Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess? (Batsford Chess Books) (Paperback)

~ Svetozar Gligoric (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

There has long been talk of the death of chess, that it would one day be 'played out', but with the use of powerful computer programs and databases in recent years, this fear is being taken very seriously. Computers have greatly accelerated the pace of opening knowledge and ever deeper and deeper preparation is now required - with many chess games effectively starting on move 20 or more. To side-step the effect of computers on our venerable game the great American champion Bobby Fischer has devised a form of chess in which the initial starting position of the pieces is randomly changed before each game. Much thought and practical experimentation has gone into the formulation of the new rules of 'Fischerandom' in order to retain all the essential qualities of the classical form of the game- even castling - so that players can once again enjoy pure chess where the only thing that counts is who is the better player on the day. The first all-grandmaster Fischerandom match has already taken place and is predicted to increase the new game's popularity. In this book, the first ever on Fischerandom, the author discusses at length the problems the chess world is facing today - with quotes and opinions from contemporary players, organisers and journalists - and the history of shuffe chess, together with complete Fischerandom rules and a selection of illustrative games.

About the Author

Svetczar Gligoric is an acclaimed journalist and grandmaster. Once rated the strongest European chess player outside of Russia, he is a long-time friend of Bobby Fischer and thus ideally suited to explain the rules and theories of Fischerandom chess.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Batsford; Illustrated. edition (June 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071348764X
• ISBN-13: 978-0713487640
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,311,389 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pioneering book on FRC - Chess960, February 19, 2006

By	Eugene Milener "Gene_M" (near Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Gligoric's book, published in 2002, was the first ever on the topic of FRC, or what many now call chess960. Since then, R.Scharnagl and G.Milener (me) have also published chess960 books (search Amazon for "chess960" or "Fischer Random").

This book of Gligoric's was written before the annual chess960 tournaments in Mainz, Germany had yet occurred often enough to accumulate .PGN files of now hundreds of grandmaster level chess960 games.
Gligoric was a World Chess Champion Candidate, and he is friends with Bobby Fischer.

Part One of this book will be of particular interest to those who enjoy reading about the history of chess.

Here is Gligoric's Table of Contents:

Author's Forward
Author's Note

Part One: World Champion Bobby Fischer, Creator of Fischerandom Chess

Devising Plans for the First Professional Match in Fischerandom Chess

Introduction

Origin of the game of chess and its brief history
Nature of the game
Society and the game through the centuries
The global breakthrough of the game of chess
Chess boom in the Seventies and Eighties
The Nineties in jeopardy of chess recession
The approaching crisis?
World champion Fischer - in chess and for chess
Grandmasters and the future of the game

Part Two: Birth of a New Chess Game

Dilemmas to be resolved
The harbingers of "Bobby Fischer mode" in Europe
The first Fischerandom Chess tournament - in 1996
No rapid progress in popularity of F.R.Chess till 2000
On the eve of the "Big Day"
The story of the random positioning of pieces
Piece shuffler - as a new item
Chess clock - at last the player's friend
Golder rules crucial to the future of the new chess

Fischerandom Rules

Part Three: Fischerandom Chess contest in Frankfurt fails because of mistaken shuffling!

World Premiere of Fischerandom Chess at a High Level

Exhibition Games in San Francisco

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's NOT Play Fischer Random Chess, January 7, 2008

By	V. N. Dvornychenko (Rockville, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author, Svetozar Gligoric, at his prime ranked as one of the foremost grandmasters. His tournament playing may be limited now, but he uses his vast experience and knowledge of English to write books. A great devotee of Bobby Fischer, he has written what is arguably the definitive analysis of the Spassky-Fischer match.
To Gligoric's credit, he is able to look beyond Fischer's eccentricities, and recognize the brilliance of the man and his considerable contributions. But sometimes ... as in this book ... one gets the impression he is stretching it a bit.
The subject of the book is a proposed solution to the crisis that professional chess is currently undergoing. The causes, in order of importance, are: 1) tremendous progress in chess-playing computers; 2) break up of the Soviet Union, and 3) too many grandmasters.
The proposed solution is a type of chess in which the back row of chessmen is randomized ... subject to certain restrictions.
Will this "save chess?" I don't think so ... assuming it needs saving.
First of all, Fischer was by no means the first to suggest randomizing chess. Such proposals go back at least one hundred years. The fact that they have not caught on is meaningful. Gligoric would like us to believe that Fischer's modifications are just what was needed, and will make random chess a huge success. Personally, I don't see Fischer's modifications as of the magnitude of his other contributions. Perhaps Gligoric hopes that simply attaching Fischer's name will provide the magic ingredient.
Fischerandom chess is unlikely to replace "classical" chess for much the same reason that the aluminum bats have not entered professional baseball: it would take a beautifully crafted game with a long tradition ... and throw it all out the window.
Sadly, Fischer in certain respects contributed to chess's current plight by raising expectations of tournament prizes and fees to unsustainable levels ...there simply are not enough dedicated fans.

[Addendum added 17 Jan 08] I would like to conclude on a more positive note. While I don't see Fischerandom chess replacing classical chess, I can see it as an interesting alternative for casual play (as is "Kriegspiel"). Also, by turning banks of computers loose on the various initial positions, important information might be obtained regarding white's starting advantage. Do any of the starting positions offer white an overwhelming advantage? Vaguely possible, though unlikely, is that some positions give black the advantage (because of the "zugzwang" phenomenon).
Finally, is it possible to create a variant of chess -- meta-chess, so to speak -- in which the moves are at a higher strategic level, the computer filling in the details?

3 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting new perspectives, August 20, 2004

By	I. Knezovic (Croatia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book would be a very useful for those who think clasical chess in diing into uncatchible theory+computer combo. Get ready for exiting new stuff, shuffle the back rank and play from the first move.
P.S.(20.2.2006): As a concept, this book is fine, but it lacks a games. I think it now needs a heavy revision, and to be updated with more games, and cuts on rules. I would lower a star mark at 3, but I can not do that in this edited review. Count as 3 stars please.