well then that makes sense, previous comment rescinded

Another common way to handicap is for the stronger player to give odds of a piece, anything from a Knight, Bishop, Rook, or Queen. This is actually more fair to the weaker player than some time taken off of the stronger player's clock. This method does not work as well as it does in Go though where the weaker player starts with stones already on the board. Handicap Go is smoother than Chess when odds are given in that manner.