Recognized Variant of the Month for April 2002. Twelve times per year we will select a
Recognized Variant for special consideration. Its web page will be reworked and improved and a connecting link displayed on all of our CV Pages. We hope to encourage CVPhiles to read about, play and explore this featured variant.
Bobby Fischer, a former world chess champion, proposed a variant of
Orthodox Chess
wherein the initial setup of pieces is chosen randomly. Fischer thereby joined the ranks of other former world champions, such as Capablanca, who proposed changes to the rules of chess -- none of which were ever implemented. Fischer Random Chess is somewhat similar to the older Shuffle Chess, or Prechess (or other related variants), yet has a unique style of its own.
An extensive
introduction and history of the game
was written by Eric van Reem.
Castling may be performed under the following conditions:
A King may castle with its a-side Rook or its h-side Rook. When castling a-side, the King and Rook go to the same spaces they would go when Queen-side castling in Chess. When castling h-side, the King and Rook go to the same spaces they would go when King-side castling in Chess. This table shows where the King and Rook end up for each type of castling.
| White castles a-side | Kc1, Rd1 |
|---|---|
| White castles h-side | Kg1, Rf1 |
| Black castles a-side | Kc8, Rd8 |
| Black castles h-side | Kg8, Rf8 |
More detailed rules may read at Bobby Fischer's website:
Terumi Kaneyasu (Sam Sloan?) writes:
Fischer Random Chess has 960 legal arrays. This number is determined as follows:
First, place the two Bishops. There are 16 different ways for one bishop to be on a white square and the other Bishop to be on a black square.
That leaves six empty squares. Now, place the King somewhere between the two Rooks. There are 20 different ways for a King and two Rooks to occupy six squares with the King in between.
That leaves three squares for the two Knights and the Queen. There are three possible ways to place these pieces.
Thus, there are 16 x 20 x 3 (960) legal arrays in Fischer Random Chess.
Last modified: Sunday, April 1, 2012
