Is it unfair if it amplifies the inherent advantage one player already has? More to the point, is it desirable for it to amplify advantages in this way?
Also, I think there are real differences between the skills required to play well, to evaluate positions accurately, and to design an interesting and balanced opening position. There's certainly some overlap, but it's also quite possible to be noticeably better or worse at one of those things than the others. I could perhaps make a better guess at the material value of many fairy pieces than some chess grandmasters could; that wouldn't imply I could beat them with those pieces.
On a related note, if there is a particular piece that I'm very good at using and that my opponent is not so good at using, I can give myself an advantage by giving that pieces to BOTH sides. If I were playing against a chess grandmaster, I certainly wouldn't give both sides FIDE pieces. In fact, I would be tempted to give one side FIDE pieces, and then deliberately make the other side stronger, in the hope that my opponent will just choose the familiar pieces that he knows how to use.
The whole pie-cutting problem just becomes a whole lot messier once the question of skill comes up.
Is it unfair if it amplifies the inherent advantage one player already has? More to the point, is it desirable for it to amplify advantages in this way?
Also, I think there are real differences between the skills required to play well, to evaluate positions accurately, and to design an interesting and balanced opening position. There's certainly some overlap, but it's also quite possible to be noticeably better or worse at one of those things than the others. I could perhaps make a better guess at the material value of many fairy pieces than some chess grandmasters could; that wouldn't imply I could beat them with those pieces.
On a related note, if there is a particular piece that I'm very good at using and that my opponent is not so good at using, I can give myself an advantage by giving that pieces to BOTH sides. If I were playing against a chess grandmaster, I certainly wouldn't give both sides FIDE pieces. In fact, I would be tempted to give one side FIDE pieces, and then deliberately make the other side stronger, in the hope that my opponent will just choose the familiar pieces that he knows how to use.
The whole pie-cutting problem just becomes a whole lot messier once the question of skill comes up.