FISCHERANDOM CHESS: Chess960 Random Position Generator

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position # random

FEN: qrknbbrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QRKNBBRN w KQkq -

How to Use This Page

This page is used for generating a random position to play Fischerandom Chess. Every time you reload this page, or press the new position button, a different position will appear. Just set up a chessboard based on the diagram above, find an opponent, and have fun.

Quick Rules for Fischerandom Chess

Fischerandom Chess is played with a normal chess board and pieces. All rules of Orthodox Chess apply except as otherwise noted.
The initial configuration of the chess pieces is determined randomly for White, and the black pieces are placed equal and opposite the white pieces. The piece placement is subject to the constraints:

the king is placed somewhere between the two rooks, and
the bishops are on opposite colors.
pawns are placed on each player's second rank as in Orthodox Chess.
There are 960 such configurations.
Castling, as in Orthodox chess, is an exceptional move involving both the King and Rook. Castling is a valid move under these circumstances:

Neither King nor Rook has moved.
The King is not in check before or after castling.
All squares between the castling King's initial and final squares (including the final square), and all of the squares between the castling Rook's initial and final squares (including the final square), must be vacant except for the King and Rook.
No square through which the King moves is under enemy attack.
The movement of the King and Rook during castling should be easily understood by players of Orthodox Chess:

When castling on the h-side (White's right side), the King ends on g1 (g8), and the rook on f1 (f8), just like the O-O move in Orthodox chess.
When castling on the a-side (White's left side), the King ends on c1 (c8), and the rook on d1 (d8), just like the O-O-O move in Orthodox chess.
Sometimes the King will not need to move; sometimes the Rook will not need to move. That's OK.

The object is to checkmate the opponent's King. Have fun!

Audio file of Bobby Fischer explaining Fischerandom

fischerandom.mp3 (MP3 format)

< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 27 OF 52 · Later Kibitzing>
Jun-26-05		acirce: I put my suggested solution in my profile so not to spoil it for others in case I'm correct. Nice puzzle. The Grasshopper was Dawson's invention right?

Jun-26-05		Montreal1666: <soberknight:> You are aware that the same thing exists for the regular chess.

Jun-30-05		soberknight: <acirce> Yes and Yes.. <Montreal1666> Yes.

Jul-02-05		peanut: <TheAlchemist: <everybody> I would really like to see Fischer play FRC and then the position no. 54 is drawn. Take a look at it! Lol. Imagine his face when it's set up!> lol

Jul-03-05		Montreal1666: <TheAlchemist:> <I would really like to see Fischer play FRC and then the position no. 54 is drawn. Take a look at it! Lol. Imagine his face when it's set up!> That's what someone was talking about. "Fischer Random" is actually Chess959 and not Chess960.

Jul-03-05		farrooj: But he would still play it no?

Jul-03-05		Montreal1666: No. "Fischer Random" does not include the conventional chess position. That's the whole idea. i.e. "Fischer Random" = (Chess960) - 1

Jul-03-05		farrooj: oh... But chess960 sounds a way lot cooler no ? chessssssssssniiiiiiinesixtyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Jul-03-05		farrooj: for an announcer of course...

Jul-03-05		Montreal1666: You are right. That's probably why they call it Chess960 and not chess959!

Jul-03-05		farrooj: but chess 959 has cooler logo potentiel. 2 9s in a name is really cool.

Jul-05-05		THE pawn: <chessgames> The link involving Fisher explaining the game is broken. Is it my computer or the site's mistake?

Jul-06-05		nasmichael: Positions 0 through 959 yield 960 positions. Position 518, although not used for the randomized games, is still recognized as a possible position.

Jul-06-05		nasmichael: Use the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fische... to determine starting position IDs other than that of chessgames.com. Onsite position #54 is the position 518 in another reckoning.

Jul-06-05		Ron: I agree that oblivion95's posts are "pretty cool." Two remarks: 1. The engine-engine games in Arena, the first time I have heard of this, reminds me of the recent sport of robots battling each other to destruction. Science fiction becoming fact. 2. The win/loss/draw results for Fisher random chess are intriguing. But I wonder if the players in those sample games were evenly matched. Perhaps Black won more often because the player with the Black pieces simply was , sort of like a 2400 player playing against a 2200 player.

Jul-21-05		refutor: i don't know if this has been posted before but here is a database with a bunch of Fischer Random games http://www.chess-960.org/php/show_e... there's some internet games by the looks of it, but they also have the svidler-leko match etc. on there

Jul-21-05		sibilare: All this talk about chess959 and chess960. There is no difference, it is like saying this sumo wrestler weighs 1 pound more then that one! Who cares! I am not going to lose any sleep over it. I have played one game of this method. Quite interesting. I found if the bishops are in the corners they'll get swapped pretty early. (e.g. Bishop on h1 and another bishop on a8). In my game at least.

Jul-24-05		sibilare: Here is my take on how to make random setups, without electronic aid. Have one person put down a rook any where they want and the opponent will copy it and put down the next rook anywhere she/he wants to. So on for the Knight and Bishop, Just have to remember the rules for the king has to be between the rooks and bishops on opposite colours. This should be acceptable for casual/coffee house games (non-rated games).

Jul-24-05		hintza: That wouldn't be very random.

Jul-24-05		Montreal1666: <sibilare:> <Have one person put down a rook any where they want> This will not be acceptable. There has to be a random draw for the location of every single piece. The players cannot participate in deciding the location of the pieces. The core idea behind FRC is to eliminate the effect of any advance preparation and knowledage of the position.

Jul-24-05		sibilare: I think for a coffee house game that I'm just playing against a friend or relative. It would be acceptable. for tournaments... No, it wouldn't be acceptable. But, I'm not going to be carrying around Dungeon and Dragons dice or a deck of cards just to play FRC. Once you think about this, you only have knowledge of half of the position. Even then, lets say you wanted to setup the knight on file 3 and your opponent puts a rook there. It kinda messes up your preparation.

Jul-24-05		Montreal1666: <sibilare:> A simple solution for your coffee house games is asking a third party to help out. The players themselves simply cannot pick the location for the pieces.

Jul-24-05		sibilare: http://www.chessvariants.org/diffse... In the chess link above it mentioned to use dice or throw pieces in a bag. Of the two methods. I prefer the bag, but write the rook, knight, etc, etc, on a piece of paper and draw them out. First piece of paper drawn out that piece will go on to a1 and 2nd piece of paper that piece will go on a2. I came up with a different method... Put all the pieces behind you and grab two different pieces with your hands (like you would with pawns) Your opponent picks left or right hand and the position it goes (a1, c1, etc, etc), then show both pieces and put down the piece as stated by your opponent. Just have to remember the king between the rooks and bishops on opposite colours.

Jul-26-05		Gypsy: This quote should be here. < Karpov: I would love to play Chess960 with Fischer. It is not necessary to spend ages preparing some opening variations, because there is just no theory. It is important to be in good shape and to have a clear mind. >

Jul-30-05		JonasD: Now my website (www.chess-960.org)is also translated into english. Enjoy it. Over 1000 matches to replay. All games from the World Championsships in chess960 / Fischer Random chess (humans and computers) will come soon.

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