Contemporary Art

• Cam Reddin, “T20 Chess”: New form of chess threatens to send tradition packing, Macquarie Sports Radio, November 2, 2018

Chess might be one of the oldest board games in existence, but its current form is being threatened by the rise in popularity of a more “challenging” set of rules. It’s called “Chess 960” — an alternative format of the game designed by American champion Bobby Fischer, that is threatening to usurp traditional gameplay by making the game less predictable. Concerns from officials at the World Chess Federation that technology has led to the human thought process being outsourced to computers has made them more willing to accept this new form of the game, where pieces are shuffled randomly before being placed on the board. Pawns remain in the same position as they usually would to start, while all other pieces are moved around prior to the beginning of the match. Chess 960, also known as “Fischer Random Chess” in honour of its creator, is named after the number of potential starting positions. [Read more].

Magnus Carlsen being awarded after winning his “unofficial” 16-game World Fischerandom Chess Championship match against Hikaru Nakamura in Høvikodden, Norway on February 2018. Photo © Lennart Ootes.