***** chess960 ***** Command: chess960 or: 960 This is a different rating category and way to find an opponent. You just do the command "chess960" and the system will automatically pair you with an opponent, usually someone near your rating and someone you haven't played in the last few games. You may have to wait a bit before it makes the pairing and starts the game, depending on how many other appropriate opponents are joining the playing pool. The games are 3 1, and are always rated in the chess960 category, not in the wild category. This is the only way to start a game in the chess960 rating category. The hope is that by not allowing people to hand-pick their opponents, not only will the ratings be more accurate, but also there won't be nonsense like having people avoid playing you when you're underrated. Once the game starts, you should finish it. Disconnections are treated as losses. (Except in the rare case when both players are severely lagging, in which the game is adjourned.) Of course, we realize that this means that players with unreliable network connections will tend to have lower ratings. But this rule eliminates a whole set of possible abuses and disputes. Computers and computer-assisted players are not allowed to play. Please do not get assistance from chess engines, databases, or from other players while playing. You won't be able to play a chess960 game if your average lag for your current login session is more than 1000 milliseconds. You can see your average lag by typing "ping". The requirement for having an active chess960 rating (once you have established a rating by playing 20 games) is 8 games in the last week. Noplay and censor lists and formula are ignored by the chess960 pairing system. If two players waiting to be paired have an adjourned game (of any type), the pairing system will resume that game. You can leave the pool of players waiting to be paired by typing "match" or "unseek". chess960 play is normally only available on the main server, chessclub.com. ---++ How to play Chess960 on the ICC Chess960 is a name for Bobby Fischer's new and improved version of "Randomized Chess". Chess960 uses algebraic notation exclusively At the start of every game of a Chess960 game, both players Pawns are set up exactly as they are at the start of every game of Classical Chess. In Chess960 just before the start of every game, both players pieces on their respective back rows receive an identical random shuffle decided by the ICC server, which is programmed to set up the pieces in any combination, with the provisos that one Rook has to be to the left and one Rook has to be to the right of the King, and one Bishop has to be on a lightcolored square and one Bishop has to be on a dark-colored square. White and Black have identical positions. From behind their respective Pawns the opponents pieces are facing each other directly, symmetrically. Thus for example, if the server places White's back row pieces in the following position: Ra1, Bb1, Kc1, Nd1, Be1, Nf1, Rg1, Qh1, it will place Black's back row Pieces in the following position, Ra8, Bb8, Kc8, Nd8, Be8, Nf8, Rg8, Qh8, etc. Castling is basically the same as in regular chess, except the king and rook may start on different squares from regular chess. The king and rook end up on the same squares as in regular chess, for example, c1 and d1, or g1 and f1 for White. All the other usual castling rules apply (you cannot castle out of or into check, squares the king passes over or onto cannot be attacked by the opponent or occupied by pieces, squares the rook passes over or onto cannot be occupied, and you can't have moved the king or rook previously). A strange example of castling is that if your king and rook start out on b1 and a1, you can castle "queenside" resulting in the king moving to c1 and the rook to d1! But you can't make the move just by moving your king from b1 to c1, because that will be interpretted as a king move. If your king is moving fewer than two squares when it castles, you can make the move by typing "OO" (or "oo" or "O-O") for kingside castling or "OOO" (or "ooo" or"O-O-O") for queenside castling. If you are using BlitzIn 2.6+ or Dasher 1.1.2+ you can also castle by dragging the king on top of the rook you are castling with. These methods work for any castling situation. If your king is moving two squares or more, you can just move the king and it will be understood that you intend to castle. See also: one-minute, three-minute, five-minute, fifteen-minute, forty-five-minute, seeking, ratings