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Rules of Fischer Random Chess
 King |
 Queen |
 Rook |
 Bishop |
 Knight |
 Pawn |
Fischer Random Chess is played just like Chess except as follows:
- The starting position is randomized with the following restrictions:
- Pawns are placed where they normally start in Chess.
- All remaining White pieces go on the first rank.
- The White King goes between the two Rooks.
- The White Bishops are placed on opposite color squares.
- The last rank is filled with Black pieces that match the White pieces file-for-file.
- A player may castle once per game under the following conditions:
- Unmoved: The King and the castling Rook must not have moved before in the game, including castling.
- Unattacked: All of the squares between the King's initial and final squares (including the initial and final squares) must not be under attack by any opposing piece.
- Vacant: All the squares between the King's initial and final squares (including the final square), and all of the squares between the Rook's initial and final squares (including the final square), must be vacant except for the King and castling Rook.
- When castling, the King and Rook always go to the same spaces they would go to in FIDE Chess.
- When the Rook began on the a-side of the King, they go to the spaces usual for Queen-side castling.
- When the Rook began on the h-side of the King, they go to the spaces usual for King-side castling.
Notation
You should be aware that Game Courier's notation is not identical with standard Chess notation. Game Courier has been designed for general use with any of several different Chess variants, and it accordingly uses a generic system of notation. This system is described in detail in the User's Guide. Here are the basics you need to know for Chess. Move a piece by writing its present coordinate, a hyphen, and its destination coordinate. For example, "e2-e4". There is no special operator for captures. A hyphen should be used even when a piece is captured. To signal to your opponent what piece you moved, and to provide an extra bit of error checking on the move you enter, you may include Game Courier's notation for the piece before the move. For example, "P e2-e4". Note that Game Courier uses uppercase letters for White pieces and lowercase for Black pieces. Black could enter "p e7-e5" for a move but not "P e7-e5".
This preset enforces the rules. It also automates en passant and castling. To capture by en passant, just move your Pawn to its destination. If it is a legal en passant move, your opponent's Pawn will be automatically captured.
To castle, move either your King or your Rook, but not both, to where it must go to castle. This move should be an otherwise illegal move. Either the King should move two or more spaces, or the King or Rook should hop over or capture the other. If you move your King only one space or move your Rook only across empty spaces, then your move will not count as castling. Once you have made half the castling move, the other piece will automatically move into place.
All promotions must be done explicitly. After moving your Pawn to the last rank, tack a semicolon to your Pawn move and add the new piece to the Pawn's space. For example, "P f7-f8; Q-f8".
How to Move Pieces
Full Algebraic Notation
Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.
It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.
Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.
You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".
You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.
You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.
Available Pieces
Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.
The inclusion of a piece does not indicate that it is used in the game you are playing. But if your game uses pieces not included here, you should choose a different piece set.
Credits
This preset uses the Abstract settings file for Fischer Random Chess, which was made by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017
WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001
Kibbitzing Etiquette
Kibbitzing is the practice of commenting on a game you are not playing. In commenting on a game, please follow these rules of etiquette.
(1) If you notice that someone has made an illegal move, please mention it. Some Game Courier presets cannot enforce rules, but Game Courier does enable players to take back any previous move. Details on how to take back a move are provided in the User's Guide, linked to above the board.
(2) Unless otherwise specifically asked to, do not offer hints or suggestions to players on what moves they should make. In general, avoid coaching comments.
(3) Once a game is over, it should be alright to offer your analysis of the game and your specific comments on what moves players should have made. If some players don't want this, they may mention it in the Kibbitzing section, and you should honor this request by not commenting on the game.
(4) Be polite. At the appropriate time, offer any criticism you have in a constructive manner. Avoid heckling players for bad moves.
(5) Don't spam this space with irrelevant comments. If you have a comment about Game Courier, rather than about the specific game you're viewing, please post it on Game Courier's Index page to give it.