Chess960
Also known as Fischer Random, Chess960 is a chess variant created by former World Champion Bobby Fischer. While it follows the same rules as standard chess, the initial setup is designed to reduce the reliance on opening theory by randomly shuffling the pieces on each player's back rank.
Rules
Rule
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Details |
Game endings | Games in Chess960 end in the traditional ways—checkmate, stalemate, or time-out. |
Bishops | Bishops must still be on opposite colors in the initial Chess960 position. |
King and rook placements | The king must be placed between the two rooks to allow for castling in both directions. This means that the White king can only be placed between the squares b1 and g1 or b8 and g8 for Black. |
Castling | Despite the varied starting positions, the standard rules of castling still apply:
Regardless of the initial locations of the king and rook, after castling, the final placement for both the king and rook when castling is constant.
This means that if White wants to castle kingside, the king must land on the g1 square, and the kingside rook must land on f1. Should White want to castle queenside, the king must land on c1, and the queenside rook lands on d1. To remember this, think about classical chess castling and where the pieces land:
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Check out this article to learn more about castling in Chess960:
Where can I play a game of Chess 960?
Web
There are two ways to play Chess 960 on Chess.com:
If you want to unlock Chess 960 achievements, you’ll need to create a custom game from the 'Play' page. Click here to learn how.
You can also play Chess 960 from the Variants server:
Hover over 'Play' on the left-side menu of any Chess.com page and select '4 Player & Variants' from the list.
Choose Chess 960 from the list on the right side of the screen to start a game.
Ready to play a game of Crazyhouse on the variants server? Click here!
Mobile
Tap the 'Play' button on your homescreen
Tap the 'More' dropdown menu and select 'Custom'
On the custom game screen, tap on 'Standard' and select 'Chess960' from the menu
Tap 'Play!' to start your game!