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Chess960

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Fischer random chess
One of 960 possible starting setups. Black's setup always mirrors White's.
Years activeSince June 19, 1996
GenresBoard game
Chess variant
Players2
Setup time~1 min + 1 min to determine starting position
Playing timeCasual games: 10–60 min
Tournament games: from 10 min (fast chess) to >6 h
ChancePieces are randomized
SkillsStrategy, tactics
SynonymsChess960
Fischerandom
New chess

Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960, is a variation of the game of chess invented by the former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer.[1] Fischer announced this variation on June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.[2][3][4] Fischer random chess employs the same board and pieces as classical chess, but the starting position of the pieces on the players' home ranks is randomized, following certain rules. The random setup makes gaining an advantage through the memorization of openings impracticable; players instead must rely more on their skill and creativity over the board.

Randomizing the main pieces had long been known as shuffle chess, but Fischer random chess introduces new rules for the initial random setup, "preserving the dynamic nature of the game by retaining bishops of opposite colours for each player and the right to castle for both sides".[5] The result is 960 unique possible starting positions.

In 2008, FIDE added Chess960 to an appendix of the Laws of Chess.[8] The first world championship officially sanctioned by FIDE, the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019, brought additional prominence to the variant.[9]

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Setup

Before the game, a starting position is randomly determined and set up, subject to certain requirements. White's pieces (not pawns) are placed randomly on the first rank, following two rules:

  1. The bishops must be placed on opposite-color squares.
  2. The king must be placed on a square between the rooks.

Black's pieces are placed equal-and-opposite to White's pieces. (For example, if the white king is randomly determined to start on f1, then the black king is placed on f8.) Pawns are placed on the players' second ranks as in classical chess.

After setup, the game is played the same as classical chess in all respects, with the exception of castling from the different possible starting positions for king and rooks.

Creating starting positions

There are 4 × 4 × 6 × 10 × 1 = 4 × 4 × 15 × 4 × 1 = 960 legal starting positions:

  • 4 possible squares for the light-squared bishop
  • 4 possible squares for the dark-squared bishop
  • 6 remaining squares for the queen and 5! / (3! × 2!) = 5 × 4 / 2 = 10 ways to place the two (identical) knights on the remaining 5 squares
    • or 6! / (4! × 2!) = 5 × 6 / 2 = 15 ways to place the two (identical) knights on the remaining 6 squares and 4 remaining squares for the queen
  • 1 way to place the two rooks and king on the remaining 3 squares, since the king must be between the rooks.

Usually, the players accept the conditions of the organizer to generate the starting position with software, as it was used in the 2019 World Fischer Random Championship.

If the software is not available or the players don't accept it, there are many ways to generate a number in the appropriate range with equal probability; this number is then used as an index to the Fischer Random Chess numbering scheme.

In 1998, Ingo Althöfer proposed a method that requires only a single standard die.[10][11] (Re-roll if needed to get values in the range 1–4 or 1–5).

960 choices can be obtained in several ways by combining polyhedral dice without re-rolling; for example 4×12×20 or 6×8×20 or 8×10×12.[citation needed]

Four tosses of a fair coin give (24=16) possibilities. If bin2dec(1111)=15 then rejecting the result and trying again. Then repeat six tosses (26=64) and convert these ten tosses to decimal (0-959); (based on 210-26 = 26×(24-1) = 64×15 = 960).

Shuffling objects (cards, pieces, pawns, dominoes tiles, scrabble letters) and use the permutations. Ex. Shuffling 14 marked cards a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h, K,Q,R,R,N,N and then they are placed open in the order that they appear randomly, in three different lines,

1. for the black squares (a,c,e,g),
the bishop's position is the first card of this line,

2. for the white squares (b,d,f,h),
the other bishop's position is the first card of this line,

3. for the pieces (K,Q,R,R,N,N),
the remaining pieces are placed in the 6 empty positions as the 6 cards of this line.

If the king must be between the two rooks then he is swapped with the nearest rook.

