Arbiting a Freestyle Event

by ChessBase
7/15/2025 – The chess world is showing increasing interest in what many now refer to as “Freestyle Chess.” Having served as Chief Arbiter at two such events this year - one in Weissenhaus, Germany in February and another in Paris, France in April - Gerhard Bertagnolli has encountered a number of unique challenges. These are worth sharing, as Freestyle Chess differs from classical chess in several subtle yet significant ways.
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Experience as arbiter in a Freestyle Chess event

By Gerhard Bertagnolli, Italy

Naming Conventions

The name people use for this kind of chess can change:

  • Chess960 is the official name in the FIDE Laws of Chess. It refers to the 960 distinct possible starting positions.
  • Fischer Random Chess is a more descriptive name, often used in the media and by the general public. It also reminds us of Bobby Fischer, the 11th World Chess Champion.
  • Freestyle Chess is a more recent and increasingly popular term. It emphasizes the creativity and openness resulting from randomized starting setups.

Will a starting position be excluded?

As all of you know, the starting position we use in classical chess is also one of the 960 possibilities in Freestyle Chess: it is exactly position number 518! A very similar setup, with only the king and queen swapped, is position 534. One of the first questions in the Freestyle tournament is: Which positions are excluded?

While all 960 positions are legal, tournament regulations may exclude certain ones, such as 518 or even 534. These exclusions must be clearly stated before the tournament begins. Imagine if no such rule was declared, and position 518 was drawn - what then?

Another essential point is the method of selecting the starting position. All simultaneous games should be played with the same starting position. The ideal approach is to draw a number between 0 and 959 (excluding any prohibited positions) using a transparent and reliable method. One example might be drawing from a box of numbered balls - but seriously, who has that many balls lying around?

If such a complete set is not available, a practical alternative is to use three separate boxes: All boxes include numbers from 0 to 9 - drawing one number from each box and combining them generates a number from 000 to 959 (surely if first drawn number is a “9”, then the second drawn number must be between 0 and 5).

Additionally, it should be clearly stated whether a starting position can be reused during the tournament or not. Personally, I recommend avoiding positions that have already been used in the tournament.

Announcement of the drawn position

A critical moment before the round is the announcement of the drawn position. At this point, all players must be physically present in the tournament hall. Absolute isolation from external sources of information is essential - this includes other players, coaches, electronic devices, and written materials.

Why is this important?

The idea is simple: Some initial positions offer White a significant advantage - if optimal move sequences are known (some well-known engines even announce an advantage of up to +0,8). With the emergence of opening literature dedicated to Freestyle Chess (akin to the opening encyclopedias of the 1980s and 90s), pre-game seclusion becomes a key measure to ensure fairness.

You can surely imagine the advantage a player would have, knowing what exactly is/are the best initial moves/s for the selected starting position…

During the tournaments where I served as Chief Arbiter -featuring all top players with ratings of 2700+ - we introduced a special feature: players were allowed to take a 10-minute consultation break before the start of the game. During this break, they could seek advice from other participants who were playing in the same round and with the same color. Of course, such a rule must be clearly stated in the tournament regulations beforehand. I found it particularly interesting to observe how differently players made use of this opportunity: most gathered to discuss the position and exchange ideas, while a few chose instead to spend the 10 minutes alone at their board, focusing solely on their own thoughts (possibly related to opening ideas) and strategies.

Technical setup and position preparation

Once a position is drawn:

  • Verify the position using a reliable tool or website. For instance, https://www.freestyle-chess.com/ provides a configurator where the position number can be entered to display the setup.
  • Display the position on a large screen visible to all participants simultaneously. This minimizes information lag and prevents any single player from analyzing the position ahead of others.
  • Pre-game preparation time - yes or no? Consider displaying the position several minutes (e.g., 5–10 minutes) before the actual round starts. This allows players time to formulate basic strategies. In Freestyle Chess, a weak first move can immediately compromise the game.
  • Set up each board manually, based on the selected position. Double-checking is essential; mistakes at this stage could compromise the entire game’s integrity.

Practical observations during the game

Freestyle chess retains all rules of classical chess with only one twist: the “new” starting position. The arbiter should try to:

  • Start all games simultaneously.
  • Monitor castling closely, as it's frequently misunderstood in unfamiliar starting layouts. Try to apply the standard rule for castling: first touch the king, after move the rook (if necessary), and … all by one hand! In some starting positions, the king or rook (but not both) do not move during castling. In some starting positions, castling can take place as early as the first move.

