Myth No.6 - 'Forced Wins for White'
Upon encountering chess960 for the first time, one of the first questions a new player asks is 'Are all 960 positions fair?'. I included a statement of this concern in Top 10 Myths About Chess960(May...
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Evolving Evaluations
The previous post Myth No.6 - 'Forced Wins for White'(March 2023) introduced 'the Molas study', a data scientist's effort 'to find if there’s a [chess960] *start position* that's better than the...
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Breaking the 4000 Barrier
The title comes from a recent post on my main blog Breaking the 3600 Barrier (April 2023), where the '3600 Barrier' refers to a chess rating level. In that post I wrote, I see that there are four CCRL...
View ArticleLeela in TCEC FRC Events
My previous post Breaking the 4000 Barrier (April 2023) was about chess960 ratings for engines. I wrote, The fourth [rating] list was based on chess960 games. Here are the top 25 engines from that...
View ArticleWhen Chess960 Reduces to Chess
Let's talk turkey. Once in a while I like to document my recent experience playing chess960 online. Earlier this year I posted The Fascinating World of Chess960 (January 2023), where I wrote, Last...
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Two PGN Challenges
A few days ago I was working on a post for my main blog, 2023 CJA Awards Announcement (May 2023; Chess Journalists of America), and took the time to catch up on The Chess Journalist Magazine...
View ArticleTwo PGN Challenges Met
At the end of my previous post, Two PGN Challenges (May 2023), I wrote, Here are two challenges for a future post: 1) Locate the PGN for both events, and 2) Locate a PGN viewer that understands...
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Chess960 in the Cloud
In a recent post, When Chess960 Reduces to Chess (May 2023), I wrote, The point where castling is no longer an option is exactly where chess960 starts to look and feel like chess starting from the...
View ArticleTCEC FRD
A year ago on this blog I had a pair of related posts... 2022-07-22: TCEC C960 FRC5 2022-08-27: TCEC DFRC1 ...where 'FRC' stands for 'Fischer Random Chess'. Last month on my main blog I had a pair of...
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Talking About Chess960
Almost every month, when I'm preparing a post for this blog, I check on recent chess960 news. By 'recent', I mean going back no more than a year, and by 'news', I mean a straightforward Google search...
View ArticleChess018 Is a Thing
This month's Chess Life (August 2023) had a three page article relevant to the world of chess960. Titled 'Chess18 : Streamers descend on a giant log cabin to try their hands at an interesting variant'...
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Chess018 and the CCRL
In last week's post, Chess018 Is a Thing (August 2023), I suggested an idea for a follow-up post:- One more idea that could be easily tested is to look at the chess018 start positions (SPs) on CCRL....
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2023 Champions Showdown, St. Louis
The top chess960 tournament of the year is undoubtedly the annual event hosted by the St. Louis chess club. The results for this year were announced on the club's blog in Grandmaster Sam Sevian...
View Article2023 Champions Showdown, Videos
In the previous post, 2023 Champions Showdown, St. Louis (September 2023), I quoted a press release from the Saint Louis Chess Club which started, SAINT LOUIS, September 12, 2023 - GM Sam Sevian won...
View ArticleWhat about Biel?
The annual chess960 tournaments at Biel (Switzerland) have been running for some years now and I've never given them a good look. In a recent post, Talking About Chess960 (July 2023), Biel appeared...
View Article2022 FWFRCC Lichess Swiss Group 2
A few months ago, in Talking About Chess960 (July 2023), I discovered an interesting link:- No.35; 2023-07-30: [Google] Swiss Rapid Fischer Random Championship (bielchessfestival.ch) The runner-up...
View Article2022 FWFRCC Hikaru's Climb
The previous post, 2022 FWFRCC Lichess Swiss Group 2 (October 2023), featured IM Eric Rosen, a popular chess streamer, broadcasting his participation in an intermediate stage of last year's 'FIDE World...
View ArticleLive Coverage from Biel
A couple of months ago, in What about Biel? (September 2023), I embedded a video and noted, It turns out that this video is the first of two parts and that there are previous year streams going back to...
View ArticleOrganizing an OTB Chess960 Tournament
A couple of months ago, in What about Biel? (September 2023), I wrote, Before I discovered this video, my objective in the search was to learn about best practices for organizing and directing an OTB...
View Article'You Dream of Getting Something Playable'
The description of the following video explained, Levon Aronian talks to Anastasiya Karlovich before the start of the 2023 Sinquefield Cup. This aired during round 4. GM Aronian has been seen many...
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A Chess Christmas Carol
Chess of Christmas Past, Present, and FutureChess of Christmas Past: People read books and study so-called opening 'theory', trying to find new moves to spring on unprepared, unsuspecting opponents....
View ArticleSayonara?
My chess960 blogging started on my main blog and lasted for about nine months... 2008-08-19: Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess? 2009-05-16: Chess960 Blogging Leaves Home ...It continued uninterrupted on...
View ArticleFreestyle Goats Challenge
I admit it; I just can't stop. In my previous post, Sayonara? (December 2023), I wrote, Now I'm going back into hibernation, although I won't rule out an occasional post if I have something to say...
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Carlsen Wins First Major Chess960 Event of 2024
In last month's only post on this blog, Freestyle Goats Challenge (January 2024), I closed it saying, The official site is Weissenhaus - Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge (freestyle-chess.com). I know...
View ArticleFreestyle Goats Might Return
Continuing with last week's post, Carlsen Wins First Major Chess960 Event of 2024 (February 2024), here's a Youtube stream showing the games from the final day. Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge -...
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