Life at the Border

In a report to The Week in Chess (TWIC) dated April 28, 1996, International Master Siniša Joksić reviewed — with very little enthusiasm indeed — the first-ever International Fischerandom Tournament, which took place in the spring of that year in Kanjiža, a town in Serbia (then Yugoslavia) at the border with Hungary. The three-day 12-player round-robin featured two Grandmasters, four International Masters, four FIDE Masters, and two National Masters, with a time control of 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game. The random starting positions were generated by a set of four dice, signalling that not only Bobby Fischer did not reply to the organisers’ invitation for a symbolic attendance, but he did not even put his computerised shuffler to their disposal. Joksić adds that too often time scrambles prevented the organisers from collecting the games — in truth, some of them will appear in Svetozar Gligorić’s book “Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?” (Batsford, London, 2002) — which implies that such a time control inevitably also affected the level of play.
The final standing was:

1. Péter Lékó GM (HUN) 9½/11;   2. Stanimir Nikolić GM (YUG) 9;   3. Goran Vojinović IM (YUG) 7;   4. Ervin Mozes IM (ROM) 6½   5. Gáspár Máthé IM (HUN) 6½   6. Vladimir Milošević FM (YUG) 6;   7. Tibor Farkas FM (HUN) 5½   8. Stevan Popov FM (YUG) 4½   9. Mirko Mamuzić NM (YUG) 4; 10. Lajos Ábel IM (HUN) 3½ 11. Vojislav Petrović FM (YUG) 2; 12. Sandor Lorinć NM (YUG) 2.

Finally, as a conclusion of the news release, the very short game between the only two Grandmasters competing was given almost without comment:

Stanimir Nikolić – Péter Lékó

1st International Fischerandom Tournament; time control: 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game; Kanjiža, 1996

bnnrkqrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNNRKQRB w GDgd - 0 1

Position #67

1. d4 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Qh3 h5. Here one may only note that 3. ... e6 is also perfectly playable, owing to the fact that the h-Pawn is not en prise (for after 4. Qxh7? Bxd4! 5. Rxd4?? Rh8 the White Queen is trapped).
4. Bxd5 e6 5. Bg2 Rxd4 6. 0-0 Rxd1 7. Rxd1 Qe7 8. Nd3 Nd7 9. Nd2 Nd6 10. c4 Nf5 11. b3 Bxa1 12. Rxa1 0-0 13. g4 hxg4 14. Qxg4 b6

15. Nf3? Safer seems 15. Bxa8 Rxa8 16. Nf3 e5 17. e4 with balanced play.
15. ... Bxf3! 16. Bxf3 Kg7 17. Rd1 Rh8 ½ : ½. In his only comment on the game, Joksić stated that the draw was offered by Lékó, which may sound strange, especially as it seems likely that Black stands better.

Random Fandom

Tea at Three

As the dean of chess journalists, Leonard Barden, has noted in his column on The Guardian, still “there is little guidance on the principles of good play [in Fischerandom chess]. Nakamura observed that you should avoid developing your Knights at e3/d3 because Black can easily keep them out of the game by e7-e6 or d7-d6. At least that’s a start. Instead of ‘Knight on the rim is dim’ we now have ‘Knight at d3, disagree’”.

Just By Chance

Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky – N. N.
Paris, 1840s
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The following game, a forerunner sample of standard shuffle chess (no castling), was given by Aron Alexandre in his book “The Beauties of Chess: A Collection of the Finest Chess Problems Extant; Including Upwards of Two Thousand Curious Positions Won Or Drawn by Brilliant ‘Coups’, Selected from the Works of the First Chess-Writers Past and Present”, Barthès and Lowell, London, 1846, p. 342. It should be noted that it was presented without comment except that, in the initial array, “Les pièces [sont] déplacées par le sort“.

1. d4 d5 2. g3 b6 3. c4 Bb7 4. cxd5 Bxd5 5. Bxd5 Rxd5 6. e4 Rd7 7. f4 g6 (7. ... c5 8. d5 e6) 8. Nf3 c5 9. Be3? c4? (⌓ 9. ... cxd4) 10. Qc2 b5 11. d5±

11. ... e5? (⌓ 11. ... Qb7) 12. fxe5 Bxe5 13. Nxe5 Qxe5 14. Bd4 Qh5 15. Ne3 Rc8 16. a4 a6 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ra6 Nc7 19. Rb6 Rcd8 20. Qc3 (20. Qf2+−) 20. ... Qf3 (20. ... Nfe6!? 21. Bf6 Re8) 21. Bh8? (21. Rf6 Qxe4 22. Rf4 Qxd5! 23. Ng4!+−) 21. ... Nfe6? (21. ... f5!∞) 22. Rf1+− Qxe4 23. dxe6 Nxe6 24. Ng2 Rd3