Castling rules

As in classical chess, each player may castle once per game, moving both the king and a rook in a single move; however, the castling rules were reinterpreted in Fischer random chess to support the different possible initial positions of king and rook. After castling, the final positions of king and rook are exactly the same as in classical chess, namely:

Examples of castling
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black king
e8 black rook
d2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white king
e1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
An example initial position of kings and rooks
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
f8 black rook
g8 black king
d2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
c1 white king
d1 white rook
e1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White has castled a-side (0-0-0) and Black has castled h-side (0-0).
  • After a-side castling (queenside/long castling in classical chess), the king finishes on the c-file and the a-side rook finishes on the d-file. The move is notated 0-0-0 as in classical chess.
  • After h-side castling (kingside/short castling in classical chess), the king finishes on the g-file and the h-side rook finishes on the f-file. The move is notated 0-0 as in classical chess.

Castling prerequisites are the same as in classical chess, namely:

  • The king and the castling rook must not have previously moved.
  • No square from the king's initial square to its final square may be under attack by an enemy piece.
  • All the squares between the king's initial and final squares (including the final square), and all the squares between the castling rook's initial and final squares (including the final square), must be vacant except for the king and castling rook.[12]

FIDE's recommended procedure for castling unambiguously is first to move the king outside the playing area next to its final square, then to move the rook to its final square, then to move the king to its final square. Another recommendation is to verbally announce the intent to castle before doing so.[7]

Observations

  1. In some starting positions, squares can remain occupied during castling that would be required to be vacant under standard rules. Castling a-side (0-0-0) could still be possible despite the home rank a-, b-, or e-file squares being occupied, and similarly for the e- and h-files for h-side castling (0-0). In other positions, it can happen that the king or rook does not move during the castling maneuver since it already occupies its destination square – e.g., an h-side rook that starts on the f-file; in this case, only the king moves. No initial position allows a castling where neither piece moves, as the king must start between the rooks.
  2. Another unusual possibility is for castling to be available as the first move of the game, as happened in the 11th game of the tournament match between Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen, Fischer Random Blitz 2018. The starting position had kings at f1/f8 and h-side rooks at g1/g8. Both players took the opportunity to castle on the first move (1.0-0 0-0).[13]
  3. Unlike in standard chess, there are exactly 90 starting positions where players have to give up castling rights on one side in order to castle on the other side. In just these 90 positions, a rook has to be moved (or captured) on one side in order to castle on the other side. This is seen by calculating that this happens 18 times in each of five possible groups of starting positions namely RKRXXXXX, RKXRXXXX, XRKRXXXX, XXXXXRKR and RXKRXXXX. [14] For example, in the starting position RKRBBNNQ, which is in the first group RKRXXXXX, a player intending to castle a-side must first move the c-file rook (or let it be captured).
    1. The Sesse evaluations [15][16] (which used Stockfish 9) show that white has about, on average, a 7% increased advantage in these 90 positions (Evaluation is 0.1913) compared to the remaining 870 positions (Evaluation is 0.1790). [17]

Theory

abcdefgh
8
a8 black knight
b8 black knight
c8 black rook
d8 black king
e8 black bishop
f8 black rook
g8 black queen
h8 black bishop
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
e7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white knight
b1 white knight
c1 white rook
d1 white king
e1 white bishop
f1 white rook
g1 white queen
h1 white bishop
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
In this starting position, the players' a- and b-pawns are unguarded and subject to immediate attack if either player moves their f- or g-pawns.

The study of openings in Fischer random chess is in its infancy,[18][19][20][21] but fundamental opening principles still apply, including: protect the king, control the central squares (directly or indirectly), and develop rapidly, starting with the less valuable pieces.

Unprotected pawns may also need to be dealt with quickly. Many starting positions have unprotected pawns, and some starting positions have up to two that can be attacked on the first move. For example, in some Fischer random chess starting positions (see diagram), White can attack an unprotected black pawn on the first move, whereas in classical chess it takes two moves for White to attack, and there are no unprotected pawns.

White's advantage

It has been argued that two games should be played from each starting position, with players alternating colors, since the advantage offered to White in some initial positions may be greater than in classical chess.[22]

Indeed, the Sesse evaluations [15][16] (which used Stockfish 9) evaluate the starting positions between 0.00 and 0.57 pawns advantage for White. However, they give an average of around 0.18 and a standard deviation of around 0.0955 but evaluate the standard chess starting position (SP 518) at 0.22. This is a 22.22% difference (between 0.18 and 0.22), over one-fifth of reduction of white's advantage on average.

