this is where you simply reap the benefits of your good play, or have to accept the reality that you lost.   Once in a while you will transition into a losing heads up in which you can still outplay your opponent.  Consider  the normal chess ratings of the players, and if transitionning into an objectively losing but  complicated enough heads up against a weaker player is your best bet to win the game!

I hope this helps!   

Please let me know what you think

I hope so

WTA

4 player stage, still checkmate either of the sides (as much as possible your left side)

because you have a higher chances of winning than being sandwich

3 player stage its more often depends on how your opponents feel/think.

The sandwich guy (secured his position not to be the last) can also dictate who will win in the game specially if he/she is just having fun. BERSERK.

But he/she still has the chance to win depending on the positions, materials and how he/she plays. Or hope the two will attack each other for points, grudge etc.

For me I'm more on attacking my sides (most specially if the game is balance) then having one on one against my opposite. But not all the time, EXPLOIT everytime.  Also, mostly I rather give the win to my opposite than my sides. hahahah

Just make sure not to end last

EXPLOIT

Enjoy and have fun.

@MrNinjaTaco

No,  this does not work for normal FFA.  This is meant to be a guide for the new Winner take all rating format that has been implemented in 1550+ rated games.  There are good strategy guides for normal FFA in the forum.

The main difference is that in normal FFA, second place is a decent deal,   so all you have to do is team up with your opposite from the start to the end. If you have an opposite that collaborates,  youll have a good game.  If you have a passive opposite,  youll likeliy lose. WTA is an atempt at resolving the unfairness of the old format. 

HappyNewYear_TheBoSS

Nothing you wrote makes any sens in WTA

Make sure not to end last? It doesn't matter if you are 2nd-4th, you still lose the same amount of rating.

hey