Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Closed book on chess openings
Fischer Random Chess is a chess variant that aims to remove all current chess opening theory, thereby giving regular people a chance against strong, experienced players.
The idea is that all non-pawn pieces are placed randomly behind the lines of pawns. The pieces' randomness can be determined by any means, such as dice or a computer program.
There are a few other rules, such as the king has to be somewhere between the two rooks, and the bishops still have to be on opposite colours. Castling has the same rules as normal chess and the king and rook should always end up on the same postitions as they would after castling in normal chess. After one colour's pieces' positions have been determined the other colour mirrors those positions and the game commences.
ChessBase reports that Fischer Random Chess, or Chess960 (named for the 960 possible starting positions), will be featured in a global programming competition in August 2005 in Mainz to see who can create the strongest computer player.
Anyone for a game?
The idea is that all non-pawn pieces are placed randomly behind the lines of pawns. The pieces' randomness can be determined by any means, such as dice or a computer program.
There are a few other rules, such as the king has to be somewhere between the two rooks, and the bishops still have to be on opposite colours. Castling has the same rules as normal chess and the king and rook should always end up on the same postitions as they would after castling in normal chess. After one colour's pieces' positions have been determined the other colour mirrors those positions and the game commences.
ChessBase reports that Fischer Random Chess, or Chess960 (named for the 960 possible starting positions), will be featured in a global programming competition in August 2005 in Mainz to see who can create the strongest computer player.
Anyone for a game?
