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I am experiencing Antichess and it's more forcing than normal chess.

What are the best openings for white ? Is there any winning opening whatever the black does respond?

Antichess, according to Wikipedia:

Losing chess (also known as Antichess, the Losing Game, Giveaway chess, Suicide chess, Killer chess, or Take-all chess) is a chess variant in which the objective of each player is to lose all of his pieces or be stalemated.

"The rules are the same as those for standard chess, except for the following special rules:

  • Capturing is compulsory.
  • When more than one capture is available, the player may choose.
  • The king has no royal power and accordingly: it may be captured like any other piece there is no check or checkmate there is no castling
  • In addition to its normal promotion options, a pawn may promote to a king.
  • Stalemate is a win for the stalemated player.

A player wins by losing all his pieces, or being stalemated. Apart from move repetition, draw by agreement, and the fifty-move rule, the game is also drawn when a win is impossible (such as if a dark-squared bishop and a light-squared bishop are the only pieces remaining).

It can be played online through lichess

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    It may help to add some explanation or at least a link what antichess is.
    – Jester
    May 17, 2015 at 18:12

4 Answers 4

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It was discovered that e3 is a win for White:

http://magma.maths.usyd.edu.au/~watkins/LOSING_CHESS/ICGA2016.pdf

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I cannot really speak from my own experience, but there seems to be some very decent sites about Antichess.

Here is what this one has to say about the opening:

"Just like in chess, the main goal in the Losing Chess opening is development of the pieces. One has to be careful, as the starting position is quite volatile, and some first moves even lose directly (1.e4, 1.d4, and 1.d3). However, one should not be too passive, guided by the motto 'just not capture anything'. Remember that material advantage is important to win, not the opposite! So, always be open to try those novelties which allow the opponent to give-away some of his pieces, just carefully check if you cannot be forced to capture them all. Only bishops seem to be an exception here, they are often too dangerous for the opening and middle-game, so in most cases you should try to get rid of your bishops in the opening and avoid capturing those of the opponent. (However, see this game for an example of how strong a bishop can sometimes be!) Regarding this, the most preferable first moves might be 1.e3 e6 - allowing both sides to 'ditch' the bishops directly. Indeed, these moves have become by far most popular among the strongest Losing Chess players."

Another site give even more faux-pas on the first move:

"For example, known losing first moves for white include 1.d4, 1.e4, 1.Nf3, 1.Nc3, 1.d3, 1.f4, 1.b4, 1.h4 and 1.h3."

Both sites agree that the objective is often to gain a material advantage, to be able to ditch your pieces more easily later in the game.

Concerning the best opening moves, look at this pearl: Apparently 1.e3, 1.Nh3, 1.c4, 1.g3 and 1.g4 are the acceptable moves for white. And after 1.e3 chances seem to be good that this is just winning for white. Only c5 and b6 haven't been solved towards a white win yet.

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    When it says "losing/winning first moves" is this merely of theoretical interest or do players really win/lose this most of the time in practical play?
    – user1583209
    May 21, 2017 at 23:23
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    @user1583209: suicide chess is extremely forcing, and the best players are really good; I'm sure they've memorized the refutations of the losing moves (meaning the moves that have been known to lose for years; not the new proof that 1.e3 wins, as the entire proof is much too large for humans to memorize).
    – RemcoGerlich
    May 23, 2017 at 11:40
  • You need to go to lichess and watch the top games in the anti-chess arenas and also look at the computer analysis. So often a lone pawn left on the board is a loss for the player that holds it if they can't get rid of it.
    – CashCow
    Aug 24, 2020 at 8:56
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Apparently, Antichess has been proved to be a forced win for White with the line 1.e3. The slowest win is around 250 moves.

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As many have pointed out, Antichess is winning for white after 1.e3. What I would like to add that on this website, you can also view the solution! However, there are some lines, which for some reason can't be reached.

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