Addicted to 960 - Good or Bad?

I have recently began playing Chess 960. I am hooked. I was wondering how everyone else viewed this in terms of being either good or bad for ones overall growth in Chess skill.

Please refrain from telling me how you think Chess 960 isn't chess. It is a form of chess. The tactics are the same once the flow of the game gets going and it is possible to develop book moves for on any given position, just as in traditional chess.

I am looking more for first hand accounts of players who either feel it helped them to look for tactics and simply playing the position from analysis, as opposed to going by memory.I am curious as to rating differences between the two respectively,that players here at chess.com have . I would love to hear of accounts of players who best someone in 960 regulary, but not in standard chess or vice versa.

I think it would be possible to do a study experiment with enough players to see how much of chess is memory and how much of it is calculation for the proper moves in any given position. I don't intend to try to go that far personally, but I would like some what, of a better idea to satisfy my palette. I have noticed some quirks with my memory doing puzzles repetitively. I am begining to wonder more truly, the benefit of memorization, as it pertains to freeing up part of your view point for additional calculation. Please feel free to enlighten me...

Personally, I don't like it....but I'm new.  I'm a beginner-level player, and still working on figuring out what works and what doesn't on a regrular chessboard, let alone one that has all the pieces all scrambled.

Funny - my first day, someone challenged me to a game, I accepted, only to discover the board is all messed up - argh!  So I'm trying to recover from a few early blunders.  I think once I get better, it might help.

i like 960 good luck

chess 960 is a lot of fun...I play it on and off.I wish there was a live chess960 here like there is at chesscube.hehe.

if memorization and opening prep bores the hell out of u then 960 is definitely for u....and it sharpens tactics too as the positions that arise from it are a tactical mess.(at least in my experience).

That is part of what I really love. I like to look at the late middle and end games between really good players. The positions seem a lot more crazy than most games I  see. I chalk that up to them having better calculation skills and living more on the edge than someone like me. I need 960 to put me those positions so I can learn to live on the edge too.

I just figured out you can castle in 960...I am really hooked now

I am curious as to how well anyone knows the castling rule for 960? You could theoretically have you king on square a1 and both rooks on g1 and h1.

Not sure but I would think it would be hard to use chess engine to cheat with 960 chess. That's one reason I like playing it plus I seem to be better at it than regular chess.

I hate to divulge this, but you can use a chess engine to calculate the positions, even from the begining...you should know, just for your own well being... I don't want you to think you are worse than you are incase you get cheated. I will volunteer that it would take more work to cheat at 960 with a chess engine, but it isn't impossible.

hehe yeah...it's much more likely a crazy position will arise from a 960 game.

it's not possible I think....one of the requirements from the starting position is that king must be in between both rooks.the other requirement is that bishops have to be on opposite colors.

but yeah....castling in 960 looks very funny to me sometimes

I just got myself into a really cool positional game due to the starting position. It was easier to adapt over to a more traditional position, than to try to play from the uncoordinated position. It looks like it could be a long game.