Special Chess960 Dice

While browsing YouTube videos for my most recent post in the Video Friday series (see 1993 Kasparov - Short on BBC for the video I eventually selected), I watched the first few minutes of 2010 Canadian Open Chess Championship Day 3+4, and was pleased to see that it was about a Shabalov chess960 simul at the Canadian event. Even more intriguing was a set of unusual dice used to select a different start position for each game in the simul. The dice are shown in the following screen capture from the video.

Using normal six-sided dice (where in fact only one 'die' is needed) to generate a chess960 start position is standard practice, and I once described the procedure in a post titled A Database of Chess960 Start Positions. The difference with the dice pictured above is that, rather than generate the start squares for each piece one at a time, the chess960 dice generate the start squares for all pieces at the same time. The five chess960 dice appear to be of three varieties:

• 1 x 6-sided die (colored red in the photo)
  
• 1 x 5-sided die (green)
  
• 3 x 4-sided dice (blue, white, & yellow)

While I can't make out the details on each die in the photo, I can see that the blue & white dice are both marked with a Bishop, and the green die is marked with a Knight. If the red and yellow dice are marked respectively with a Queen and a Knight (it could be the other way around, which also works), and if each side of all the dice is marked with a number (as appears to be the case with the green die: the numbers 5, 1, & 2 are visible), then we have all the information necessary to generate a chess960 start position:

• Place the dark squared Bishop using the blue die.
  
• Place the light squared Bishop using the white die.
  
• Place the Queen using the red die.
  
• Place a Knight using the green die.
  
• Place the other Knight using the yellow die.
  
• On the three remaining squares, place the King between the Rooks.

As for which face of the die to use for placement, I suppose it has to be the side which is face down. A web search turned up a related page -- Canadian Open Chess Championship half-way through -- which confirmed,

On Monday American GM Shabalov gave a simultaneous exhibit of Chess960 on 13 boards. The game similar to Fischer random chess (except that there is traditional castling) invented by American World Champion Bobby Fischer rearranges the starting pieces to avoid memorization of the opening moves. There are 960 different starting positions. Special dice were made for this event to generate the starting position. Players have to think from move 1. Shabalov said it was the hardest simultaneous he has ever given. Shabalov won 10 tied 3, had a lunch break, gave a lecture then played a 4-hour slow game in the tournament. (marketwire.com)

The accuracy of the phrase 'The game similar to Fischer random chess (except that there is traditional castling)' is questionable, because chess960 and Fischer Random Chess are one and the same thing. But who cares! The simul and the dice are two more steps in promoting chess960, the most significant evolution of chess in 500 years.

DigitalGameTechnology.com

Since my post on the DGT960 Chess Clock was more about the video than about the clock itself, I decided to find out more about the clock. The DGT Home Page (digitalgametechnology.com) seemed like a good place to start, but it uses the 'mystery meat' style of navigation where you have to know how the page works before you can go anywhere else.

The only mention of chess960 is on the navigation bar at the top of the page, which leads offsite and which doesn't appear to have been updated in two years. If you're patient, the clock will eventually appear in one of the blurbs that rotate through 'DGT Headlines'. There's also an unlabelled picture of the DGT960 (Hint: It's a folding clock with orange as a dominant color) that leads to the main page on the product: DGT960.

These days I suppose that being found in the search engines is more important than internal site navigation, and Google reveals several other interesting pages on the DGT site. First, there is a collection of the same YouTube videos I flagged in my original post on the DGT960: How to operate the DGT960. Then there is the product's user manual: DGT960 User Manual (English). Finally, a page announcing The NEW Chess960 Ambassadors! ('Miss Bianca Muhren and Mr Dennis de Vreugt are the new Chess960 Ambassadors') leads to the same chess960 offsite page I mentioned earlier: DGT Chess960!.

Disclaimer: While I haven't used the DGT960 myself, I have used and written reviews on other DGT products: Two Digital Clocks from DGT and Review of the DGT 2010 Digital Chess Clock. They were all top quality clocks. I can't imagine buying the DGT960 solely for the chess960 functions, but I will definitely consider it if I ever buy a new chess clock.

DGT960 Chess Clock

'♫ We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave ♫', my attic office is even hotter than it normally is, and the last thing I want to do is write a complicated post requiring all sorts of detailed analysis. That means it's time for a video, where the hard work has already been done by the video maker. In this case the video is about the DGT960 clock, narrated, if I'm not mistaken, by Albert Vasse of DGT.

DGT960 Chess Starting Position Generator (4:11) • 'The DGT960 can random generate one of the starting positions of chess960, also known as Fischer Random Chess.'

The first sequence in the video shows the start position of a traditional chess game (SP518 RNBQKBNR), where you can see the graphics used to denote individual pieces. Then it goes on to explain how you can select a position randomly...

Every time I push this button there will be a number between 1 and 960. [The display shows the number 466.] With this number there is a starting position. In this case it means BRNNKBRQ. (1:30 into the clip)

...select a numeric start position yourself...

I can set up a number for myself. Let's say I want to see what position 960 really is. I set up the 960 with the '+' and '-' button, and I see that position 960 is BBQNNRKR. (2:10)

...or enter a start position by setting up the pieces on specific start squares.

