Chess36 is Chess18 + when the King starts on the Q square. It double the number effectively
FIDE, Freestyle Chess, and the Future of the Game
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Freestyle Chess is the future of Chess on the highest level.
Different wars start from different positions. The lack of opening prep makes Freestyle Chess much more interesting & relevant.
Yeah the idea behind it is rad, but the purist army are standing on their back feets. It's not a smooth transition for that reason.
How about a partial reshuffle instead as an ultimatum, i.e. Chess18 ?
With only 18 positions, would you consider playing with different starting positions for each side, resulting in 18 squared, or 324, possible arrangements ?
Chess324 is ~ 1/3 of all positions in 960. One possible arrangment -》
May 11, 2025
0
#48
Chess should not be intimidated with Freestyle- 18 36 960 & 960x960. I think Chess will continue to be scientific- chessbase, neural engines, AI, continuously finding the TRUTH in the openings middlegame endgame and the World Chess Champion is the best one humanly possible to excecute this truth. Now Freestyle is intimidating with its varieties, complexities & mystery BUT I think is the next frontier for our cerebral game to see if it can make man happy 
The 960 setup skips prearranged opening lines, so you really need to think outside the box from the start. Other than that, the rules are mostly the same, just a few tweaks with castling. Given how old-school the chess crowd is, I doubt anything else will come close to FRC as a rad alternative. Although I do really hope for the contrary, that they eventually may loosen up and may embrace diversity for the sake of fun.
960^2 × 16 = 14,745,600
Chess18^2 × 16 = 5,184
Chess36^2 × 16 = 20,736
I think I know Chess18 that's where the king and rooks stay in their original squares and then shuffles the Q Bs Ns and gives you 18 different starting positions. The K Rs placement make it easier to castle in OTB Chess18 games. Chess18 is manageable and can be studied individually for their openings. A lot better than playing Chess repeatedly from just 1 starting position.
What I don't know is Chess36?