An easy rule to remember: after castling is completed, the king and the involved rook must end up on the same squares as they would in a standard game.

  • Be patient if some players delay their first move. This is often a calculated pause, especially among top players who aim to intuit the underlying ideas behind the unorthodox starting position.
  • Understand that some players will wait to see what others play first - this is common.

Don't forget: If live broadcasting is used, make sure that the DGT boards are correctly configured for the drawn position. Even if this isn’t formally the arbiter’s duty, in practice it often becomes one - a false starting position on screen can spark confusion or rumors among the audience. And at that point, it's definitely the arbiter’s responsibility to fix the rumors - so it’s better to prevent the issue in the first place!

Final notes

Beyond the initial complexities, a round of Freestyle Chess proceeds much like a classical one. However, the arbiter’s responsibilities before the first move are considerably more demanding.

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Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

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Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 7/16/2025 09:51
I understood perfectly well what you said, I just, with all respect, don't agree with it. Rules should be as simple as possible, with as little exceptions as possible. Fischer's solution collides with artt. 3.8 and 4.4 of the FIDE Handbook. The touch-move rule is one of the centerpieces of chess. In Chess960 rules, you would need to make clear that castling is an exception to these articles. That is an unnecessary complication, so the FIDE solution should have preference over Fischer's solution.
Rules evolve with practice. Fischer being the originator doesn't mean he should be followed to the letter; he didn't write a bible. Whatever people may think about FIDE, the rules commission has always consisted of able, experienced people, willing to adapt or expand the rules when necessary. I guess that's why they have given, for the time being, recommendations instead of set rules for Chess960. You need serious experience before legislation.
By the way, I guess another, perfectly legal way to castle is to first pick up the king and then with the same hand the rook, before releasing them on the appointed squares. So the set rules give some flexibility as well.
Nordlandia Nordlandia 7/16/2025 07:33
You're not getting the gist of what I said before, let me break it down for you. Since the rook is in the way, it's perfectly fine to move it first. Fischer's is the originator and should have some weight when Fide doesn't take into account all possible scenarios that can arise.
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 7/15/2025 11:46
Castling is a king's move (see art.3.8/3.8.2). As I said, it is important to make this distinction as for the touch-move rule, it should always be clear which piece was touched first. So I think FIDE's solution to put the king outside the board is a useful one. Just as I think Bertagnolli's (is it his?) suggestion to first touch the king when it doesn't move in castling, is useful, and should be added to FIDE's recommendations.
Nordlandia Nordlandia 7/15/2025 11:12
I'm especially thinking about when the rook blocks where the king wants to go. Based on Fischer's rules, you can choose whether to move both pieces first in that case.

"If the Rook is on the square where the King will go, you gotta move the Rook first then the King. If not, you can choose to move the King first or the Rook first, it's totally up to you"
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 7/15/2025 10:20
Nordlandia,
I don't quite understand what you mean by 'more flexible castling rules'. White sticks to one set of rules and black to another? Surely not. One set of rules in one tournament and another set in another? Seems very confusing. Accept just any way of castling, like keeping the rook in your hands for a couple of seconds and then castle all the same? Not very 'tidy'.
I guess organisers of Fischer Random/Chess960/Freestyle Chess events will refer to the official FIDE rules insofar they don't collide with the peculiarities of their kind of game, but I think it's a bad idea if for this each organiser tries to find its own solution. So it seems to me you need a generally accepted umbrella body to solve issues like this...
Nordlandia Nordlandia 7/15/2025 08:14
Fide has only included a shorter section of Fischer's original rules sheet of '96. Of course, this can lead to uncertainty and ambiguity. Yet, i don't understand why they don't try to keep it more tidy and accept that the castling rules are made more flexible for this format.
Frits Fritschy Frits Fritschy 7/15/2025 07:16
As I understand it, if the king doesn't leave its starting position when castling, you have to touch it ('first touch the king, after move the rook') before letting the rook jump over it? Seems logical (FIDE Handbook art.4.4.2: '[If a player having the move:] deliberately touches a rook [and then his/her king] he/she is not allowed to castle on that side), but the 'Guidelines II on Chess960 Rules' seem to have a different view ('II.3.2.4 [the castling manoeuvre is performed by one of these four methods:] rook-move-only castling: by making only a move with the rook').
By the way, the Handbook seems to be willing to keep the option that the king is female (art. II.3.2.5: 'it is recommended that the king be moved outside the playing surface next to his/her final position'). Don't let Trump hear this, or chess may be banned in the US!
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