http://www.gothicchess.com/javagame...

♙ The First ♗

♘ CHESSGAMES.COM ♕

♔ FISCHERANDOM TEAM GAME ♖

Chessgames is preparing for the next Team-vs-Team game to take place in the Chessgames Challenge. This game will be Fischerandom Chess (FRC), a.k.a. Chess960.

<< SCHEDULE SUMMARY >>

September 30th, 2007: Game is announced. (That's this post.)

October 3rd: The random position is determined using the method described below, and announced.

October 4th: Registration begins and the starting position is on display for both teams to study.

October 14th, 20:00 GMT: Votes for Team White's first move are tallied and the move is played.

October 24th, 20:00 GMT: Votes for Team Black's first move are tallied and the move is played.

October 26th, 20:00 GMT: Team White's second move is played.

October 28th, 20:00 GMT: Team Black's second move is played.

And from that point on, the game continues at the rate of 2-days per half move until completed.

<< REGISTRATION >>

Sometime in the morning of October 4th the first Chessgames Fischerandom Team Chess game will open up registration for premium members.

Members will be assigned to either "Team White" or "Team Black" at random. (Note: the algorithm that assigns players to teams is designed to try to equalize the number of players on each team, however lopsided results are not impossible.) Premium members will be allowed to register to the game at any time; you do not have to sign-up for the first move in order to play.

<< DETERMINING STARTING POSITION >>

We have devised a way to determine the starting position which is perfectly fair and transparent. Being a Florida company, Chessgames will honor our home state and use the daily Florida Lottery results as the method to determine the starting position.

On Wednesday, October 3rd, we will check the drawing for Florida's "Cash 3" lottery. This will be a 3-digit number generated by a specialized lottery machine which agitates and selects ping-pong balls randomly. We will then plug that 3-digit number into the Fischerandom Chess Generator above (being careful to keep the 'random' checkbox unchecked) and we will use whatever position is indicated by that number.

(In the unlikely event that the October 3rd Florida Cash3 lottery is a number above 960, or if it equals 000, we will then use October 3rd's "Play 4" as a backup by using the first three digits and disregarding the final digit. If we still don't have a valid number, we will use the previous result from the Cash3 drawing of October 2nd as a replacement, and failing that we will use the Play4 drawing of October 2nd.)

More information about Florida Lottery can be found here: http://www.flalottery.com/. The results page displaying the current and historical Cash 3 drawings is found here: http://www.flalottery.com/inet/game...

<< RATE OF PLAY & ROLLOVER TIME >>

The game will move at a pace of 2-days (48 hours) per half-move. The "rollover time" (the time when votes are tallied and the move is played) will be 4:00pm USA/Eastern (20:00 GMT).

<< EXTENDED 10 DAY VOTING PERIODS FOR THE FIRST MOVE >>

Due to the nature of Fischerandom Chess, an extra amount of time will be granted on the first move so that the unique starting position can be analyzed and opening strategies can be formulated. Both Team White and Team Black can enjoy this extended period at the outset of the game.

Team White's votes will be tallied on October 14th and the first move will be played. Then Team Black will have until October 24th to come up with their response. Once the first move is complete, and both teams have enjoyed their 10-day analysis period, the game will switch to the normal rate of 2-days (48 hours) per half-move.

<< VOTING >>

By popular demand we will continue to use "open voting", i.e. all votes tallies are visible right up to the last minute.

<< COMPUTERS >>

Computers are allowed, including chess databases like Chessgames.com, computer analysis engines like Rybka, and tablebases.

<< ARBITRATION >>

The Chessgames staff will act as arbiters for the game. One of our duties as Arbiter is to clarify any rule questions that players may have. Therefore, if you are unsure of the rules of castling in Fischerandom, just ask us. However, we first suggest that you read the capsule description at the top of this page and the links found at the bottom of this post.

It is also our duty to correct any possible technical mishaps that might occur during the game in whatever way we believe best restores fairness and equality to the game.

<< MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS >>

» I am not a premium member, can I at least watch the game as it develops? ♔ Of course. Anybody can visit the game page, you just won't be able to discuss it or vote on moves. If you are not registered as a player, please do NOT discuss or analyze the game while it is in progress; wait until it is finished.

» What happens if my premium membership lapses in the middle of the game? ♔ Of course we'd prefer that you renew your subscription, but we won't kick you off the team. Our policy is that if you start a game you should be allowed to finish it.

» What happens if the lottery drawing comes out 054, which is the normal starting position. Does that mean we will end up playing a normal game of chess? ♔ Yes.