History

Further information: World Chess960 Championship

Fischer random chess is a variant of shuffle chess, which had been suggested as early as 1792 with games played as early as 1842. [23] [24] [25] Fischer's modification "imposes certain restrictions, arguably an improvement on the anarchy of the fully randomized game in which one player is almost certain to start at an advantage".[26] Fischer started to develop his new version of chess after the 1992 return match with Boris Spassky. The result was the formulation of the rules of Fischer random chess in September 1993, introduced formally to the public on June 19, 1996, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Fischer describes the rules here.

Fischer's goal was to eliminate what he considered the complete dominance of openings preparation in classical chess, replacing it with creativity and talent. In a situation where the starting position was random it would be impossible to fix every move of the game. Since the "opening book" for 960 possible opening systems would be too difficult to devote to memory, the players must create every move originally. From the first move, both players must devise original strategies and cannot use well-established patterns.[27][28] Fischer believed that eliminating memorized book moves would level the playing field.

During the summer of 1993, Bobby Fischer visited László Polgár and his family in Hungary. All of the Polgar sisters (Judit Polgár, Susan Polgar, and Sofia Polgar) played many games of Fischer random chess with Fischer. At one point Sofia beat Fischer three games in a row. Fischer was not pleased when the father, László, showed Fischer an old chess book that described what appeared to be a forerunner of Fischer random chess. The book was written by Izidor Gross and published in 1910. Fischer then changed the rules of his variation in order to make it different.[29][30]

Tournaments

  • 1996 – The first Fischer random chess tournament was held in Vojvodina, Yugoslavia, in the spring of 1996, and was won by International Grandmaster (GM) Péter Lékó with 9½/11, ahead of GM Stanimir Nikolić with 9 points.[31]
  • 2006–present – The first Fischer Random Championships of the Netherlands was held by Fischer Z chess club and has since been held annually. GM Dimitri Reinderman has won this title for three years, champion in 2010, 2014, and 2015. Two grandmasters have won the title twice, GM Yasser Seirawan and Dutch GM Dennis de Vreugt.[32][33]
  • 2010 – In 2010 the US Chess Federation sponsored its first Chess960 tournament, at the Jerry Hanken Memorial US Open tournament in Irvine, California. This one-day event, directed by Damian Nash, saw a first-place tie between GM Larry Kaufman and FM Mark Duckworth.[34]
  • 2012 – The British Chess960 Championship was held at the Mind Sports Olympiad, won by Ankush Khandelwal.[35]
  • 2018 – The first edition of the European Fischer Random Cup was held in Reykjavik on March 9, 2018, on Fischer's 75th birthday. It was won by Aleksandr Lenderman.[36]
  • 2019 – The Icelandic Chess Federation organized the European Fischer Random Championship on the rest day of 34th edition of The GAMMA Reykjavik Open on April 12, 2019. The tournament was won by the then 15-year-old Iranian prodigy Alireza Firouzja, a full point ahead of US's Andrew Tang, who was second on tiebreaks.[37][38]
  • 2019 – The FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019 started on April 28, 2019, with the first qualifying tournaments, which took place online and were open to all interested participants. After several rounds, finalists Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen played for the crown. The inaugural official FRC Champion was Wesley So.[39][40]

Mainz Championships

Note: None of the Mainz championships were recognized by FIDE. Furthermore, they were all played with rapid time controls.

