Could we please stop calling Chess960 a variant?

Hi there

I ask that Chess960 has it's own forum. The name of this forum is incorrect. Chess960 is not a variant of chess. Chess960 is a generalization of chess. If Chess960 were a variant of chess, then chess could not be a position within the variant. But it is! Chess960 encompasses chess. We have a chess centric point of view I think.

Carry out this simple thought experiment that questions our Chess centric way of thinking:

"In an alternative reality, hundreds of years ago the game of Chess960 was invented. Then late in the 21st century, a small movement began to only play SP518 (Chess). But players all around the world asked the simple question, why would you want to dumb down Chess960 like that?"

So please, Chess.com, could we have our own dedicated Chess960 forum and stop calling it a variant of Chess? I know Bobby Fischer suffered from a mental health condition in his latter years, but he was a visionary and he loved chess so much that he did not want to see it killed off by over analysing just one position within it even if that position is very beautiful. When we play Chess960 we are not destroying SP518, just giving it some room to breathe again!

Cheers

What about Chess420?

The "one position within it" happens to be the only perfectly logical one, symmetrical and blessed with an even distribution of force

Thank you for your thoughts and although I agree with you I also have some difference. When we play Chess960, we still may face position SP518. Chess960 does not prevent SP518 from having it's beautiful and rightful place in our game. However the other positions have their merit too! They have a lot of complexity, more than enough complexity when we play Chess960 as it was supposed to be played. A random starting position (1 of 960) that we do not know in advance before the game commences.

Cheers 

I prefer to think of Chess960 as an "aberration" rather than a "variant."

Actually, it is 959 variants.

The answer is easy - there should be 959 forums added!

Heh.

I don't know what else you'd call it.  Is this an effort towards political correctness?  Are Chess960's feelings hurt by the lack of mainstream interest?  Do you think it will change our perception if we call it "differently-versioned" instead?

Yes, or a freak of nature. Out, out you spawn of the devil

it's a variant to me. also, there is chess 256 and others

It IS a variant and it should be called Fischer Random Chess and for those too lazy ( or too hate filled ) to type all that out simply " FRC " would be the perfect acronym for it and its even easier to type out than Chess 960 ! 

Is this a put on?

Hi there DrSpudnik

Yeah I guess you could call it a put on in away because the result of the question is not what I expected and so I have been put on as much as everyone else! It's kinda interesting how we all fall for names, and categories and the like. I am no different. It's just the way it is!

There was a time when we used to call black people a variation of white people. But now we know that black and white people are generalised as all human. So white people are a variant of human and so are black people. So Chess is a variant of Chess960 and so are the other 959 positions. There is no difference that I can tell. Chess960 is not a variant. It is a generalised set of rules that determine all the possible positions of pieces on the back rank without violating any past rule. Not a single rule of chess is violated in the process, not one.

You could think that a rule of chess is that "bishops must go on c1 and f1" and that Chess960 does not follow that rule hard and fast. However if the generalised rules of Chess960 result in bishops going on c1 and f1, then can you really say that the rule of chess has been violated or just encompassed? So please don't get me wrong. I do not care what happens to Chess960. All these activities are good and I am not hurt. It's just a questioning perhaps. It doesn't matter. Go play Chess! It is a beautiful game as is Chess960. They are both just the same game. That is a true statement I think. I do not think I am trying to put anyone on.

Cheers

Edit: A thought has ocurred to me that Chess960 does violate a rule of chess after all  It violates the rule of Chess that "you cannot put a bishop on any other square but c1 or f1" Good one. Ok, I stand corrected. I was just being pedantic!

"We have a chess centric point of view I think."

You are all chesscentrics. A shame!

Yes I am being pedantic. I see that now. Thank you!

Cheers

bye mate!

You know what the word pedantic means. You may have just won me over! 

What about c8 and f8?????

Make that "you cannot put a bishop on any other square but KB1 or QB1." That covers both sides of the board!

Chess players are a strange bunch. Complaining nobody understands us, while at the same time we are very disapproving of any different way of having fun with the game.