Chess 960 Live chess?

Go to Play then choose the + for a new game. Choose Create Challenge and choose Type. That should allow you to change to Chess960. 

That should let you know pretty quickly if it is available to all members (I assume it it though).

Thanks Martin, Chess960 is NOT available to non-paying members at this stage on Android, I just checked using your method. You can only choose "time", "rated" and the opponent. We also CANNOT participate in the website beta.

Frisco, although I would like to be a paid member and I was a premium member for a while, the expense is prohibitive for people that live in a poor exchange rate country relative to US dollars, where the situation is made worse because of extreme time zone differences making it even less attractive to pay for membership because when we want to play live, you are all asleep in your bed.

Ah, good to know. I kind of figured they would want as many testers as possible for that.

Tough to understand why its taking so long.  Maybe some of the other features in the beta are more complex or are having issues.  

Version 3 is designed for mobile and looks hideous by the standards of playing on a monitor.  I'll likely leave chess.com for good when it finally comes out for everyone.  

 How is it hideous? And you can customize your layout in v3... 

@ChessKing - It looks like a mobile version - counter-intuitive with tiny little mysterious icons and not open, obvious and easy like a computer version should.  I log on to chess.com to play with no fuss, not to watch a tutorial to learn the meaning of little icons.  The very sight of them repels me.  I'm sure I'm not alone.  

All that time, it shocks me that version 3 is what you guys came up with.  I already got to Lichess for live 960 - another site which looks like a proper computer-based site should.   

That is a bit drastic. It is also unlikely to happen. They won't support two completely different code-bases. That would be worse from a financial perspective.

It will be like the last transition. It will go live and they will eventually shut down the old site. They will then fix problems and eventually, when the next version is being coded, it will all start again

They have spent a significant amount of time (and probably money) getting v3 ready, much of the work into making the code leaner and easier to support and update (mostly back-end stuff). The probability of trashing all that effort is very unlikely. Most people don't like change and a vote would more than likely reflect that fact.

I use v3 90% of the time (except when working around bugs). While I don't like everything, most things are fine and once all the bugs are fixed, it will be better.

If you see problems with v3, you should submit bug reports, feature requests or even design decisions you don't like.

I just tried the new version for a second time.  I seem to have forgotten how to play 960 and could not find it.  Nor could I find the way to see the open seeks.  Nor could I find the way to customize the time control beyond the default choices in the grid.

In using a mobile template, they may have made the code easier and maybe improved things for mobile users, but they destroyed the site for desktop users looking for something intuitive and fully useable without studying a help file or trying every button for 30 minutes and hoping you remember what you learn.  

I'm using a desktop PC. No problem adapting to the new v3 interface at all. I also prefer the newer v3 site to the older one despite needing some bug fixing and to be a little more polished here and there. I think it deserves a chance even if some people might find it challenging to adapt initially. Free users have a lot more features, and it's really smooth and intuitive once you get into it. You need a modern browser, though.

I'm just bummed for not having been able to play a live 960 game yet.

Started this thread in 2009... finally had a game... hadn't realised the new site had gone live for free members.... 

:D

The starting position is different. Pawns in the same place but the back row is randomized, with the same  position on both sides. There are some rules for how they are actually placed and the the name comes from there being 960 valid starting configurations.

Castling is also slightly different, due to the changed positions, but the king and appropriate rook go to the same squares the would in a normal casting situation.

It is already there In chess.com

Look at the bottom of the page for a link that says "Try the new Chess.com". here you can play live chess960.

also in chess app