— Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Introduction
Chess960 is like regular chess, with difference in the random placement of the pieces in the beginning of the game. You could start your Rook on H1 in the first game and the second the rook is starting on F1. Isn't that crazy? No! We have a variant for crazy chess known as crazyhouse. However it may sounds, chess960 is loved and appreciated because it brings out creativity and unfiltered strategy from the minds of the players. Personally,I play regular chess well because of my strong opening knowledge, so chess960 could be very tricky as I have to assess the position very well and play a new strategy every time.
In this post ahead of the Hive chess960 tournament today by @stayoutoftherz, I'd dive into some funny facts and moments from this variants.
The King position can be scary
Since in chess960, the regular chess rules applies, it means king safety is the most important thing, but how do you safeguard your king when it starts on a different square in the beginning of the game? Imagine playing 1.d4 thinking your king is on e1 then realizing later your king was on c1. Goodluck castling and safeguarding your king :)
No Opening Advantage!
Wait did I just say that? I meant no opening preparation or tricks. Players like myself tend to get a good position out of the opening because of lot of theoretical knowledge over the years of playing professionally. However, chess960 eliminates that giving everyone a chance to rebuild and strategize from move 1. But guess what? I heard some chess players are already working on opening books for chess960 positions. Goodluck to Fischer random after then!
Blundering On Move one!
Isn't that hilarious, in chess960 you can blunder on any move easily. In chess960 forgetting the arrangements of the pieces has been very very common as even grandmasters sometimes makes illegal moves while trying to make a move that would have worked in regular chess but is illegal in chess960
Do you know that Bobby Fischer invented it, But he Hated Modern chess
Chess960 aims to remove opening preparations and gives players opportunity to start a game as pieces are arranged randomly. Chess960 also known as Fischer random was created by the legendary Bobby Fischer. What puzzles me is he created a version of chess where no one needed opening, however he himself was one big fan of chess openings. He studied his openings so much that when he was champion, he couldn't be defeated in certain openings. Isn't that ironic?
Even Top Grandmasters Fall
In the 2018 Champions Showdown, my favorite GM hikaru Nakamura won a chess960 game against Aronian. Although both are super Grandmasters, the game was rather quick. In 6 moves aronian bishop was trapped. A game which he resigned few moves after. A typical example of how chess960 can be very very different from regular chess.
Conclusion
If you're playing today's Hive chess960 tournament, be ready for suprises, unexpected positions and also be prepared for me because I'd be playing:)
However chess960 isn't the perfect variant, it shows the beauty of chess in a different way which makes me appreciate the game even more.
_I am @samostically,I love to talk and write about chess because i benefited alot from playing chess.
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