Even if at the beginning of each Fischer Random game the pawns of each player are placed exactly as in the beginning of a classic Chess game, the position of the pieces is randomly drawn by computer. However, one Rook will always be to the left of the King and the other to its right. One Bishop will always be on white squares and the other on black. In the starting position, whites and blacks clearly have an identical and symmetrical position.
In Fischer Random, there are 960 possible starting positions: the starting position of standard Chess game and 959 other positions. Of course, in Fischer Random, the castling rule is modified to allow the possibility of making short and long castling from any of the 960 initial positions.
All rules, except for castling, are identical to those of standard Chess.
Castling in Fischer Random
To perform the castling, simply place "the King on the Rook" that needs to be castled. See below for an example of the long castling by the Whites.
As in classic chess:
- all the squares between the King and the Rook must be empty
- neither the King nor the Rook must have previously moved from their initial square
- the King must not be in check at the time of castling or afterwards
- the King must not "pass over under a check" by performing the castling
The positions of the King and the Rook after castling are exactly the same as those of classic chess castling.