  • 2001 – In 2001, Lékó became the first Fischer random chess world champion, defeating GM Michael Adams in an eight-game match played as part of the Mainz Chess Classic. There were no qualifying matches (also true of the first classical chess world chess champion titleholders), but both players were in the top five in the January 2001 world rankings for classical chess. Lékó was chosen because of the many novelties he has introduced to known chess theories, as well as his previous tournament win; in addition, Lékó has supposedly played Fischer random chess games with Fischer himself. Adams was chosen because he was the world number one in blitz (rapid) chess and is regarded as an extremely strong player in unfamiliar positions. The match was won by a narrow margin, 4½ to 3½.[41]
  • 2002 – In 2002 at Mainz, an open tournament was held which was attended by 131 players, with Peter Svidler taking first place. Fischer random chess was selected as the April 2002 "Recognized Variant of the Month" by The Chess Variant Pages (ChessVariants.org). The book Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess? was published in 2002, authored by Yugoslavian GM Svetozar Gligorić.
  • 2003 – At the 2003 Mainz Chess Classic, Svidler beat Lékó in an eight-game match for the World Championship title by a score of 4½–3½. The Chess960 open tournament drew 179 players, including 50 GMs. It was won by Levon Aronian, the 2002 World Junior Champion. Svidler is the official first World New Chess Association (WNCA) world champion inaugurated on August 14, 2003, with Jens Beutel, Mayor of Mainz as the President and Hans-Walter Schmitt, Chess Classic organiser as Secretary.[42][43] The WNCA maintains an own dedicated Chess960 rating list.[44]
  • 2004 – Aronian played Svidler for the title at the 2004 Mainz Chess Classic, losing 4½–3½. At the same tournament in 2004, Aronian played two Chess960 games against the Dutch computer chess program The Baron, developed by Richard Pijl. Both games ended in a draw. It was the first ever man against machine match in Chess960. Zoltán Almási won the Chess960 open tournament in 2004.
The four programs Deep Sjeng, Shredder, Rybka, and Ikarus (with the programmers) at the 5th Livingston Chess960 Computer World Championship, Mainz 2009
  • 2005 – Almási and Svidler played an eight-game match at the 2005 Mainz Chess Classic. Once again, Svidler defended his title, winning 5–3. Levon Aronian won the Chess960 open tournament in 2005. During the Chess Classic 2005 in Mainz, initiated by Mark Vogelgesang and Eric van Reem, the first-ever Chess960 computer chess world championship was played.[45] Nineteen programs, including the powerful Shredder, played in this tournament. As a result of this tournament, Spike became the first Chess960 computer world champion.
  • 2006 – The 2006 Mainz Chess Classic saw Svidler defending his championship in a rematch against Levon Aronian. This time, Aronian won the match 5–3 to become the third ever Fischer random chess world champion. Étienne Bacrot won the Chess960 open tournament, earning him a title match against Aronian in 2007. Three new Chess960 world championship matches were held, in the women, junior and senior categories. In the women category, Alexandra Kosteniuk became the first Chess960 Women World Champion by beating Elisabeth Pähtz 5½ to 2½. The 2006 Senior Chess960 World Champion was Vlastimil Hort, and the 2006 Junior Chess960 World Champion was Pentala Harikrishna. Shredder won the computer championship, making it Chess960 computer world champion 2006.
  • 2007 – In 2007 Mainz Chess Classic Aronian successfully defended his title of Chess960 World Champion over Viswanathan Anand, while Victor Bologan won the Chess960 open tournament. Rybka won the 2007 computer championship.
  • 2008 – Hikaru Nakamura won the 2008 Finet Chess960 Open (Mainz).
  • 2009 – The last Mainz tournament was held in 2009.[46] Hikaru Nakamura won the Chess960 World Championship against Aronian,[47] while Alexander Grischuk won the Chess960 open tournament.
Summary of Mainz Winners[48]
Year Championship Open Women's Championship Computer Championship
2001 Péter Lékó (4½–3½ vs. Michael Adams)
2002 Peter Svidler
2003 Peter Svidler (4½–3½ vs. Péter Lékó) Levon Aronian
2004 Peter Svidler (4½–3½ vs. Levon Aronian) Zoltán Almási
2005 Peter Svidler (5–3 vs. Zoltán Almási) Levon Aronian Spike
2006 Levon Aronian (5–3 vs. Peter Svidler) Étienne Bacrot Alexandra Kosteniuk (5½–2½ vs. Elisabeth Pähtz) Shredder
2007 Levon Aronian (2–2, 1½–½ vs. Viswanathan Anand) Victor Bologan Rybka
2008 Hikaru Nakamura Alexandra Kosteniuk (2½–1½ vs. Kateryna Lahno) Rybka
2009 Hikaru Nakamura (3½–½ vs. Levon Aronian) Alexander Grischuk Rybka

Computers

In 2005, chess program The Baron played two Fischer random chess games against Chess960 World Champion Peter Svidler, who won 1½–½. The chess program Shredder, developed by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen of Germany, played two games against Zoltán Almási from Hungary, where Shredder won 2–0.

