How to play King of the Hill?

King of the Hill is a chess variant. The winner is the person who gets his king to one of the 4 middle squares first (e4, e5 ,d4,d5) the game can also be won by checkmating the opponent.

How do you play King of the Hill? Do you run with the king in the start of the game or do you wait and go there later? Do you castle? Which opening works best?

I always run with the King pretty early, it does not work so well if the opponent knows what he is doing... but it is fun

Thanks for the help :)

Did I help? lol, I was asking for help! 

yea u helped lol. i needed to know if you could still checkmate because im playing in a KOTH tourney. 

Dang it, I bet Khan knows.

Even though this is 2 years old, yes. Yes you can still checkmate.

Don't rush in with king too early. Opponents of mine rush king too early, they get checkmated

thanks!!! I know this is old but still helpful!

thanks!

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/strategies-in-king-of-the-hill#comment-51928622

Even tho it’s old...thanks still

Moving the king to 1 of the 4 center squares is King of the Hill.

Rushing with the king early is good if

1.Your opponent is very weak (Usually 800-900 minus) - getting a fast victory helps you in arena tournaments.

2.The time control is very fast (it's like starting a deadly attack in chess that is sure to fail with proper play, but it takes a lot of time to refute the attack and thus can be very valuable in bullet).

I've lost a lot of 1|0 KOTH games since I took too much time when my opponent rushed their king towards the center.

Generally I try to play relatively (but not exactly) like normal chess and start rushing the king towards the center once queens are exchanged. There is much more emphasis on center control and pawns; I often try to go for center pawn breaks far more frequently than I do in normal chess.

Piece values might be different too: it could actually look something like this given the emphasis on center control and the fact that the game is not too likely to last until promotion (though KOTH theory is incomplete and maybe if players start seriously studying this game then the game will consistently go to endgames).

Knights could even be slightly better than bishops rather than vice versa like normal chess given the emphasis on controlling the center; bishops could easily be blocked. Fianchettoing the bishop is often good since it helps the bishop control 2 center squares.

a pawn: 0.25 points

b pawn: 0.5 points

c thru f pawns: 1 point

minor piece: 2 points

Rook: 3 points (covers 2 squares in the center like minor pieces, but is useful for cutting the enemy king off).

Queen: 6 points (could control all 4 squares in the center)

This is similar to actual chess once you scale (the pieces are worth similar relative to each other), but the relative value of the pawns change; with center pawns gaining value and a/h pawns being nearly worthless - it's probably a good trade for you to give up your b pawn entirely if it means that your opponent's c pawn is diverted and they have to double (of course, you shouldn't accept such a gambit in KOTH).

Unfortunately, there is no Daily King of the Hill, so most of my games are blitz, making it hard for me to thoroughly learn this game.

Thanks

This was helpful. Also rushing my king works for me.

Thank you

Any gambit that controls the center is fine

To play, designate a large, defined area as the "hill" or "kingdom." The objective is for players to reach the top of the hill and maintain their position as the "king" or "queen" against others attempting to overthrow them.

Can anyone play a game of king of the hill with me..