FISCHER-RANDOM

***** FISCHER-RANDOM *****

Fischer Random Chess (wild 22 on ICC) is a chess variant invented
by Bobby Fischer.  To play a game of Fischer Random Wild on the ICC,
type "seek w22" to issue a seek, or "match Fred w22" to offer a game
to a specific player (Fred for example).

For the initial position, White's pieces are arranged randomly by
computer on the first rank, with bishops on opposite colors, and
the king somewhere between the two rooks.  Then Black's pieces are
arranged as a mirror image of White's.  Pawns are on their usual
squares.  There are 960 possible starting configurations, and they
are each equally likely to be picked.

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.

Versions of BlitzIn prior to 2.5 may not handle the display of 
castling moves correctly.

See also:  wild