Chess960

Chess960 (or Fischer Random Chess) is a variant of chess invented and advocated by former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer, publicly announced on June 19, 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It employs the same board and pieces as standard chess; however, the starting position of the pieces on the players' home ranks is randomized. The random setup renders the prospect of obtaining an advantage through the memorization of opening lines impracticable, compelling players to rely on their talent and creativity.

Randomizing the main pieces had long been known as Shuffle Chess; however, Chess960 introduces restrictions on the randomization, "preserving the dynamic nature of the game by retaining bishops of opposite colours for each player and the right to castle for both sides". The result is 960 unique possible starting positions, from which the name "Chess960" is derived.

In 2008 FIDE added Chess960 to an appendix of the rules of chess.

Setup

Before the game, a starting position is randomly determined and set up, subject to certain requirements. After setup, the game is played the same as standard chess in all respects, with the single exception of castling from the different possible starting positions for king and rooks.