Re: Is random chess fair?

>In random chess, where the back rows are shuffled prior to starting the
>game, are any of the starting positions known to give white (or black) an
>advantage, possibly even a forced victory? What about in Fischerrandom
>chess? Thanks.

Very interesting question, I've wondered that myself.  I've not heard or read
anything about it.  In my very humble opinion, for Fischerandom at least, I
would guess that "with proper play" every one of Fischerandom's 960 starting
positions are playable (presumably from the Black side).  I base this on three
"facts":

1) All of the theory pertaining to the one, classical, starting position
indicates that THAT starting position is a draw "with best play from both
sides."  (We may never know, but it sure looks that way)

2) One would imagine that Fischer has analyzed, at least cursorily, every one
of the "other" 959 starting positions before he presented the new game and its
rules.  One would assume that if there were one or more " weak" starting
positions (again, one would presume from the Black perspective) Fischer would
have indicated as much and voided or disqualified those positions from the
game.

3) Lastly, and speaking only to Fischerandom chess, there is a natural
structure to those 960 allowable positions -- the mirror symmetry, one bishop
on each color, the loosened - but still regulated - castling -- which I would
think is similar enough to the classical starting position that one could
reasonably assume that there is no "losing" starting position among the 960.

Having said all of the above, I would venture one opposing argument - There are
indeed many starting positions (I couldn't even guess how many out of 960) in
which one or more pawns are unprotected at the outset.  One could imagine a
scenario in which, say, two pawns are unprotected and Black is not able to
defend them both and still have a tenable game out of the opening.  Maybe if
there is a weakness to one or more starting Fischerandom positions, this would
be it.

Andy