Matches

From February 9 to 13, 2018, a Fischer random chess match between reigning classical World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and the unofficial Fischer random chess world champion Hikaru Nakamura was held in Høvikodden, Norway. The match consisted of 8 rapid and 8 blitz games, with the rapid games counting double. Each position was used in two games, with colors reversed. Carlsen prevailed with a score of 14–10.[49][50]

From September 11 to 14, 2018, the Saint Louis Chess Club held a Fischer random chess event.[51] The playing format included five individual matches, each pair of players facing the same five different starting positions, with 6 rapid games (counting 2 points each) and 14 blitz games (counting 1 point each). The players and scores: Veselin Topalov (14½–11½) defeated Garry Kasparov; Hikaru Nakamura (14–12) defeated Peter Svidler; Wesley So (14½–11½) defeated Anish Giri; Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (17½–8½) defeated Sam Shankland; Levon Aronian (17½–8½) defeated Leinier Dominguez.[52]

World Championship

Main article: FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship 2019

The first world championship in Fischer random chess officially recognized by FIDE were announced April 20, 2019, and ended on November 2, 2019. Wesley So defeated Magnus Carlsen 13½–2½ in the last round, and became the first world champion in Fischer random chess.

During the announcement FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich commented:

It is an unprecedented move that the International Chess Federation recognizes a new variety of chess, so this was a decision that required to be carefully thought out. But we believe that Fischer Random is a positive innovation: It injects new energies and enthusiasm into our game, but at the same time it doesn't mean a rupture with our classical chess and its tradition. It is probably for this reason that Fischer Random chess has won the favor of the chess community, including the top players and the world champion himself. FIDE couldn't be oblivious to that: It was time to embrace and incorporate this modality of chess.[53]

Naming

Hans-Walter Schmitt, Frankfurt 2011

The variant has held a number of different names. It was originally known as "Fischerandom", the name given by Fischer. Fischer random chess is the official term, used by FIDE.

Hans-Walter Schmitt, chairman of the Frankfurt Chess Tigers e.V. and an advocate of the variant, started a brainstorming process for creating a new name, which had to meet the requirements of leading grandmasters; specifically, the new name and its parts:

  • should not contain part of the name of any grandmaster;
  • should not include negatively biased or "spongy" elements (such as "random" or "freestyle"); and
  • should be universally understood.

The effort culminated in the name choice "Chess960" – derived from the number of different possible starting positions.[citation needed] Fischer never publicly expressed an opinion on the name "Chess960".

Reinhard Scharnagl, another proponent of the variant, advocated the term "FullChess". Today he uses FullChess, however, to refer to variants which consistently embed classical chess (e.g. Chess960 and similar variants). He recommends the name Chess960 for the variant in preference to Fischer random chess.

Coding games and positions

Main article: Fischer random chess numbering scheme

Recorded games must convey the Fischer random chess starting position. Games recorded using the Portable Game Notation (PGN) can record the initial position using Forsyth–Edwards Notation (FEN), as the value of the "FEN" tag. Castling is notated the same as in classical chess (except PGN requires letter O not number 0). Note that not all chess programs can handle castling correctly in Fischer random chess games. To correctly record a Fischer random chess game in PGN, an additional "Variant" tag (not "Variation" tag, which has a different meaning) must be used to identify the rules; the rule named "Fischerandom" is accepted by many chess programs as identifying Fischer random chess, though "Chess960" should be accepted as well. This means that in a PGN-recorded game, one of the PGN tags (after the initial seven tags) would look like this: [Variant "Fischerandom"].

FEN is capable of expressing all possible starting positions of Fischer random chess; however, unmodified FEN cannot express all possible positions of a Chess960 game. In a game, a rook may move into the back row on the same side of the king as the other rook, or pawn(s) may be underpromoted into rook(s) and moved into the back row. If a rook is unmoved and can still castle, yet there is more than one rook on that side, FEN notation as traditionally interpreted is ambiguous. This is because FEN records that castling is possible on that side, but not which rook is still allowed to castle.

