I've played Fischer Random Chess a few times lately on FICS and I really don't understand why it isn't more popular. The openings can get a little wild and all the games I've played have been very entertaining. For some reason though I hae had a very hard time getting a game even during peak hours. Can anyone offer any insight as to why this variant isn't more popular?

If anyone is up for a game I'm ShawnAvery on FICS.

For me, I think it would be quite difficult to play anything resembling a quality game at blitz time controls. And if I'm going to play slow chess, I'd rather play classical and work on my game.

What is it, exactly?

Instead of setting up the pieces for the game the same way every time, they are set up randomly (just the pieces along the back row). Black and White both have them set up in the same way, and there are several restrictions, so there are actually 960 possible starting positions, which is why it is now often called Chess960.

OP provided the wikipedia link, but in summary... Pawns are placed on their usual squares. Pieces are placed on the back rank in a randomly determined arrangement (black pieces mirror their white counterparts), with the following constraints: 1. Bishops must be placed on opposite colored squares. 2. King must be between the two rooks, to allow for castling. This results in 960 possible starting positions, after that the rules are the same as regular chess. So basically if you don't want to bother with memorizing openings, you and your opponent will be equally in the dark from the starting position in Fischer Random (unless your very dedicated opponent has been studying the openings for each of the 960 start positions).

At first I thought the rules meant there would effectively be only 480 different starting positions, since a position and its mirror image are really the same position. But the castling rules break the symmetry since the white king ends up on c1 when castling to the left, and g1 when castling to the right.

Good question. My best guess is, as a variant, it's rather mild compared to some of the others available on the online servers. In the end it's still pretty much straight up chess. I think when people are in the mood for a variant, the spectacular games are more appealing. With stuff like bughouse and atomic, the play is completely different than normal chess, and is more satisfying for somebody seeking a break from straight chess.

I think people like FischerRandom just fine, but it just gets beat out by the more exciting variants.

How do you play this (or any other variation of the game) on FICS?

I am a big fan of FR chess, but the big turnoff for ppl imo is they have "worked" too hard on there opening theory and will lose their Adv and will have to rely on being the Better Player. As for the lower rated players, they seem to hide behind their openings and it takes longer to beat them even though their game is very weak in their other areas, such as tactics ,position, and endings (you know, CHESS).

ATrebek, if you want a game on there my handle is the same.

something like "seek 5 0 wild fr" to seek a 5 minute game, etc

i enjoy FR