FISCHERANDOM CHESS: Chess960 Random Position Generator

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position # random

FEN: rnqbknbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNQBKNBR 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 49 OF 52 · Later Kibitzing>
Feb-10-18		beenthere240: I find it interesting how the 958 games move from opening chaos that barely resembles standard chess, but which by the middle game looks more and more familiar. And the endgames are indistinguishable from those in the standard game. Game 4, which Carlsen won, shows the power of the no-increment rule. Halfway through the game, MC began to blitz, presumably to gain a time advantage over HN. He got it. As a result, in a tablebase-drawn endgame, HN was toast. If he didn't play at blitz speed (and eventually blunder) or find a perpetual, he would simply run out of time. As it turned out, he finally blundered. I predict that someone will break down the various 958 non-standard positions into "types" and create an opening theory that will at least be somewhat helpful to players even though developing precise variations will be impractical. Sort of a Fine's "Ideas Behind the Chess Openings." For example, one section could discuss how to treat side by side knights, another talk about Queens in the Corner. And so on. In game 4, Carlsen's 1. f3 opening looked horrible at first, but turned out pretty good even though it created a weak diagonal.

Feb-10-18		morfishine: Thrilling game today...looks like Naka left a draw out there on the table neglecting to blockade, oh well, thats the way it goes!

Feb-10-18		john barleycorn: <beenthere240: I find it interesting how the 958 games move from opening chaos that barely resembles standard chess, but which by the middle game looks more and more familiar. And the endgames are indistinguishable from those in the standard game. ...> What else did you expect? I mean there are still 64 squares, the same pieces with the same rules to move.

Feb-10-18		Marmot PFL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt2...

Feb-10-18		beenthere240: <John Barleycorn> I was reacting to the fellow who said that 960 wasn't really chess. And it doesn't look like chess at first, but it becomes very "chessy" in a hurry.

Feb-10-18		Olavi: The Carlsen - Nakamura games are very dull compared to normal chess, but that was to be expected.

Feb-10-18		morfishine: <Olavi: The Carlsen - Nakamura games are very dull compared to normal chess, but that was to be expected> I wasn't aware of those expectations and you obviously didn't watch game 4 Stay tuned *****

Feb-11-18		Marmot PFL: The first game today was very tense. Nakamura played to win with black and actually succeeded.

Feb-11-18		Olavi: <morfishine: <Olavi: The Carlsen - Nakamura games are very dull compared to normal chess, but that was to be expected> I wasn't aware of those expectations and you obviously didn't watch game 4> I posted after checking game four. Games 5 and 6 were livelier at least.

Feb-12-18		morfishine: <Olavi> I may have confused game 4 as the Nakamura win with Black. The "Live" coverage with Seirawan & Rudolf is decent, but the moves are not shown, so its hard to tell which is which. <CG> is posting the games to the player's game lists, but there's a day or 2 lag.

Feb-12-18		beenthere240: Game is posted but no kibitzing. I confess it's nice to see comments that don't begin with a disparagement of the opening. "Damn Berlin!"

Feb-12-18		Joshka: <beenthere240> yes, that's what should happen. The beauty is is has taken hundreds of years of theory to just finally get a grasp on the ONE opening set up we use. Chess will be alive and fun again once all the prearrangement and memorization is wiped off. With 959 other starting positions, one sure could pick a position say number 49, and write some opening theory ....you have to memorize this, but then again when you sit down to play Fischer random, what would be the chances you'll be allowed to set up on position 49!!...... I say have a tourney or have a set match where only ONE position is played , like say number 88 and let the players dive into that for many games...Good points for sure!

Feb-12-18		Marmot PFL: The last four games have been decisive, and black won three. In game 7 (new position) white (Nakamura) already lost the advantage after only a few moves and went on to lose the game.

Feb-13-18		morfishine: Darn, Naka just inexplicably dropped a piece :(

Feb-13-18		morfishine: Yikes, Naka just resigned after 20 minutes :(

Feb-13-18		beenthere240: I thought Carlsen's d5 shot was pretty cool.

Feb-13-18		morfishine: <beenthere240> Yes, but Naka didn't play very accurately, the commentators pointed out simple alternatives to avoid losing the piece

Feb-13-18		chessgames.com: We'll post links to Fischer random games as we collect them. We can only show the ones that do not contain castling. <RAPID> Nakamura vs Carlsen, 2018 Nakamura vs Carlsen, 2018 <BLITZ> Nakamura vs Carlsen, 2018

Feb-13-18		zanzibar: <<CG> We can only show the ones that do not contain castling.> Ack!

Feb-13-18		morfishine: <chessgames.com: We'll post links to Fischer random games as we collect them. We can only show the ones that do not contain castling> Will this be fixed sometime in the future? I know it can be tricky. At Chesscube.com, I play Chess960 exclusively, and believe me, the site went through months of software glitches [ie: after castling, the rook disappears or preventing one from castling at all] that was very frustrating, but seems to be resolved (finally)! :) *****

Feb-13-18		zanzibar: <CG> just a recommendation - Published the PGN of all the games, even the ones with castling. Olga, and other viewers, will choke - but people (ok, maybe only premium members) will be able to download the PGN which then becomes the responsibility of the user.

Feb-13-18		chessgames.com: There's some discussion on the subject here: https://github.com/jhlywa/chess.js/...

Feb-13-18		ketchuplover: Kudos to Herr Carlsen

Feb-13-18		zanzibar: <chessgames> a very simple, and general solution, would be to allow FEN insertions in a PGN. Of course doing the castling proper is best, but one benefit of allowing FEN injection would be the accommodation of Random960 castling, but also the ability to resynch games that have had an illegal move, when the illegal move gets made "officially" (i.e. isn't caught within the 5-move window).

Feb-14-18		morfishine: What was the scoring format? For 16 games played, there were 24 pts scored, so it seems 8 games were for 1 pt each, while 8 were at 2 pts each, or something like that

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