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Charles wrote on Wed, Aug 8, 2007 04:31 AM UTC:Poor ★

This is not a problem: >>there are numerous positions in Chess960 where the King does not move at all if he Castles. >>

The original intent of castling was to move the king to either wing, centralize the rook and connect the 2 rooks.

It was ASSUMED that one of the wings was safer. This is not necessarily the case. Think of it as two bunkers located at opposite wings.

IN chess960, the king may already be in the wing bunker, but the rook alone needs to jump over to be centralized. Also if this wing is under attack the king can castle to the opposite wing.

So there is no issue if the king does not move at all.

The 'king moves two space' rule is for beginners who don't understand chess very well, and catering for them is ridiculous.

Castling in normal chess is only logical when visualized this way, not as a special 'king two space move' rule, which is what you are confusing castling to be.

For white a-side bunker is on your left with king on c1 R on d1 and h-side bunker on right with king on g1 and R on f1. In orthodox chess, this Castling move (to the bunker) can be made by moving king 2 spaces etc. But in Fischer Random, the moves are just different depending on the position.

Isn't that quite logical. If I as King am already in the bunker or quite close, I don't have to move very far, but my rook has to move over to center. Note, that it is assumed in Chess that the bunkers are in the wings. Otherwise, why can't the king just jump anywhere where it may be 'safe'?

Fischer was no dummy when he invented this variant. The castling rule is what makes this Fischer Random variant unique.

Otherwise you have shuffle chess and NO CASTLING!


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