Huh it's funny, in fencing that also works to a certain degree.

You can score points against e.g. national team members who've been 5-0'ing the rest of the pool by doing weird cheap tricks. You won't win though, because after one or two points they will adjust and then wreck you.

And on the flip side, if you're decently rated (B ~ A ish) and are used to just standard fencing, if you run into someone who's U ~ E and does something weird like literally not move their feet, it can take you a couple touches to readjust to someone who doesn't behave normally.

Unlike chess though, in fencing the unconventional stuff only works for a couple points. You can't stretch that into a victory, because after each point everything resets.

Maybe that's why pentathlon (single touch victory) fencing is so weird.