Chess960
Sign in to saveAlso known as Fischer Random Chess, Fischerandom Chess, FullChess, FR Chess, Chess 9LX, FRC, New Chess
Chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess, is a chess variant that randomizes the starting position of the pieces on the back rank. It was introduced by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1996 to reduce the emphasis on opening preparation and to encourage creativity in play. Chess960 uses the same board and pieces as classical chess, but the starting position of the pieces on the players' is randomized, following certain rules. The random setup makes gaining an advantage through the memorization of openings unfeasible. Players instead must rely on their skill and creativity.
Key facts
- Game.title
- Chess960
- Game.image_size
- 260px
- Game.image_caption
- One of 960 possible starting setups. Black's setup always mirrors White's.
- Game.years
- Since June 19, 1996
- Game.players
- 2
- Game.setup_time
- ≈1 min + 1 min to determine starting position
- Game.playing_time
- Casual games: 10–60 minTournament games: from 10 min (fast chess) to 6 hours
- Game.random_chance
- Pieces are randomized
- Game.skills
- Strategy, tactics
- Game.AKA
- Fischer Random Chess
- Game.italic title
- no
via Wikipedia infobox
~35 min read
Encyclopedic overview
24 sectionsContents
- Rules
- Setup
- Castling rules
- History
- Van Zuylen van Nijevelt's early contributions
- Development and further evolution
- Fischer's influence and popularization
- Naming
- Theory
- White's advantage
- Tournaments
- First tournaments
- Mainz Championships
- Computers
- Miscellaneous matches
- Saint Louis Chess Club's Champions Showdown: Chess 9LX
- FIDE World Championships 2019 and 2022
- Freestyle Chess
- FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship
- Coding games and positions
- Similar variants
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess, is a chess variant that randomizes the starting position of the pieces on the back rank. It was introduced by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1996 to reduce the emphasis on opening preparation and to encourage creativity in play. Chess960 uses the same board and pieces as classical chess, but the starting position of the pieces on the players' is randomized, following certain rules. The random setup makes gaining an advantage through the memorization of openings unfeasible. Players instead must rely on their skill and creativity.
Randomizing the main pieces had long been known as shuffle chess, but Fischer introduced new rules for the initial random setup, "preserving the dynamic nature of the game by retaining for each player and the right to castle for both sides". The result is 960 distinct possible starting positions.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Chess960” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.