25. Qf6? (25. Rxe6!+−) 25. ... R3d7? (25. ... Rd1!=) 26. Re1? (26. Qe5+−) 26. ... Qd4+? (26. ... Qa8! 27. Rxb5 Qa7+ 28. Kh1 Qa8=) 27. Qxd4 Nxd4 28. Bxd4 Rxd4 29. Rxb5 Rd2 30. h4 Rc2 31. h5 Kg7

32. g4? (32. Ne3+−) 32. ... Rdd2⇄ 33. Nf4 Rxb2 34. h6+ Kxh6 35. g5+ Kg7 36. Rxb2 Rxb2 37. Re7 Kf8 38. Rc7 Rb4 39. Nd5 Ra4? (39. ... Rb5!=) 40. Nf6? (40. Rc8+ Kg7 41. Nf6+−) 40. ... Kg7? (40. ... Ra5!=) 41. Rc8 1 : 0.

A Castle in the Sky

5b1r/pp4pp/1n2k3/3pq3/3p4/3B4/PP1B2PP/3Q2KR b K - 0 1

The above diagram, showing a position with Black to move, was presented by Grandmaster Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov as an instructive example of how counterintuitive the rules of castling in Fischerandom chess (a.k.a. chess960) at times appear to be. “At this position can Black prevent short castle by playing ... Qe5-f6?”, he asks. The answer is no — 1. ... Qf6 doesn’t prevent White’s h-side castling (2. 0-0), which, in the specific case, is performed by “Rook-move-only”, i.e. by the Rook jumping over the King. Not incidentally, the answer is also the solution of the puzzle/quiz, for after 1. ... Qf6 2. 0-0 Black might well resign.

It’s only a matter of going

• Kenneth Silber, Chess and Its Alternatives, Splice Today, May 20, 2020

Besides the standard game, there are many chess variants: the starting positions of the pieces, or the use of non-standard pieces; the size and shape of the board or boards; the number of players; the rules for such operations as castling, Pawn promotion, draws, checks and checkmates; whether the game retains its symmetry between the contending sides, or its transparency, where all players can see the full board; whether some element of chance is introduced, as with a dice roll determining what pieces can move. This makes for an interesting ferment, though no variant has yet approached the popularity of regular chess. A relatively popular one is Fischer Random Chess, also known as Chess960, invented by the troubled and brilliant late champion Bobby Fischer; relatively moderate in its differences from standard chess, this variant randomizes the initial placement of the pieces behind each row of Pawns, making for a more varied set of game openings. [Read more].

Chess and its alternatives: where complexity borders on chaos. Credit: Splice Today.

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.

出车 (Chariot sortie)

Fabiano Caruana (@FabianoCaruana)

Twenty Years Ago

There are neither date nor place on the above picture of 11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer, but, most likely, it was taken during the summer days of his stay in Argentina in 1996 in order to launch worldwide his new Fischerandom chess. Photo: LG Deportiva.

Broadcast delay

• Facundo Bañez, Bobby Fischer en La Plata: los días que anticiparon su triste y solitario final | Bobby Fischer in La Plata: the days anticipating his sad and lonely endgame, El Día, July 10, 2016

11th World Chess Champion Robert James “Bobby” Fischer presenting the worldwide launch of his new Fischerandom chess at Pasaje Dardo Rocha in the city of La Plata, Argentina, on July 11, 1996. Photo: El Día.

Robert James Fischer (R.) posing for a partie sans-façon (at Fischerandom chess) with Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (L.), the then governor of Buenos Aires, at Pasaje Dardo Rocha in the city of La Plata, Argentina, on July 11, 1996. Photo: El Día.

World Premiere

Jörg Schwalfenberg – Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov
“World Premiere” 15-minute rapid game; Nußloch, July 26, 1995
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Position #220

“Here is a sample of the sort of chess Fischerandom can lead to. It was played in 1995 in a small chess festival near Heidelberg and shows Karpov quickly getting into his normal positional stride, despite the curious opening position (see diagram)”, International Master William Roland Hartston wrote in his May 16, 1997 column for The Independent.

