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In chess, the traditional 'odds' system has a couple of difficulties in being made into a systematic method for handicapping. In its original context (usually, chess clubs where games were played for money) it made sense, but in modern times, there is the problem that two beginners can play at rook odds, and the weaker side will still occasionally win, but if grandmasters played at rook odds, the weaker side could not possibly win. Ralph Betza has written on this extensively. Also, there is the issue (which I think is the source of what I mentioned above) that in an odds game, the side with more materiel may adopt the strategy of attempting at every turn to simplify the game into a winning endgame. Of course, this is what chessplayers do ordinarily once they have established an advantage in materiel, but in odds games, it adds a late middlegame flavor to even the opening, and fundamentally changes the game. Shogi does not have this problem, because when odds are given in shogi, the stronger player starts without one or more pieces (not in the other player's hand; just eliminated utterly from the game), but if side with materiel advantage attempts to capitalize on this by offering exchanges, it actually complicates the game, because now both sides have pieces in hand, and a piece in hand is more valuable to the better player than the weaker one, so this strategy is counterproductive.
Chess had not had a tradition for handicaps, especially in the last 100 years. (Before that in the 18th 19th century there was odds chess which I thought looks like a good and fairly comprehensive system, but strangely it does not seem to have been adopted by organizations like FIDE) So, recently I being thinking about handicap systems and thought of a cross between shogi and chess that would provide a path toward handicaps. What I propose is then the weaker player given a set of tokens that give him the ability to drop captured pieces as his own for the price of the value of the piece he is too drop. In a even game the second player receive a small set of tokens to balance first mover advantage. If both player play with infinite tokens, the game becomes chessgi. If one side plays with infinite and the other player 0 then the infinite would probably have a guarenteed win. If both side have a limited supply of token then the game would have a finer balanced hadicaps. These are just some ideas, any comment welcome.
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