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• Fischerandom Chess, often called Chess960, is a variation of chess in which the pieces on the back row are arranged randomly at the start of each game. The White pieces start with each piece facing the equivalent Black piece on its column: the Kings start on the same column, the Queens are on the same column, and so on. Players may roll a die, use an online position generator, or use their own discretion to set up the pieces randomly.

• Fast Facts

  1. Proposed by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer in 1996 to avoid the increasingly deep memorization of chess openings
  2. Materials required: A chess set and two opponents
  3. There are 960 possible starting configurations; the traditional start position (RNBQKBNR) is one of the 960
  4. Other than setup and castling, all standard chess rules apply
  5. A book about Fischer and the game, entitled Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess? was written by GM Svetozar Gligoric in 2002
  6. Related to: Shuffle Chess and Prechess

• Setup

  1. The White pieces are usually arranged first
  2. The row of Pawns is the same as in the traditional start position, all Pawns on a player's second row
  3. The Bishops start on opposite colors
  4. The Rooks are placed at least one square apart
  5. The King is placed anywhere between the two Rooks
  6. The Queen and Knights are placed randomly
  7. The Black pieces are arranged equal and opposite to the White pieces

• Castling

  1. After castling, the King and Rook end on the same squares as after castling in traditional chess
  2. Neither the King nor the castling Rook can have moved, so castling is possible for each side only once in a game
  3. No piece can be captured during castling
  4. No piece of either color can stand between the King and the castling Rook
  5. Castling is not allowed if the King is under attack ('in check'), if it moves through an attacked square, or if it ends on an attacked square
  6. In some positions castling is possible on the first move; in traditional chess, it is possible no earlier than the fourth move
  7. In some positions only the King or the Rook actually moves, because the other piece is already on its target square
  8. Castling to the a-side is written O-O-O (Queenside castling in traditional chess); castling to the h-side is written O-O (Kingside castling in traditional chess)

• To Get a Random Position Using a Die

  1. Work on the back rank, roll a die for each piece to be placed randomly, and reroll if the number is too high (like greater than four for a Bishop)
  2. Place one Bishop at random on the four light squares, then place the other Bishop at random on the four dark squares
  3. Place the Queen and Knights at random on the six empty squares
  4. Place the King and Rooks on the three empty squares so that the King is between the two Rooks

• Related Mahalo Pages

  Chess | How to Play Chess | Bobby Fischer

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