In our previous article, we described how Fischer Random chess came about, how it was promoted by Bobby Fischer, shortly before his death, how it came to Europe and then spread into the world chess scene. We spoke about Garry Kasparov's ideas on the game, how its name changed to Chess 960 with the Fischer rules there are 960 possible starting positions), and how the first 960 tournaments were staged in Germany.
We also discussed some possible alternate rules to the game: we select ten interesting positions to be used in tournaments and allow players to prepare in advance. Immediately before the start of each round, the audience in the hall (or on the Internet) selects one of these ten positions for all games. This provides spectator participation, which is never a bad thing. We also included a video in which Magnus Carlsen talked about Fischer Random Chess.
Today we bring you the views of grandmaster Levon Aronian on the subject, which came up when Aronian sats down with Manisha Mohite in Bengaluru (Bangalore) during the recent Global Chess League. The interview was conducted for the Deccan Herald, the main newspaper of the southern Indian city.
This is what he says:
Levon Aronian: I think in in a way it's also easy for us because we know that we can always switch to chess 960 any single day and that game is full of creativity.
Manisha Mohite: You have been a world champion in the Chess 960 or Fisher Random chess. Could you tell your experience with it?
LA: The first time I was introduced to it I fell in love with the game, because it's full of color. It feels amazing to play it because you have to um invent the game itself from move one. I think the reason why I was always successful in it was because I adore the game and I adore challenges. This has always been part of my life. Even from early age I always like challenges.
MM: So you think Fisher Random Chess or Chess 960 as it is called needs further exploration?
LA: Absolutely. We definitely we need some good literature written on it. I might be writing a book on it – I'm getting a team together for this. But I'm so busy with playing that it will take some time. But it is something I strongly believe should be done. Something to introduce the young generation to the game. So you learn Chess 960 instead of chess from the from your first game.
MM: Bringing a lot more creativity you think into the game?
LA: Yeah. And you know it's a game of the future I think because um you know the world is changing so fast and you cannot just grasp the amount of knowledge there is, the inexhaustible infinite possibilities.
The above is of great interest to people trying to form an opinion on Fischer Random, but we strongly advocate that you listen to at least passages of the rest of the 21-minute interview. Here are the subjects discussed – click on the links to start them in YouTube.
00:00 – First impressions of Bengaluru
01:31 – Surviving the Soviet collapse
02:37 – 3 Olympiad Golds for Armenia
03:07 – Early days in India & Viswanathan Anand
04:08 – The story behind the colorful shirts
05:22 – Did computers kill chess creativity?
06:01 – Why Chess960 is the future
08:52 – Why he moved to the US
10:19 – Rating India’s chess prodigies
11:37 – Gukesh vs. Ding Liren predictions
13:17 – Longevity in chess & Fabiano Caruana
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