Bobby Fischer was tired of classic chess. For 20 years, the former world champion had completed no tournament game and now it overwhelmed him Grand Master with their new analyzes, variants and combinations. But Fischer did not care, he wanted to play chess and not work chess. The show duel against Boris Spasski in 1992, the repetition of the famous World Cup duel of 1972, he still won. But Fischer's long break was seen on the board. His openings seemed downright dusty.
Preparation, that was something for the Russians, who calculated their Spanish or their Sveshnikov variant down to the last detail, arranged moves and pushed games. At least that's how Fischer thought in his ongoing paranoia. The classic chess was no longer for him, who loved it so much to let his creativity run wild. He needed something new.
The former world champion turned to chance chess. A variant in which the figures are placed randomly on the baseline and any opening theory is useless. He himself was considering new rules.
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Bobby Fischer relied on his creativity on the board
One who is very familiar with the variant, is Grandmaster Peter Svidler, three times he was unofficial world champion in Fischer Random. "For professionals, this game is extremely attractive, because it allows the purest expression of fantasy and the understanding of chess, without having to worry about the preparation," says Svidler the SPIEGEL. That's exactly the idea behind the first official World Cup in so-called Fischer Random Chess. This year, the World Federation Fide has recognized the variant, starting Sunday, inter alia, Magnus Carlsen for the title.
The father of this World Cup variant is Fischer. He had considered restrictive rules for his variant of random chess. However, when he realized that these rules had been laid down in 1910 by Izidor Gross, a Jew, the morbid anti-Semite, according to biographer Frank Brady, clearly wanted to distinguish himself from Gross (read a portrait of Bobby Fischer here). He changed his guidelines for the frame of the random starting line-up, they establish to this day the Fischer Random Chess:
- the farmers are in the second row
- the king must stand between the two towers
- there must be a runner for the black and one for the white squares
- the black figures reflect the white lineup
Video: This is how a game ends in the Fischer Random Chess
Despite pressing, @GMHikaru can not quite pull a win as Black against @FabianoCaruana, and now he wants to score big in the rapid and lightning to come back! #French pic.twitter.com/QbkN3nu4p8
- Fischer Random Chess (@fr_chess) October 6, 2019The effects of this character change are enormous. This is a simple calculation: After the first move of a classic game 400 different positions are possible, after the second move there are already 72,084. If the 960 different basic positions of the random-chess are added, players will have unimaginable possibilities. Nobody can prepare for all kinds of basic positions. The result: in random chess only the thinking on the board, not the preparation decides.
When Fischer considered his rules for random chess, he did so because his arch rivals, the Soviet Union players, were opening specialists. They had the best textbooks and thus a knowledge advantage. But today the variant is more relevant than ever. Chess computers beat every player, with their help all opening ways can be calculated. Although the possibilities in the classic game are huge, it is becoming increasingly difficult for players to find new opening combinations. Even in Fischer's time, players thought of the worst case: At some point everything was played once, just not everyone.
Players welcome fisherman chess
Of course, the World Cup in Fischerschach will not replace the classic game. Alone, because the new variant is hardly comprehensible. A match is hardly predictable for the players on the board, it is also the viewers. The attraction for fans lies in the fact that they can count on the basis of their theoretical knowledge and find solutions for problems on the board themselves, explains expert Svidler. This is no longer possible with a variant in which the previous knowledge is almost zeroed - not even for the professional commentators.
Only the basal guidelines of classic chess apply to the random variant: The center fields are very important, the jumpers and runners should be developed quickly.
Although Fischer-Random also has its disadvantages, the top players welcome the variant. "I think more than 90 percent support more fishing chess because it's fun," says Svidler. Random chess is a welcome change, also because a preparation is as good as impossible. He did not even know if Carlsen, world champion in classic chess, was even preparing, and if so, then probably only with training games.
Salah Malkawi / Getty Images
Peter Svidler became unofficial world champion in Fischer Rand three times. In the current World Cup but he retired in the quarterfinals
On Sunday, the World Cup semi-finals begin in Norway. Shortly before the games one of the 960 positions will be drawn by software, then two games will be played, each player will play once with white and once with black.
Unofficially, the World Cup took place eight times in the Fischer Random, after his victory in 2018 Carlsen is in this variant of the defending champion and favorite. In particular, the Norwegian distinguishes his creativity in the endgame. "What happens in Norway becomes extremely interesting," says Svidler. "Because four very, very strong players will show us what this game offers."