A modification of FEN, X-FEN, has been devised by Reinhard Scharnagl to remove this ambiguity. In X-FEN, the castling markings "KQkq" have their expected meanings: "Q" and "q" mean a-side castling is still legal (for White and Black respectively), and "K" and "k" mean h-side castling is still legal (for White and Black respectively). However, if there is more than one rook on the baseline on the same side of the king, and the rook that can castle is not the outermost rook on that side, then the file letter (uppercase for White) of the rook that can castle is used instead of "K", "k", "Q", or "q"; in X-FEN notation, castling potentials belong to the outermost rooks by default. The maximum length of the castling value is still four characters. X-FEN is upwardly compatible with FEN, that is, a program supporting X-FEN will automatically use the normal FEN codes for a traditional chess starting position without requiring any special programming. As a benefit all 18 pseudo FRC positions (positions with traditional placements of rooks and king) still remain uniquely encoded.

The solution implemented by chess engines like Shredder and Fritz is to use the letters of the columns on which the rooks began the game. This scheme is sometimes called Shredder-FEN. For the traditional setup, Shredder-FEN would use HAha instead of KQkq.

Views of grandmasters

Fischer's proposed "new chess" has elicited various comments from grandmasters.

  • "I think in general the future of classical chess as it is now is a little bit dubious. I would love to see more Fischer [Random] Chess being played over-the-board in a classical format. That would be very interesting to me, because I feel that that particular format is pretty well suited to classical chess as basically you need a lot of time in order to be able to play the game even remotely decently. And you can see that in the way that Fischer [Random] Chess is being played now when it is played in a rapid format. The quality of the games isn't very high because we make such fundamental mistakes in the opening. We don't understand it nearly enough and I think that would increase a lot if we were given a classical time control there. So I would definitely hope for that." — Magnus Carlsen,[54] November 2020
  • "Of course, if people do not want to do any work then it is better to start the game from a random position." — Garry Kasparov,[55] December 2001
  • "Random chess lets me enjoy myself and get publicity for chess without having to disrupt my life for months of preparation." — Garry Kasparov,[56] August 2018
  • "I think we're making theory or even making history because we're opening not even a new chapter but basically a new book on the game of chess. That's why I think all players are excited." — Garry Kasparov,[57] September 2018
  • "To me, mainly chess is art — that's why I like Fischer Random a lot; there is a lot of creativity." — Wesley So,[58] November 2019
  • "My favorite form of chess is actually chess960. Because there's not much theory, not much preparation, it's very original. With the traditional format, the engines are just getting super strong, and it feels like you have to memorize the first 20-25 moves just to get a game. Bobby Fischer once said that the problem with chess is that you get the same exact starting position over and over. These days, there's 10 million games in the database already, so it's very hard to create original play, while chess960 is really your brain against mine. After the first or second move, you're already thinking." — Wesley So,[59] April 2019
  • "I have to say that I love Chess960! I like to be creative and I really enjoy the Chess960 events in Mainz." — Alexandra Kosteniuk,[60] August 2010
  • "I don't see any drawbacks in Fischer Random chess. The only slight shortcoming is the start position, otherwise there are just advantages. That's why I support it in full. If all the chess professionals played Fischer Random, our game could have been much more popular." — Alexander Grischuk,[61] March 2018 [translated from Russian]
  • "Chess is already complicated enough." — Vassily Ivanchuk[62]
  • "It’s a game I really love and I see it as the future of chess." — Levon Aronian,[63] July 2011
  • "I think chess960 is great as it is simply pure intuition and understanding without theory or computers." — Hikaru Nakamura,[64] February 2014
  • "Personally, It is refreshing to watch the Chess960 match between Carlsen and Nakamura. As a chess player and a fan, this is an exciting change. Could this be the future?" — Vidit Gujrathi,[65] February 2018
  • "No more theory means more creativity." — Artur Yusupov[66]
  • "[...] the play is much improved over traditional chess because you don't need to analyze or memorize any book openings. Therefore, your play becomes truly creative and real." — Svetozar Gligorić[67]
  • "Finally, one is no longer obliged to spend the whole night long troubling oneself with the next opponent's opening moves. The best preparation consists just of sleeping well!" — Péter Lékó[62]
  • "I tried many different starting positions and all these were somehow very unharmonious. And this is not surprising as in many of these positions there is immediate forced play: the pieces are placed so badly at the start that there is a need to improve their positions in one way only, which decreases the number of choices." — Vladimir Kramnik[55] [translated from Russian]
  • "Fischer Random is an interesting format, but it has its drawbacks. In particular, the nontraditional starting positions make it difficult for many amateurs to enjoy the game until more familiar positions are achieved. The same is true for world-class players, as many have confessed to me privately. Finally, it also seems to lack an aesthetic quality found in traditional chess, which makes it less appealing for both players and viewers, even if it does occasionally result in an exciting game." — Vladimir Kramnik[68]
Lékó vs. Adams, 2001
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black king
c8 black bishop
d8 black rook
e8 black knight
f8 black bishop
g8 black queen
h8 black knight
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
e7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white king
c1 white bishop
d1 white rook
e1 white knight
f1 white bishop
g1 white queen
h1 white knight
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Starting position, game 4
  • "Both players have bad positions." — Helmut Pfleger,[69] commentating on Lékó–Adams, Mainz 2001, game 4
  • "The changes in chess concern the perfection of computers and the breakthrough of high technology. Under this influence the game is losing its charm and reducing more and more the number of creative players. [...] I am a great advocate of Fischer's idea of completely changing the rules of chess, of creating a practically new game. It is the only way out, because then there would be no previous experience on which a machine could be programmed, at least until this new chess itself becomes exhausted. Fischer is a genius and I believe that his project would save the game." — Ljubomir Ljubojević[70]
  • "In my opinion, we should start moving towards Chess960, just like we started to generate energy with renewable energy sources a while ago. If we start now, then by the time it reaches a crisis point, we will have a viable alternative ready." — Srinath Narayanan,[71] August 2017

