Giving odds can often help make a chess game more fun and educational for both players. Often, odds are given in casual games between players of wildly different ability levels, or in teaching games as a way to allow the stronger player (the teacher) to play at their full ability, while still keeping their student playing to win the game, rather than playing conservatively to “keep it close.”
However, finding the appropriate odds to give in a handicap chess game can sometimes be challenging. Offering the weaker player too big a handicap serves nobody: the game becomes frustrating for the stronger player, who has no chance to catch up, the size of the handicap may be insulting to the weaker player, and the game feels much less like a competitive affair (not to mention less like a real game of chess).
For this reason, it’s usually best to offer odds conservatively, if at all. Some players may wish to play even games even if those games are usually lopsided, and that’s fine; even when a student is learning chess, there’s often plenty to be talked about in a game that’s a one-sided affair.
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Strategic Value of Chess Pieces
However, if you and a friend, student, or other player wish to play games with odds, there are a few guidelines you can follow to make the games as competitive and evenly-matched as possible.
Handicaps by Rating
While it’s often hard to know exactly how large a handicap is needed to make a game between two players competitive, one area of chess that has helped to pinpoint the proper handicaps is computer chess. Given the extremely strong nature of computers, many computer-human matches have been played with odds – which has helped give a pretty good idea of how much losing certain material hurts the stronger player.
The following chart is based on the handicaps given in the Rybka Aquarium interface. In my experience, these handicaps have been about accurate; for instance, I can play pretty evenly with the computer with a rook or rook and move handicap, which is about what the ratings information given by the program would suggest is “correct.” If nothing else, this should serve as a good starting point for players looking to handicap their games. A reminder that a handicap “and move” suggests that the weaker player receives White, while a more traditional handicap without move requires the weaker player to take Black. If a handicap suggests “two moves” or more, that means that the weaker player gets White, and may make the specified number of moves before Black makes their first move. The “points” listed are the approximate ratings point differences that are made up by using the specified handicap.
- Pawn: 200 points
- Pawn (f7) and Move: 300 points
- Exchange: 400 points
- Pawn and Two Moves: 450 points
- Two Pawns: 500 points
- Knight: 800 points
- Knight and Move: 900 points
- Knight and Pawn: 1,000 points
- Bishop and Pawn: 1,100 points
- Rook: 1,250 points
- Rook and Move: 1,300 points
- Rook and Pawn: 1,500 points
- Knight and Bishop: 1,600 points
- Rook and Knight: 1,900 points
- Two Rooks: 2,100 points
- Queen: 2,200 points
- Queen and Rook: 2,400 points
Other Methods of Selecting a Handicap
One great way to select a handicap is to start with a handicap that both players find acceptable (again, if there’s a disagreement, going with the smaller of the two suggestions is probably better). If one player wins three games in a row with that handicap, it is then adjusted up or down appropriately. For instance, if a weaker player wins three games with rook odds, it may be time to move to a smaller handicap – perhaps a knight and a pawn.