Proof of Concept with HarryO

HarryO and I are playing our eighth chess960 opening now. We've played so many moves over the last six months that I've lost track of what I've covered on this blog and what remains open. Here's a summary of the games to date.

We started off with a test of Non-random Fischer Random, where the players actively choose the start position (SP) themselves, rather than rely on a random process. We played two games, taking a different color in each game. Links to HarryO's posts, where the moves and running commentary can be found, are marked HO; links to my posts are marked MW.

• SP384 BBQRNNKR • HO: Non-Random Chess960 Trial; MW: The Barbecue Positions
  
  
• SP393 QRNBBNKR • HO: Non-Random Chess960 Trial Game 2: SP393; MW: A Clash of Styles (good comments here)

Although the non-random trials worked well enough, we decided to tackle several specific SPs that appear to push the chess960 concept to its limits. Our methodology involves playing enough moves to determine that Black is not overwhelmed in the opening and emerges with a playable game.

• SP000 BBQNNRKR & SP959 RKRNNQBB • HO: Non-Random Chess960 Trial Game 3: SP000 (or SP960 depending on who you talk to) & Non-Random Chess960 Trial Game 4: SP959; MW: Extreme Barbecues
  
  
• SP468 RBBNNKRQ • HO: Non-Random Chess 960 Trial Game 5: SP468; MW: The KQR Corner Family & Deferring the Castling Option

Toward the end of last year, I wrote a post that flagged other problematic SPs: Waving a Yellow Flag. HarryO proposed tackling those and we were off again.

• SP408 RBQNBNKR • HO: Non-Random Chess 960 Trial Game 6: SP408; MW: Twin Research (introduction to SP; no discussion of trial game)
  
  
• SP749 RKNBNQBR (twin of SP408) • HO: Non-Random Chess 960 Trial Game 7: SP749; MW: TBD
  
  
• SP868 QBBRKRNN (in progress) • HO: Non-Random Chess 960 Trial Game 8: SP868; MW: TBD

Looks like I still need to cover SP408 and SP749. To date we haven't found any SPs that are hopeless for Black, but that doesn't mean they are easy to play.