Chess960: How to practice it - part three

Thanks to BiffMeatStick I've still got a little bit of enthusiasm to blog on....People don't realise how much hard work it is to blog, and that whatever ideas you come up with, they will get pinched by someone else in any case. Even if they do not, the readership statistic feedback you get to encourage you to keep blogging, is usually corrupted by the Spambots that mindlessly read your site with enthusiasm!

The basic idea of this Chess960 practice discussion, is that there are critical checks that have to be made before the start of the game, but not all of the checks have to be done on the first move. The idea is to distribute the burden of having to analyse the start position into the opponents time just a bit, because by far on average, some critical start position features are not adversely affected by the first move itself.

The summary from Chess960: How to practice it part one:
Before the Chess960 game starts:

1. Practice Chess960 in consecutive batches of SP numbers. Each SP changes the position just enough to make you think, but not enough to confuse you....
2. Always frame the opening in terms of a general principal. The general principal I use is Chess960: The basic pawn move types

The summary from Chess960: How to practice it part two:
Before the First Move:

1. Find the knights quick attack points on the opponents 7th rank.
2. Ask the question "are there "Chivalry Knights" in the start position?
3. Is a bishop next to my king? If so, then prepare for tactics!
4. Is there an undefended edge pawn?

The summary of ideas in how to practice Chess960 part three are:

Before your Second Move:

1. Is there a 7th rank knight fork tactic against the back rank pieces?
2. How weak are the squares adjacent to the edge pawns on both wings?
3. Is there a queen on the c1 or f1? If so, prepare for her to rapid dual wing attack along the Qb5/Qg5 or Qa3/Qh3 diagonals and lines. These are the most common early development themes of the queen that actually work, as opposed to the many early development themes that do not work!

I'd normally draw illustrative pictures to back up my arguments, but unless BiffMeatStick (or anyone else) want's me to I'll skip it. Let me know.

Enjoy 960