03-26-2020, 10:31 PM
Thought I might as well start a thread about this chess variant that's received quite a bit of attention in recent years .
"Chess960" (or "Fischer Random Chess") is a version of chess which was invented by former chess world champion Bobby Fischer in 1996. It's played on a standard chess board, with the standard chess pieces (all with their usual moves)... the only difference being that the pieces on the back rank have been randomly shuffled, according to the following constraints:
This gives a total of 960 possible starting configurations (hence the name ). The idea behind this variant is that it renders the vast majority of opening theory obsolete - so, players need to rely on their their understanding of opening principles at the beginning of the game, instead of a memorised sequence of opening moves. This does bring more creativity to the opening phase of the game - although, one drawback is that some of the 960 possible opening positions are pretty disorganised and messy, which can lead to less interesting play.
Anyway, if you've never tried this, Chess.com does have a a Chess960 game, which will generate a random starting position, and then set you up with a game against a computer .
So, have you ever played it yourself - and, if so, what do you think of it?
"Chess960" (or "Fischer Random Chess") is a version of chess which was invented by former chess world champion Bobby Fischer in 1996. It's played on a standard chess board, with the standard chess pieces (all with their usual moves)... the only difference being that the pieces on the back rank have been randomly shuffled, according to the following constraints:
- The two bishops need to start on opposite-coloured squares;
- The king still needs to be between the two rooks (so that it can still castle in both directions);
- The starting position is still symmetrical (so, for example, if the white Queen and King are on a1 and c1, then the black Queen and King are on a8 and c8 respectively).
This gives a total of 960 possible starting configurations (hence the name ). The idea behind this variant is that it renders the vast majority of opening theory obsolete - so, players need to rely on their their understanding of opening principles at the beginning of the game, instead of a memorised sequence of opening moves. This does bring more creativity to the opening phase of the game - although, one drawback is that some of the 960 possible opening positions are pretty disorganised and messy, which can lead to less interesting play.
Anyway, if you've never tried this, Chess.com does have a a Chess960 game, which will generate a random starting position, and then set you up with a game against a computer .
So, have you ever played it yourself - and, if so, what do you think of it?
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