Linux chess software supporting Chess960?

Hi there.

I can't find a server to play Chess960 on. Alas also all of my chess programs on Linux don't support it. So far I checked:

• eBoard
• Knights
• PyChess
• xboard
• Gnome Chess
• SCID (with Stockfish)
• Scid vs PC (with Stockfish)
• XChess

Any ideas where else to look at?

Thanks!

Do you mean against the computer?

You can play here on chess.com.

Hit Play, then "+" for new game, then toggle from "standard" to "960".

Also, select "level 10" to lose.

Uh? XBoard certainly supports Chess960. Perhaps you missed it because it is called FRC (Fischer Random Chess) there. In fact you can play any of the 30-something supported variants as shuffle variant with Fischer castling there, through the "New Shuffle variant" menu dialog.

@HGMuller

XBoard has an option Chess960 but it's unhighlighted, saying my current engine (gnuchess) doesn't support it. So I installed Stockfish and included that one, same result.

But thanks anyway. Guess, 960 is not possible on Linux.

EDIT: PS, thanks vickalan! I would not have found that in a 1000 yrs.

Maybe you have to tick the Chess960 option in the Stockfish engine configuration?

Thanks EscherehcsE,

but Stockfish cannot be configured from Xboard. Says "This chess program has no options".

The option Chess960 is not highlighted with GNU Chess, because GNU Chess does not play Chess960. Chess960 is a different variant from normal Chess, and you cannot expect an engine designed for one variant to also play any other. If you want to play Chess960, you should use an Chess960 engine.

If you don't see Stockfish' optios in XBoard, it must mean you have forgotten to tell XBoard that Stockfish is a UCI engine, and not an XBoard engine. You either need to tick the UCI checkbox when you load Stockfish from the 'Load Engine' dialog, or use the -fUCI when you specify everything from the command line.