Good luck! ^^
A 286 absolutely flies with 4MB of RAM.
That was what I had in the 90s, also, because of my dad.
He was working in the computing business and installed four 1MB SIMMs in my 286.
Windows 3.10 absolutely flew with it.
I had a Mustek handy scanner, CD-ROM/PAS16 and a HP Laserjet Plus.
And a radio-controlled clock (dcf77 receiver), connected to a serial port.
It was a nice little multimedia PC that was complying to the original MPC-Level 1 specifications (they got revised; 386SX minimum).
Windows 3.x will also try to use memory that's directly below 1MB.
So if you've got an UMB card, you can leverage the available RAM.
It's just that 640KB itself is very little RAM.
Any bit if extra RAM is welcome when it comes to PC/GEOS, GEM or Windows.
So if you can get your hands on a EMS board, it would be great.
While it still wouldn't make Windows 3.x run Standard-Mode, you could atleast run larger programs and bigger data.
Like wallpapers in Win 3.0 or big drawings in AutoSketch/AutoCAD.
Sometimes, ISA RAM boards do pop up on eBay.
Like that BoccaRAM board, AST Ramepage, Intel Aboveboard etc.
However, they may be a bit costly.
If performance isn't on your priority, you can consider getting the 1MB RAM card / 2MB EMS card from Lo-Tech.
They aren't dirt cheap, but not expensive either. Afaik, they are less costly than the classic RAM boards from back then.
These two boards are also being made by other companies by now.
These work just fine in ATs, but are perhaps slowing down the system a bit due to the use of an 8-Bit bus.
That being said, many "real" EMS cards did use 8-Bit transfers, too.
And EMS itself is decoupled from the main memory of a PC, anyway.
The EMS board is accessed only if needed by an EMS-aware application, so the card is only being used if such an application is running.
Otherwise, the EMS board is inactive/standby.
PS: Gnuchess and Lander 3 do run in Win3 RM.
I remember, because they were shown in old videos of mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRPCGWGSqD4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-gXfHpedtY
Here's also a bit of Windows 2.x gaming:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ZGO7xLqMo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nicc1HXgyQQ
You find most of these programs at Toasty Tech site.
Simply check his Graphical User Interface Gallery.
"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel
//My video channel//