Chess Handicap - Other Forms of Handicap

Other Forms of Handicap

Time handicaps are most often practiced in blitz games. The stronger player may be given one or two minutes to play the whole game, while the weaker player receives five minutes or more. Money odds are another way of compensating for a difference in strength; the stronger player puts up some multiple (three, five, ten, etc.) of the amount of money put up by the weaker player.

In the 16th-19th centuries sometimes the pion coiffé (or capped pawn) handicap was used, usually for players of much different playing strengths. The stronger player must checkmate with a particular pawn, which is usually marked at the start of play. The pawn cannot be promoted. Giving checkmate with any other pawn or piece loses the game. Pietro Carrera proved that in the endgame king, queen and pawn versus king (pion coiffé), a win can be forced unless the pawn lies on a central file. Carrera considered pion coiffé to be about equivalent to giving odds of a queen.

Similarly, games have occasionally been played with a ringed piece, where a ring or band is placed around a particular piece, and the player giving odds must checkmate with that piece. (See illustrative games.) This form of odds, and pion coiffé, are very difficult for the odds-giver, who cannot allow the odds-receiver to sacrifice for the capped or ringed piece or pawn. For instance, in pion coiffé, after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5, Black already threatens to sacrifice the queen for the capped pawn if it is the a, d, or g-pawn, to play 3...Qe5+ followed by such a sacrifice if it is the b or h-pawn, or to play 3...Qe4+ followed by a sacrifice if it is the c-pawn.

Staunton relied on a 1617 work by Carrera in discussing pion coiffé, the ringed piece, money odds, draw odds, and the following other "eccentric and peculiar Odds":

• Checkmate on a particular square: This may mean either that the odds-receiver's king must be mated while on the specified square, or that the odds-giver's piece must administer mate from that square. Carrera considered the first of these roughly equivalent to knight odds, the second a bit less. Assiac observed of the first, "This sounds like a formidable proposition, but it really isn't. All the better player has to do is reduce the game to a favorable ending. Thereafter, having promoted a pawn or two, he will find the rest easy."
• Checkmate with a pawn: The mating pawn may be any pawn, not a specified pawn, as in pion coiffé. Carrera considered this form of odds equivalent to giving odds of two pawns.
• Giving all the pieces for two moves each time: The odds-giver begins the game with only the king and pawns, while the odds-receiver has a full complement of pieces and pawns. In exchange for this, the odds-giver plays two moves on each turn, while the odds-receiver can only play one. Carrera wrote that while some considered this an even game, he thought that it favored the pieces, although the side with the pieces must play cautiously. The player with the pieces should try to eliminate the pawns, for instance by giving up two pawns for one, or a minor piece for two pawns.
• Giving the king the knight's move: The odds-receiver's king, in addition to being able to move in the usual manner, is able to move like a knight. Carrera considered this form of odds improper because it allows the odds-receiver to use his king to checkmate the enemy king from a knight's move away (for example, with the odds-receiver's king at g6 and the odds-giver's king at h8, the latter is in check and, if no legal response is possible, is checkmated). Carrera considered this form of odds equivalent to giving rook and pawn odds. Because of the king's unusual power, the odds-giver requires more material than usual in order to checkmate a bare king (for example, queen and another piece, or two rooks).
• Giving the queen the knight's move: Similarly to the above, the odds-receiver's queen (rather than king) has the additional ability to move like a knight. This makes the queen very powerful, since she has the ability to administer mate without the assistance of any other pieces (for instance, an enhanced queen on h6 mates a king on h8, since Kg8 would still leave the king in check). Carrera considered this roughly equivalent to knight odds, although it varied depending on the players' strengths.
• Odds of the castled king The odds-receiver begins the game with the positions of his king and one of his rooks interchanged (e.g., king on h8 or a8, and the displaced rook on the king's square). The first way (king on h8, rook on e8) is used unless otherwise specified before the game. Carrera thought this form of odds equivalent to the player with normally placed pieces giving a little less than two pawns, or a little less than a knight if the a8-rook and king are the ones interchanged. Staunton noted that Carrera's description and examples of these odds "are not adapted to our mode of castling" since the king and rook do not end up on the same squares they would normally occupy after castling.

Staunton also mentioned the following unusual forms of odds not discussed by Carrera:

• Odds of the losing game: The odds-giver undertakes to force the odds-receiver to checkmate him. (See Paris-Marseilles, correspondence 1878, given below.)
• Additional pawns: The odds-giver permits the odds-receiver to begin the game with a specified number of extra pawns (for example, eight extra pawns). Unless specially agreed, the side with the extra pawns moves first.
• Odds of queen rook in exchange for the opponent's queen knight, or pawn and move, or pawn and two moves.
• Odds of queen knight in exchange for pawn and move, or in exchange for the first two moves.