My current rating in atomic is 1810. In game the you posted Blacks second move Nc6, is an absolutely horrible move , far superior is Nf6 giving quick counter play on the king side. Honestly I don't even like starting with Nf3 as white, sure it has the possibility of a quick win for white, but it is easy to counter. At your rating, as white try pawn to e3, usually black will play Nf6, pin the night with queen to f3 , then follow up with bishop to d3 with the idea of moving the bishop to d6 threatening the f pawn the king and the night. plus by moving pawn to e3 first it opens up the queen to move to h5 if they block with pawn to f6 queen to d5 is deadly. of course it all depends on what black does. Against higher rated players I've had some games go to 90 moves or more.
THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO WIN ATOMIC.
I'm not shooting down your strategy of taking out pieces , and protecting your own, it's good advice.
@tismith2022
Thank you for pointing that out, but even if Nc6 was a horrible move it simply provided a filler move for the point i was trying to relay.
Wait, The kingside pawn couldn't move to Nf6, because the pawn is already their.
I was speaking about the beginning of a game, not the position you posted. in the sequence I gave the f pawn has not been moved yet. I have won a lot of games in 3 moves as black by sacrificing my queen side to whites night. it seems to me that nearly everyone expects white to start with Nf3 , lower rated players usually don't know how to counter anything else because Nf3 is so common.
I'm assuming I understood wrong because that's an automatic win for white.
No the night to h3 is the second move for black, you have to move the f pawn on the first move to block the night
damn
If any of you have played at least twenty games of atomic you'll realize theire are two ways to win. Capturing the king, or checkmate. But have you heard of the THIRD way?
Ok, ok their isn't a third way but this strategy helps alot. I'm a 1601 rating for atomic so many above me will already know this.
But if you are just beginning atomic here is some advice. Get rid of the other people's pieces and protect your own! Of course it is important to focus on capture/checkmate, but a good strategy is to thin out your opponents pieces and keep your own safe, here is an example of a common situation you might find yourself in.
Even though it's not a win for white it gives them a big advantage.