What is Chess960?
Chess960, also called Fischer Random Chess, is chess with a shuffled starting position. The pawns stand where they always do, but the pieces behind them are placed in a random order, chosen from 960 possible arrangements. Black's pieces mirror White's, so both sides start from the same position.
Two limits keep every arrangement fair and playable: the bishops stand on squares of opposite colours, and the king stands somewhere between the two rooks, so castling is still possible on both sides. After the first move, every rule is the rule of standard chess.
Because memorised opening lines no longer apply, both players have to think for themselves from the very first move. That makes Chess960 a favourite of players who enjoy understanding over preparation.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Chess | Chess960 |
|---|---|---|
| Starting position | Standard ChessThe same every game: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. | Chess960One of 960 arrangements, drawn at random: bishops on opposite colours, the king between the rooks, Black mirroring White. |
| Castling | Standard ChessThe king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook jumps to the king's other side. | Chess960King and rook end on the usual squares (g and f files on the king's side, c and d files on the queen's side) wherever they started. Every square they cross must be empty, and the king may not be in, pass through or end in check. Here you castle by moving your king onto that rook. |
| How to win | Standard ChessCheckmate the opponent's king. | Chess960The same: checkmate. Draws, promotion and en passant work exactly as in standard chess. |
History
Shuffling the pieces to escape opening theory is an old idea: players proposed random starting positions as early as the 18th century. Former world champion Bobby Fischer gave the idea its modern form and announced it in Buenos Aires in 1996. His two limits, bishops on opposite colours and the king between the rooks, keep castling possible and give exactly 960 starting positions.
The variant spread through tournaments such as the yearly Chess Classic in Mainz, Germany, in the 2000s, and FIDE added its rules to the Laws of Chess. FIDE held its first official World Fischer Random Chess Championship in 2019, and top players now meet regularly in Chess960 events.