It looks great, except there is a small error in the explanation: 'Let's say I want to see what position 960 really is.' In chess960 there is no start position 960. The positions are numbered 000 to 959, so position 960 in the clip is in fact start position 0 (SP000 BBQNNRKR).

The reason why this must be is that the numbering of the first 16 positions (SP000-SP015) cycles through the 16 possible combinations of the two Bishops (BB......, B..B...., B....B.., etc.) while the relative position of the other pieces is fixed (QNNRKR for SP000-SP015). The same is true for all subsequent blocks of 16 positions.

This quibble aside, the DGT960 performs a valuable service to the chess960 community. See the end of the clip for related videos explaining other DGT960 functionality common to chess clocks in general.

More Chess960 Instructional Videos

In yesterday's post, Chess960 Instructional Videos, I featured a Chess.com video by FM Charles Galofre. I discovered afterwards that Galofre released a few chess960 videos on YouTube before making them for Chess.com. Here's the first.

Real Men Play Chess960 Ep.1 (6:51) • 'Real Men Play Chess!? you heard of that one? There is a youtube video with a continent full of views.' • SP032 BBNNQRKR

The clip he mentions is Real Men Play Chess, which has nothing to do with chess960. As for real men and chess960, the description continued,

Real Men Play Chess960 is a livestream video where FM Charles Galofre (me) rationalizes these irrational positions in live 3 minute games! Enjoy.

The position displayed at the beginning looks a lot like a successful attack for Black in a King Indian's Defense, until you realize that White, at the top of the screen, has just checkmated Black. A new game (SP032 BBNNQRKR) starts at 3:45 into the clip. • For more in the series, see YouTube - CharlesGalofre's Channel, and search 'chess960'. At the present time, there are five clips.

Chess960 Instructional Videos

It's been a few months since my last post with label Video and in the meantime several video makers have produced instructional videos for chess960. Here's a recent one from Chess.com (SP917 RKBBRQNN).

Chess.com - Fischer Random Matches 2 (Chess960) (3:52) • 'Today FIDE Master Charles Galofre continues his video series on the subject of Fischer Random chess.' • SP917 RKBBRQNN

The description continues,

As he gains experience, Charles also finds a way to apply some important "classic chess" principals like development, central control, and even castling! His perspective and understanding, as he puts it, is "maturing". Take a look at these entertaining games, and see if you too can increase your Chess960 skills

For the moment, there are only two clips in the series and I suppose adding more will depend on their popularity. For both videos see Chess Video Lesson Library - FM Charles Galofre.

Move Order in the Opening

If the only consideration in the opening was to Count the Developing Moves, chess would be an easy game. Every good player knows that, when developing the pieces at the beginning of the game, careful attention has to be paid to move order.

In the traditional start position (SP518: RNBQKBNR), we take for granted that two minor pieces must move before castling to either side is possible, and that the Queen must move before castling O-O-O is possible. In chess960, those considerations are different for each start position. In the worst case, positions like RKxxxxxR, five pieces must move before castling O-O is possible, while in RxxxxxKR five pieces must move before O-O-O is possible.

In SP518, we have guidelines like Knights before Bishops, when the best developing square for a Knight is often more obvious than the best square for a Bishop. In other chess960 positions, the best square for a Knight is not at all obvious and may depend on the opponent's initial moves.

Some time ago, in A Framework for Chess960 Opening Theory,
I noted that the different SPs can be classified and analyzed generically depending on which files the pieces are initially located. It turns out that the framework is useful in chess960 for counting the developing moves and for determining best move order.

The development of the pieces can't be taken individually. A good example is the family of positions like BxNxxxxx (or their twins xxxxxNxB), where White should be wary of Nc1-b3 (Nf1-g3 for the twins), blocking the movement of the b-Pawn and the opening of the diagonal for the Bishop on a1. If White has already played b2-b4 (g2-g4), the move Nc1-b3 (Nf1-g3) is perfectly logical. Similar considerations, usually more subtle, come into play for every chess960 opening.

Count the Developing Moves

In Chess Openings : Count the Developing Moves, I discuss a useful device for measuring progress in traditional chess.

Starting from the initial position, the minimum moves you need to develop your game completely are:-

* 2 Pawn moves to let the Bishops out
* 4 Minor piece moves
* 1 Queen move
* 2 Rook moves, developed to a center file
* 1 King move, usually by castling, more often by O-O than by O-O-O

That makes a total of 10 developing moves. This holds for both sides, whether you're playing White or Black. Looking at it another way, you start the game with eight pieces. On their original squares the pieces are undeveloped. You need to make at least one move with each piece plus two Pawn moves for the Bishops. That makes ten moves.

The count isn't perfect, because it ignores some common situations. For example, developing the Queen often requires another Pawn move, and castling is not always so straightforward. Sometimes castling develops both the King and Rook immediately. More often a second move is required to develop the Rook (after O-O) or to safety the King (after O-O-O). Despite its inaccuracies, the count is useful to compare the deployment of your army relative to your opponent's.

I've found that counting the development moves is also useful in chess960. There are, however, several different considerations. I'll cover some of these in future posts.