Chess960 Explained!

Somebody unsticked this thread

good eye evert

I declare WAR.

!!!!!!

Getting better at chess is the same as getting better at 960.  Yeah queens can be scary, but dealing with the threats is no different in 960 than in regular chess.  People getting "too aggro" with the queen is usually an opportunity to punish them for reckless play.  analyze your losses and see what the computer says you should have done.  

first time I played it I thought castling was a bug /exploit but surpresingly is not. holy moly, and I managed to verify it was available and prevent my opponent to do so and keep mine available for a possible emergency

What is disturbing about castling? It serves the same purpose as in regular chess.  It protects your king by moving him closer to the corner, while making your rook more active by giving it a more central square.  In fact, the king and rook end up on the exact same squares as they do in traditional chess.

Many things apply here when we are talking about getting better at 960. Everything that makes you better in regular chess makes you better in 960, except for opening theory. Opening principles, however, do apply: Control the center, develop your pieces fighting against your opponent's ideas, and secure your king. 

Beside, what are the weapons that one have to fight on the board? Correct me if i'm wrong, but these weapons are tactics. Forks, pins, discovered attacks, skewers, atraction, deflecting, overloading and MUCH MORE. There is a whole universe for you to study and there is a lot to learn about it right here at this website. All the time you have to be aware of your tactics possibilites AND your opponent's. If you play looking only at your pieces, you lose. Training tactics online is so much easier nowadays.

There are MANY problems with castling in Chess960, but I will highlight just a couple. These can happen for some portion of the 960 starting positions:

• The King moves 5 squares. This also means 6 target square to attack in order to stop the move.
• The King doesn't move at all. In this case castling is just giving the Rook the ability to leap.
• Much longer or much shorter times to legally castle.

I don't think you have listed any problems with castling in 960.  You have listed differences in 960 vs traditional chess.  They are not problems.  In fact, I think the things you listed make the game more interesting.  

I don't disagree that the Chess960 castling rules make things more tactical, but they are hard to explain to someone who is new to chess. What if you just said "Castling involves moving your King 2 squares toward your Rook and moving the Rook, in the square the King hopped over." That's basically how a lot of new players learn Castling when they start.

What Chess960 position is the normal piece starting position of regular chess board setup??

The standard starting position for chess is denoted by SP-518.

So instead of explaining it that way you explain by saying that the king can move to the c or g square and the rook on that side of the king moves to the d or the f square (or something like that).  Its not hard at all, and anyone who can't understand castling in 960 probably should  be playing checkers or tic tac toe instead of chess anyway

Don't be elitist.

Anyone should be able to easily understand the game. A lot of people don't play on boards that include the letters on it. Your assertion that castling is simple is countered by the numerous posts by new players asking how it works. For example players often get confused by this set up:

It seems to me you are being elitest if you understand castling but think others my be too dim to get it.  Castling is simple.  Yes that is my assertion and its true.  People who ask about it fall into 2 categories:

1.  They are new to 960 and they simply want to know the rule.  When you explain it, they get it. 2.  More often, they want to know the physical procedure of clicking and moving the pieces.  Some programs require that you click the king, then the rook.  Other programs have you drag the king to the appropriate square, and if castling to this square is possible but its also a 1 square move the computer prompts whether you want to castle or just move the king.  Again, Once people know the rule, they know it.  Simple.  

We disagree and that's fine.

what do you suggest? no castling? I really don't understand something: what is the problem if something is hard to explain? I mean even if castling was hard to explain.