www.d-chess.com

is a new chess variant I have been working on.  I have had these ideas for a while and just now had the time to put them down to writing.

It already has a name, Fischerandom. Or Chess 960

Chess 960 is pretty good, but only 960 different starting positions.

D-chess has over 8.2 million different starting positions and the problem of white always moving first is solved.  See www.d-chess.com

 

I don't believe giving the loser of the coin-toss the right to make the first move will necessarily equalize the game, as a position may be a lot stronger than the other. In addition, if that really equalized the chances there wouldn't be any point in awarding the winner with the right of choosing his side, as the first move would balance everything.

How would you know which side is stronger anyway? Its like you'd need some kind of opening theory...

And if you could calculate which one is better, what if it is only slightly better or even equal, then the coin toss loser is the real winner.

sounds good, but if the pieces are differently placed for both players then wouldnt the player with the better starting position have a better chance? it would be hard to tell which is the better player

Gabriel_dCF wrote: I don't believe giving the loser of the coin-toss the right to make the first move will necessarily equalize the game, as a position may be a lot stronger than the other. In addition, if that really equalized the chances there wouldn't be any point in awarding the winner with the right of choosing his side, as the first move would balance everything.

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In the rare event that the position is much stronger, the player moving first has the option of transposing two of his pieces in the back row.  This will equalize it out.  Equalizing it out in this way is important, because we don't want either player to have an unfair advantage, as there is with current FIDE chess with white.

Nachos wrote:

How would you know which side is stronger anyway? Its like you'd need some kind of opening theory...

And if you could calculate which one is better, what if it is only slightly better or even equal, then the coin toss loser is the real winner.

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You don't need any opening theory, just general chess knowledge and skills.  For example, it would be better to have powerful pieces like the queen and rooks near the center so you could control the center.

There are over 8.2 million different possible starting positions, so the odds of ending up with a starting position that is equal are say, about similar odds to winning the lottery.

DaPharaoh wrote: sounds good, but if the pieces are differently placed for both players then wouldnt the player with the better starting position have a better chance? it would be hard to tell which is the better player

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No, because the player with the weaker position gets the option (only at the beginning of the game) to transpose two of his pieces in his back row and then also make the first move.