» What if your method of picking a random number STILL doesn't yield a number in the range of 1-960? ♔ The odds of that happening are 1 in 390,625. Don't lose sleep over it.

» What is the proper notation for castling? ♔ Just type "O-O" for h-side castling, and "O-O-O" for a-side castling. The Chessgames Challenge software will castle correctly according to the rules of FRC.

» I HATE Fischerandom Chess!!! When is the next real chess game going to be played? ♔ Once this game is well underway (e.g. a middlegame position) we will begin registration for the next team game. There is no specific date set at this time, but we understand that Chess960 does not appeal to everybody, so we will not force you to wait for the Fischerandom game to complete.

» I play your ChessBookie game. Can I make a wager on the starting position? ♔ Yes! The "bookie" is working on it right now.

» When the game is over, can we see it in a PGN viewer on this site? ♔ It's highly unlikely, as none of our PGN viewers properly display Fischerandom games. However, we will do our best to come up with a suitable replacement.

» Why do you spell "Fischerandom" with only one "r"? ♔ Because that's how Bobby spells it.

<< OTHER USEFUL LINKS >>

Chessgames Challenge Help

Fischerandom Chess Generator

Rules of Chess960: http://www.chesstigers.de/download/... (from chesstigers.de) Adobe™ Acrobat reader required.

Alternate rules of Chess960: http://www.geocities.jp/bobbby_a/li... (this version is endorsed by Fischer)

I don't have a list, but it is every possible configuration of the pieces on the back rank with 2 stipulations:

1. The bishops must be on opposite colors.
2. The king must be between the two rooks.

The question should be: Why is 'chessgames' spelled with one 's'?

<chessgames.com: Chesgames proudly presents... >

0-5-2

which yields the following Fischerandom position:

click for larger view

A team game will be set up soon with this configuration. It's a delightful position to use, because it's so reminiscent of traditional chess, but just different enough to throw all-known opening theory out the window.

His comment is on the right track. In serious slow time-control games of chess960 (FRC), grandmasters would have to learn some different or additional principles. For instance, setups where both White knights start on the same shade of square might be significantly different than the different-shade setup reused endlessly by chess1.

I think WCChamp Vladimir Kramnik had a good point when he said chess960 setups with bishops in corners are problemmatic. A bishop on h1 has no degrees of freedom about how it can be developed. And that is a bad thing.

Also, setups with corner vicars lead to excessive exchanges. These setups are probably more draw-prone than are most other setups.

To everyone's surprise, Dvoretsky concluded by calling for more serious grandmaster tournaments to be held with non-traditional setups like FRC; tho Dvoretsky prefers to use dice to determine the first 2-4 plies of the game.

A must read at...

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/dvore...

(http:// www .chesscafe .com/ text/ dvoretsky88.pdf)

Even after his retirement and death, Fischer continues to have a bigger effect on chess than almost anyone else. Fischer made the delay clock happen too.

(Part 1 of 4)

<The rules offered by Robert Fischer for this form of chess are the same (except for the changes required in castling), but the initial setup of the pieces changes. The pieces are set up behind the pawns on the first rank at random – that is, by lot, with the black pieces arranged the same as White’s. There are some restrictions: the bishops must still start on different colors, and the rooks must be on opposite sides of the king. There are 960 possible variations of the opening position.

Clearly, opening preparation would be senseless in Fischer-random, since it’s impossible to know which position you’d have to play; still less would you be able to know how your opponent would play it. Creating and memorizing an entire system of opening variations for each of the 960 possible setups would be unrealistic. You have to create, starting with move one.

I’ve never played this game myself, but many of my friends and students have taken part in the traditional Fischer-random tournaments in Mainz. Most of them liked the new game. They were very happy not to have to waste time preparing for the game, and it was interesting to test themselves and compete with their opponents in solving original tasks. That being the case, one can only welcome the continued hosting of such events, and hope there will eventually be more of them.

But this can hardly mean that chess-960 should be promoted as the designated successor to everyday chess. Most of us love playing blitz, but nobody (well, except for GM Tkachiev – I just remembered him) is suggesting we should replace serious chess with blitz. The problems involved with such an enormous change in the rules should be examined from all sides and tested, with all aspects considered in order to find out whether there are drawbacks that might prove dangerous to the future of chess.

The first things that springs to mind is the original shape that play takes from the very first moves, and the almost complete lack of any connection with the usual strategic schemes. Some will be scared off by the unusual nature of the resulting positions; others will like it – but one could hardly give a definite answer as to whether this is a bad or a good thing. It’s a question of one’s own system of likes and dislikes, and everybody’s different.