Lucky 960

Lucky 960

Chess 960 is one of the most popular chess variants, as it starts both opponents with a non-traditional setup that prevents solid opening theory. There are theoretically 960 different opening setups, and each setup requires thought towards the basics of chess. I decided to play a few rounds of 3 minute, no interval chess 960. 

Game 1

In this game, I was playing with white against a 1569 from Uzbekistan. 

I started with e4, pushing my pawn forward and fighting for the center. My opponent played f6, opening his bishop's diagonal and prepping to strike the center with e5. I would try to establish enough mobility for my pieces and control the center, which lead to a sort of arch of pawns and my knight being developed. It also seemed that my opponent was going for a symmetrical position. 

However, black breaks the symmetry by breaking, which I return by taking back with my c pawn. However, we both continue with developing our pieces and castling towards what is normally short castle, although the rules of castling are a little different in chess 960, the king still moves two squares toward the rook and the rook castles on the other side of the king. 

The game progresses with black putting his bishop pair on the backrank and taking dominant control of two diagonals. However, I am able to get two central pawns, while black has to rely on his flank pawns to control the center. 

The game continues with a lot of piece movement, as I try to move my pieces towards the king side. However, black is able to effectively push around and threaten my queen, and we end up with a queen trade. 

I decide to centralize my rooks, and I continue my upward march with my pawns, with my rooks protecting them. But then, black is able to find the only good move with Bxf2+, as this exposes the king and eventually leads to a sequence that allows for the center pawns to be captured. Now obviously the best move is to take back, but this is where I get unlucky and mouse slip. 

At this point, I mouseslipped my kingmove and the bishop was able to take a bishop and rook. Additionally, a few moves later, I would completely blunder away my knight. The position at this point is around -13 for black. 

I tried to push my passed pawn, but black was easily able to capture the pawn and then black began converging unto my king. If you might be wondering why I haven't resigned, then the fact that he had less than 10 seconds at this point might help.

Soon, we would trade a rook. However, since he had three seconds left, this became a dash for speed. And the fastest piece for a final dash is not the rook, its the knight. 

And on move 42, with the eval bar at -67, I was able to flag my opponent and win. Now that is lucky but not as lucky as this next game. 

Ultimate 960 Luck

In this game, I was playing a 1536 from Cuba with the black pieces. 

This game would end up being a lot more positional, as white began with b3 to fianchetto his dark squared bishop, so I played e5 to block his bishop and open my own bishop. d6 also supports this dark square chain and allows both of my bishops a lot of squares. We would both develop our knights, and I played f5 to flank white's center. 

This would result in white slightly destabilizing his center, but it would also give white the bishop pair. White would also castle long in this game. 

The game would continue with white trading his bishop for a knight, but in the process, gaining tempo by developing his knight. I would try to line up my rook on the f file, but notice how my king isn't castled and I haven't finished development. White has the upperhand. 

The game does continue with black centralizing his rooks. I also develop my bishop, but then, I do the weirdest thing by moving it back one square for three consecutive turns. I don't know what was going through my brain at that time. Maybe I was just being indecisive about the perfect square for my poor little bishop. 

We do end up trading minor pieces again, but this is beneficial because I got to take with my pawn and centralize my pawn structure. I like to call it centralizing pawn mass when you are able to get a pawn closer to supporting center pawns. With the help of this pawn, I am able to push my e pawn to be a passed pawn, although, white does get the long diagonal. 

White responds with a massive pawn storm on the kingside, supported by his powerful bishop. However, in the process blunders a pawn, but it isn't the first mistake but the second mistake that kills you. Can you find the best move?

All my life goals are accomplished when I am able to get a triple fork. 

Soon, I begin threatening all of white's kingside pawns with my king, and I am able to push my passed pawn all the way to the 2nd rank. What could go wrong from here?

After what was probably unnecessary, I was able to pin the queen to the king. But as fate might have it, I was down to 15 seconds vs his 32. 

And then, I realized, I wouldn't actually be able to get a queen. The position consolidated, and I was technically a piece up, but I decided to trade queens, and I realized that white had some chances with his two pawns, but very small chances. 

However, I was now running with only 8 seconds left. All the pawn moves that I made in the diagram above were basically pre-moved and took about a second. However, white locked that side of the board and was able to infiltrate with his king to support his pawns. 

I continue to try and defend. However, white is able to get a passed pawn with 7 seconds left, while I have little over one second left. There was only one thing left to do. Go absolutely crazy!

And so, on move 63, with the eval bar at +M1 for white, I was able to flag my opponent with 0.9 seconds left on the clock for the win. 

But what are your thoughts on these games? Do you enjoy chess 960? Let me know!