Comments by Fischer

  • "Teach people to play new chess, right away. Why do you offer them a black and white television set, when there is a set in color?" — Fischer,[72] in the only meeting with FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, responding to the latter advocating "step by step" changes mindful of the heritage of chess
  • "I don't know when, but I think we are approaching that [the end of chess] very rapidly. I think we need a change in the rules of chess. For example, I think it would be a good idea to shuffle the first row of the pieces by computer ... and this way you will get rid of all the theory. One reason that computers are strong in chess is that they have access to enormous theory [...] I think if you can turn off the computer's book, which I've done when I've played the computer, they are still rather weak, at least at the opening part of the game, so I think this would be a good improvement, and also just for humans. It is much better, I think, because chess is becoming more and more simply memorization, because the power of memorization is so tremendous in chess now. Theory is so advanced, it used to be theory to maybe 10 or 15 moves, 18 moves; now, theory is going to 30 moves, 40 moves. I think I saw one game in Informator, the Yugoslav chess publication, where they give an N [theoretical novelty] to a new move, and I recall this new move was around move 50. [...] I think it is true, we are coming to the end of the history of chess with the present rules, but I don't say we have to do away with the present rules. I mean, people can still play, but I think it's time for those who want to start playing on new rules that I think are better." — Fischer (September 1, 1992)[73]

Similar variants

There are several variants based on randomization of the initial setup. "Randomized Chess, in one or other of its many reincarnations, continues to attract support even, or perhaps especially, that of top players."[74]

Summary
Variant Positions White - Black mirror Bishops opposite color King between rooks Castling
Transcendental chess (or TC) 2880*2880 - Yes - No
Chess960*960 960*960 - Yes Yes Yes
Shuffle chess 5040 Yes - - Depends
Chess2880 2880 Yes Yes - Yes

Remarks

Shuffle chess

The castling is not possible in any case or is possible only when king and rook are on their traditional starting squares.

Chess2880

The castling is possible as follows:

After castling with the nearest rook to the column:

  • "h", the king will be in column "g" and the rook will be in column "f".
  • "a", the king will be in column "c" and the rook will be in column "d".

