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Recognized Chess Variants. Index page listing the variants we feel are most significant. (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Greg Strong wrote on Mon, Nov 29, 2004 06:20 PM UTC:

I disagree with Robert Fischer.  It is not possible to test EVERY possible
permutation, since there are tens of thousands of them.  And I think it is
totally unnecessary.  Fischer Random Chess has 960 different set-ups, and
probably, by now, all have been played at least once, but *NO* organized
effort has been made to test each and every one by high-level Chess
players for playability.  In fact, FRC doesn't even try to avoid
unprotected pawns.  Considering the number of FRC enthusiasts, I doubt
it's necessary.  Besides, as Fergus recently pointed out in a different
thread, the most common opening move in Chess is pawn to king-4, which
creates an unprotected pawn!  As long as white and black have identical
setups (mirror-symmetry, not rotational-symmertry) the game appears to be
fair.  I see no reason why Capablanca Random Chess would not be fair,
especially since Dr. Scharnagl has excluded all setups with unprotected
pawns.

Regarding Capablanca Random Chess:
Good work, Reinhard!  You have taken the concept of crossing Capablanca
Chess with Fischer randomizations and done a fantastic job of identifying
the issues that need to be addressed, such as castling and proper
notation.  I look forward to adding proper support for this game to
ChessV.

You asked how a game becomes 'recognized'.  I suspect you didn't mean
to use that word.  There are only about 30 variants that are listed as
Recognized Variants on this site, and it takes a while to become a
Recognized Variant.  What I suspect you want is to have a web page created
on this site for the game.  There are well over a thousand such games, and
it is not hard for yours to be added.  Technically, all that is required
is that you submit an e-mail to the editors.  They are very busy, though,
and they can get it up much faster if you have it already formatted into
their HTML template.  If you would like, I would be happy to take the
description you submitted, and format it properly, and submit it for you. 
I can also create a Game Courier preset for you if you like.

P.S.  Is your book on Fischer Random Chess available in English?

Sincerely,
Greg Strong