The Story Of Chess960
Do you think chess is boring? Probably not, right? Chess is infinitely exciting, from the drama of tournaments to winning a crazy bullet game on time, chess is very entertaining. But, according to GM Bobby Fischer:
I want to keep the old chess game. But just making a change so the starting positions are mixed, so it's not degenerated down to memorization and prearrangement like it is today.
-- Bobby Fischer
Yes, that’s right. Fischer wanted to change the starting position of the pieces to make the game more exciting and less memorization heavy.
Have I got you hooked? Today, we will be learning about the version of chess that changes the starting position of all the pieces (except pawns), Chess960. So, without further ado, let’s begin.
Table Of Contents
1. Chess960 Basics
2. Early Chess960 Support
3. Fischer’s Major Popularisation
4. Modern Chess960
5. Conclusion
1. Chess960 Basics
The rules in Chess960 stay the same as compared to regular chess, except for one thing:
Castling in Chess960 is a rather confusing matter until you get the hang of it. Here's a full guide for you to follow:
- You might think castling is impossible in some positions, like when your king is on b1 and your rook is on a1. But, the thing is, it's quite simple. Just move all the other pieces out of the way, and simply drag the king on top of the rook to castle. It works the same as in regular chess. Your king and rook go to the squares they would if you castled in regular chess.
- Of course, normal castling rules apply. You cannot castle out of check, you cannot castle after moving the king or the rook you want to castle with, etc.
Here's an example of castling in Chess960 format pulled from my games:
In Chess960, there are 960 starting positions for the pieces, as the name suggests. You cannot control what position you get, which, as Fischer claims "is one of the best things about Chess960".
To play this wonderous variant, click here!
Now that you know the basics, let's delve a little... deeper, may I say the least. Let's uncover all of the great history and facts that makes Chess960 so fascinating to write about in this blog!
2. Early Chess960 Support
The origins of Chess960 are often falsely given to Bobby Fischer, and even though he was the person that popularized the game (see chapter 3), he was not the person who came up with the idea of a randomized starting position. The first recorded case of a proposal to such a variant was actually from Philip Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt in 1792.
His opinions on regular chess resembled Fischer's opinions closely, as he often talked about the repetitive patterns that were found in chess openings. His book, La Supériorité aux Échecs mise à la portée de tout le monde, et particulièrement des dames qui aiment cet amusement ("Superiority in Chess brought into the reach of all, and particularly of ladies who love that amusement") was a massive hit among chess enthusiasts and was reprinted a notable number of times. It was also translated into many other languages, so the book went worldwide. This was a key foundation of years of Chess960 to come.
The earliest documented game of Chess960 was played in 1842 and featured two players: Van der Hoeven and Alexandre. Alexandre won 3-0 in the end.
Chess960 continued to be examined in various chess journals and documents around the world.
3. Fischer's Major Popularization
Fischer started to develop Chess960 after his tense match against Spassky in 1992. Only a year later, the rules were formalized, and it was officially announced to the public on June 19, 1996. During summer 1993, Bobby Fischer visited László Polgár and his family in Hungary. All of the Polgar sisters (Judit Polgár, Susan Polgar, and Sofia Polgar) played many games of Fischer Random Chess with Fischer. Things took an interesting turn of events when Laszlo showed Fischer a very old chess book that described what appeared to be a forerunner of Chess960. The book was written by Izidor Gross and published in 1910. Fischer then changed the rules of his variation in order to make it different.
In an interesting radio interview with Fischer, he was asked why he created Chess960, and he answered with this:
I love chess, and I didn't invent Fischerandom chess to destroy chess. I invented Fischerandom chess to keep chess going. Because I consider the old chess is dying, it really is dead. A lot of people come up with other rules of chess-type games, with 10×8 boards, new pieces, and all kinds of things. I'm really not interested in that. I want to keep the old chess flavor. I want to keep the old chess game. But just making a change so the starting positions are mixed, so it's not degenerated down to memorization and prearrangement like it is today.
— Bobby Fischer, June 27, 1999
4. Modern Chess960
In 2024, Chess960 received a huge upgrade in the form of the Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge. This was the first major Chess960 event that used classical chess time controls.
It took place in Germany from February 9-16, 2024. Chess960 World Champion Hikaru Nakamura was invited but chose not to play the event. GM Magnus Carlsen won the tournament by defeating Fabiano Caruana in the finals.
Prior the success of the first tournament, organizers Carlsen and Jan Henric Buettner launched the iconic Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, which made chess.com headlines for months. Its format consists of five "Grand Slam" tournaments and one open tournament.
I am so glad Chess960 got the recognition it deserved. I suspect that FIDE will have a new Chess960 rating, based on the current craze over this variant.
That would be interesting!
5. Conclusion
Hopefully this blog taught you a lot about the wonderful world of Chess960. Thank you so much for viewing, and I'll see you next time.