Chess480

+Examples of Chess480 castling
abcdefgh
8
c8 black rook
f8 black king
h8 black rook
h2 white pawn
c1 white rook
f1 white king
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
An initial position of kings and rooks
abcdefgh
8
d8 black king
e8 black rook
h8 black rook
h2 white pawn
c1 white rook
g1 white rook
h1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White has castled h-side (0-0) and Black has castled a-side (0-0-0).

In "Castling in Chess960: An appeal for simplicity", John Kipling Lewis proposes alternative castling rules which Lewis has named "Orthodoxed Castling".[75]

The preconditions for castling are the same as in Chess960, but when castling,

[...] the king is transferred from its original square two squares towards (or over) the rook, then that rook is transferred to the square the king has just crossed (if it is not already there). If the king and rook are adjacent in a corner and the king cannot move two spaces over the rook, then the king and rook exchange squares.

Unlike Fischer random chess, the final position after castling in Chess480 will usually not be the same as the final position of a castling move in traditional chess. Lewis argues that this alternative better conforms to how the castling move was historically developed.

Lewis has named this chess variation "Chess480"; it follows the rules of Chess960 with the exception of the castling rules. Although a Chess480 game can start with any of 960 starting positions, the castling rules are symmetrical (whereas the Chess960 castling rules are not), so that mirror-image positions have identical strategies; thus there are only 480 effectively different positions. The number of starting positions could be reduced to 480 without losing any possibilities, for example by requiring the white king to start on a light (or dark) square.

There are other claims to the nomenclature "Chess480"; Reinhard Scharnagl defines it as the white queen is always to the left of the white king.

David O'Shaughnessy argues in "Castling in Chess480: An appeal for sanity"[76] that the Chess480 rules are often not useful from a gameplay perspective. In about 66% of starting positions, players have the options of castling deeper into the wing the king started on, or castling into the center of the board (when the king starts on the b-, c-, f-, or g-files). From Wikipedia article Castling: "Castling is an important goal in the early part of a game, because it serves two valuable purposes: it moves the king into a safer position away from the center of the board, and it moves the rook to a more active position in the center of the board." An example of poor castling options is a position where the kings start on g1 and g8 respectively. There will be no possibility of "opposite-side castling" where each player's pawns are free to be used in pawn storms, as the kings' scope for movement is very restricted (it can only move to the h- or e-file). These "problem positions" play well with Chess960 castling rules.

Non-random setups

The initial setup need not necessarily be random. The players or a tournament setting may decide on a specific position in advance, for example. Tournament Directors prefer that all boards in a single round play the same random position, as to maintain order and abbreviate the setup time for each round.

Edward Northam suggests the following approach for allowing players to jointly create a position without randomizing tools:[citation needed] First, the back ranks are cleared of pieces, and the white bishops, knights, and queen are gathered together. Starting with Black, the players, in turn, place one of these pieces on White's back rank, where it must stay. The only restriction is that the bishops must go on opposite-color squares. There will be a vacant square of the required color for the second bishop, no matter where the previous pieces have been placed. Some variety could be introduced into this process by allowing each player to exercise a one-time option of moving a piece already on the board instead of putting a new piece on the board. After all five pieces have been put on the board, the king must be placed on the middle of the three vacant back rank squares that remain. Rooks go on the other two.

This approach to the opening setup has much in common with Pre-Chess, the variant in which White and Black, alternately and independently, fill in their respective back ranks.[77] Pre-Chess could be played with the additional requirement of ending up with a legal Fischer random chess opening position. A chess clock could even be used during this phase as well as during normal play.

Without some limitation on which pieces go on the board first, it is possible to reach impasse positions, which cannot be completed to legal Fischer random chess starting positions. Example: Q.RB.N.N If the players want to work with all eight pieces, they must have a prior agreement about how to correct illegal opening positions that may arise. If the bishops end up on same color squares, a simple action, such as moving the a-side bishop one square toward the h-file, might be agreeable, since there is no question of preserving randomness. Once the bishops are on opposite-color squares, if the king is not between the rooks, it should trade places with the nearest rook.

References

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Bibliography

Further reading

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