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Tricky Chess960

Chess960 is an interesting way to train your chess. There is no opening knowledge to rely on so both sides need to be creative, develop pieces and play chess from move 1. The different kind of starting positions can also cork up some unusual problems early on so you have to be tactically alert from move 1. Imagine white starting with a bishop on h1 and he opens the game with 1.g3 now...again imagine that b7 is undefended and that there is a rook on a8. This means that a careless move by black loses a pawn and an exchange on move 2 to if Bxb7 is allowed!! Once I had a queen on g1, I opened 1.f4 and my opponent lost his undefended pawn on a7 on move 2.

In the following fragment my opponent wasn't alert and lost material by force on move 3!! Give 960 a try to sharpen your tactical focus and board awareness! But only use it as a training tool and for fun....regular chess is always #1 and isn't going anywhere ;-)

Comments


  • 4 years ago

    zankfrappa

             I just started playing Chess960 so it is still new and exciting to me.
    I don't know if it will take over regular chess, golf hasn't changed much over
    hundreds of years(except for equipment) even though many experts feel the golf
    hole should be made larger.  People don't like change, especially when it comes to games.  However, variants are fun and deserve their own respect.

  • 4 years ago

    TomMac19

    no no no, players will have to spend far too long studying where the pieces are!!!

  • 4 years ago

    clizaw

    Mark my words: Chess960 will surpass classical chess in popularity at some point in the future. It's nothing but calculation and strategy, without the laborious memorization of openings. Chess960 is real chess! Bobby Fischer knew it and that's why it'll catch on eventually.

  • 4 years ago

    alphard1

    I guess this would be a good example of devloping knights first, or early anyways. Definately a mistake opening with pawn b7 to b6.

  • 4 years ago

    gramps33

    sounds interesting.

  • 4 years ago

    steevmartuns

    P_U_N, unless I'm hallucinating, I'm pretty sure that at the end of your line Black is down knight and pawn, which is more than just a knight. :( It doesn't look like Black has a saving move. Sacrificing the exchange is probably best rather than being down a whole piece:

     

     

    Did Black resign at this point or not? I think I was mistaken when I assumed that Black gave up on move 3. Against an FM though, things would seem doubtful for him despite that his disadvantage wouldn't be that great (yet).

  • 4 years ago

    FM zibbit

    P_U_N you are right that was an option. However in the game I played 2.d4 and not 2.b3 like my memory thought when I wrote the blog.

  • 4 years ago

    P_U_N

    could this have been an option for black?  Looks like it might cost him two pawns as opposed to the whole piece, well actually, white has a block, but I think black would get the pawn back..

  • 4 years ago

    HiguyAFSgt

    looks like fisher chess....probably, slightly more entertaining and useful than bughouse. Interesting, but nothing more than a novelty.

  • 4 years ago

    sebicerda

    another example of this

  • 4 years ago

    Dozy

    In the very few 960 games I've played I find myself falling into error by assuming that pawns or squares that are safe in normal chess are safe here.  I'm planning to get Oops! tattooed across my knuckles as a reminder not to move too rashly.

    960 certainly puts a new entertainment level into the game.

  • 4 years ago

    RoyalFlush1991

    This variation has a lot of potential and I'm glad to see chess.com is encouraging this progressive form. I thought 1...b6 was a terrible opening move which not only leaves the center for White's taking, but also blocks in Black's a8 knight. But I'm no FM and I've never played Chess960 so that's just my own fallible opinion.

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