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Qxc8 Rxc8 5. Nb3 Nd7 6. e4 f6 7. Ne3 Nab6 8. f3 Bd6 9. Bd3 g6 10. Bf2 Nc4 11. Rb1 Ndb6

12. exd5? This appears a serious positional error, isolating the Pawn on d4. Any advice? In his book “Bobby Fischer Comes Home: The Final Years in Iceland, a Saga of Friendship and Lost Illusions”, New In Chess, Alkmaar, 2012, p. 83, Grandmaster Helgi Ólafsson — who was so lucky as to play a few games at Fischerandom chess with Bobby — wrote: “I noticed that in every game he tried to castle as soon as possible”. So why not to castle h-side (12. 0-0)?
12. ... Nxe3 13. Bxe3 Nxd5 14. Bd2 Be6 15. g3 Kf7 16. Ke2? Allowing Black to infiltrate on the h-file. A little better seems 16. Kf2 h5 17. h4, although after 17. ... Nb4 Black keeps a clear edge.
16. ... h5! 17. Rbc1 Rxc1 18. Rxc1 b6 19. Be4 h4 20. f4 hxg3 21. hxg3 Rh2+ 22. Kd3 Rh3 23. Rg1 Nxf4+ 24. Kc2 Ne2 25. Rg2 Nxg3 26. Bd3 Bd5 0 : 1. “Afterwards Karpov commented that as the game ‘did not produce the harmonious positions of normal chess’ it was ‘negative’ but he conceded that the player with the most talent would win”, David Brine Pritchard wrote in Variant Chess, Issue 18, Autumn 1995, p. 174.

The Sixth Sense

Tibor Farkas – Péter Lékó

1st International Fischerandom Tournament; time control: 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game; Kanjiža, 1996

nbnqbrkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBNQBRKR w HFhf - 0 1

Position #40

1. d4 d5 2. e3!? “This demonstrates very early that White has no active plan of play”, Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić wrote in his book “Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess?”, Batsford, London, 2002, p. 85. 2. ... c6 3. Nd3 Nd6 4. b3 Bd7 5. Ne5 Bf5 6. c3 Bxb1 7. Qxb1 Re8! 8. Qd3 f6 9. Nf3 e5! 10. Nd2 e4 11. Qe2 0-0 12. Nb1 f5 13. Bd2 b5. As often happens at Fischerandom chess, one party (in this case Black) has achieved a huge superiority after a few developing moves. 14. Rc1 Nc7 15. Nc2 Ne6 16. Nba3 a5 17. c4 b4 18. c5 Nf7 19. Nb1 f4 20. exf4 Bxf4 21. Be3 Nh6 22. Nd2 Rf7 23. Nf1 Ref8 24. Ng3 Qh4

25. Qa6? Gligorić regards this move as “suicidal”, but White’s position is desperate anyway, e.g. 25. 0-0 Ng4 26. h3 Nxe3 27. Nxe3 Nxd4 winning easily. 25. ... Bxe3 26. fxe3. Or 26. Nxe3 Rxf2 27. Qxc6 Qf4! 28. Qxe6+ Kh8 and finis. 26. ... Ng4 27. Qxc6 Qf6 0 : 1.

Time travel

Péter Lékó – Vladimir Milošević

1st International Fischerandom Tournament; time control: 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game; Kanjiža, 1996

bqrnknrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BQRNKNRB w GCgc – 0 1

Position #483

1. g3 b6 2. e4! c5?! 3. b3! Nc6 4. Nfe3 g6 5. Bxh8 Rxh8 6. f4 Ne6?! 7. Nf2 0-0-0 8. c3! h5 9. h4 Ng7 10. d4. Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić estimates that White’s advantage is already decisive, due to his mobile Pawn mass and the exposed position of the enemy King. 10. ... e6 11. b4 Qc7 12. bxc5 bxc5 13. d5 Ne7 14. c4 Qa5+ 15. Ke2 d6 16. Qb2! Rhg8 17. Rgd1 Kc7 18. Nh3! Rb8. Black is helpless against White’s huge preponderance; for instance, on 18. ... Rd7 19. Ng5 Nc8 20. e5 is crushing. 19. Qf6 Kd7 20. Ng5 exd5 21. cxd5 Qxa2+ 22. Rc2 Qa6+ 23. Kf2 Ne8 24. Qxf7 Nc7 25. Nh7! Ne8 26. Qe6+ Kd8 27. Ng5 Rf8 28. Nf7+ Rxf7 29. Qxf7 Rb3 30. Re2 Qa4 31. Bf3 Bb7 32. f5 Ba6 33. f6 Rb7

34. Rb1! Bb5. If 34. ... Rxb1 there follows 35. Qxe7+ Kc8 36. f7 and wins. 35. Reb2 a6 36. Qf8! 1 : 0. Milošević finally resigns, because f6-f7 would follow.

