Solved Openings in Losing Chess

Losing Chess is a chess variant where each player tries to lose all one’s pieces. As the naming of “Giveaway” variants has multiple schools of terminology, we state for definiteness that captures are compulsory (a player with multiple captures chooses which to make), a King can be captured like any other piece, Pawns can promote to Kings, and castling is not legal. There are competing rulesets for stalemate: International Rules give the win to the player on move, while FICS (Free Internet Chess Server) Rules gives the win to the player with fewer pieces (and a draw if equal). Gameplay under these rulesets is typically quite similar.1 Unless otherwise stated, we consider the “joint” FICS/International Rules, where a stalemate is a draw unless it is won under both rulesets.