Randomly on the first rank

Sandor Lorinć – Péter Lékó

1st International Fischerandom Tournament; time control: 25 minutes for 20 moves, plus 5 minutes for the remainder of the game; Kanjiža, 1996

bbrqkrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BBRQKRNN w FCfc - 0 1

Position #880

1. b3 Nf6. The g7-Pawn was attacked. 2. Bxf6. White voluntarily cedes the Bishop-pair, in the hope that his unbroken Pawn formation may tell in the ending. Other lines of play are 2. f4 c5 or 2. c4 c5 (2. ... b5!?). 2. ... exf6 3. c4 Ng6 4. Nf3 b6 5. e3 0-0 6. d4 c5 7. d5 b5 8. 0-0. If 8. cxb5 then 8. ... Qa5+ regaining the Pawn with interest, thanks to the weakness of d5. 8. ... bxc4 9. bxc4 Ne5 10. Ng3 g6 11. h4. Unnecessarily weakening his position. We would have preferred 11. Nd2 f5 and, on the whole, chances are about even. 11. ... Ng4 12. Ne4 f5 13. Neg5 Bd6 14. h5 Be7 15. Nh3 d6 16. g3 Bf6 17. Kg2 Re8 18. Qd2 Rb8 19. hxg6 hxg6 20. Nf4 Bb7 21. Rh1 Ba6 22. Qd3. A pointless move. Better was 22. Bd3, whereupon Black could answer 22. ... Re7 (intending ... Re7-b7). 22. .. Rb2 23. Rc2 Qb6 24. Nd2 Ne5 25. Qe2 Qb4 26. Rxb2 Qxb2. Black’s preponderance of power on the a-side will soon become decisive.

27. Nd3. White’s last hope was 27. Ne4!, although – luckily enough – after 27. ... Nxc4 28. Nxf6+ Qxf6 29. Bd3 Qc3 it appears that Black can hold his own. 27. ... Bxc4 28. Nxb2 Bxe2 29. Rc1 Rb8 30. Nd1 Nd3 31. Bxd3 Bxd3 32. Nb3 Be4+ 33. Kh3 Kg7 34. g4 Rh8+ 35. Kg3 Bh4+ 0 : 1. Just one move before checkmate: 36. Kh2 Bxf2 mate or 36. Kf4 g5 mate.

The Return of the Pink Panther

Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk – Natalia Oleksandrivna Zhukova
2nd FiNet Chess960 Women’s Rapid World Championship; Mainz, July 29, 2008

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Position #413

1. Nf3 c5 2. h4 Nf6 3. c4 h6 4. Nb3 Bh7 5. Bc2 Bxc2 6. Qxc2 b6 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nbxd4 Qb7 9. Bh2 Bc7 10. Bxc7 Qxc7 11. e4 Ng4 12. h5 Ne5 13. Rc1 Nxf3 14. Nxf3 Nd6 15. e5 Nb7

16. Rh4! Nc5 17. Rd1. White didn’t need to castle to find the best synthesis between King safety and development. 17. ... 0-0 18. Rg4 f5?! 19. Rgd4 Rad8 20. Nh4 Rf7 21. Ng6 Ne6 22. Rd5 Nf8 23. Nf4 Rc8 24. b3 e6

25. R5d4? It does seem quite a doubtful offer. White could simply continue 25. Rd6 b5 26. R1d4 maintaining her powerful bind. 25. ... Qxe5 26. Ng6 Qh2 27. Rh4 Qc7 28. Qc3 Nxg6. 28. ... d5 doesn’t make all that difference, as after 29. Qe1 Black would take on g6 anyway. 29. hxg6 Rf6 30. Rxh6 b5?? A self-mating blunder due to time shortage. 30. ... Qf4! seems fine for Black.

31. Rh8+! Kxh8 32. Qh3+ Kg8 33. Qh7+ Kf8 34. Qh8+ Ke7 35. Qxg7+ Ke8 36. Qxf6 Qh2 37. Qf7+ 1–0.

To castle or not to castle, that is the question... Photo: Pufichek.

Pavlovian

In an interview with Janis Nisii for Torre & Cavallo Scacco!, No. 7-8, July-August 2008, pp. 14-19, the “unnumbered” former World Chess Champion Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov, among other matters, gave his opinions about Fischerandom chess (a.k.a. chess960):

— What do you think of variants like chess960? — For me, it is indifferent, but the problem with Fischerandom is for the mass of non-professional players. There are many players who don’t have too much time to study chess, but for example they have their Sicilian and with Fischerandom they could no longer play it. For me it’s fine, we professionals would adapt, but I doubt amateurs can do the same. Ordinary players want to go to the club on Saturday and play the French or the Sicilian. It would be a great tragedy for them because they do not want to lose their French!