No Castling Chess – Anand vs Kramnik

[Wayne Komer]

No Castling Chess – Anand vs Kramnik

May 19, 2021

This summer Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand will face each other in an innovative chess variant, proposed by Kramnik: No-Castling chess. There is one simple rule change – no castling allowed, everything else remains the same as in the regular chess – is meant to combat over-preparation and drawing tendencies in chess. Experience shows that it also leads to more exciting games. In parallel the online Sparkassen Playchess Open for participants from all over the world will be in the "No-Castling“ format.

In the duel, quite a novelty will be in the focus of the chess world from July 13 on: with Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand, two living legends of the international chess scene, will play four chess games against each other with classical thinking time, yet without the possibility of castling. The so-called "No-Castling Chess", an idea explored by the DeepMind AlphaZero team and Vladimir Kramnik, will use this tiny rule change to force players to deviate from memorized opening lines, and thus lead to completely new creativity. The game promises to become more dynamic and entertaining without deviating from its familiar rules and patterns.

Demis Hassabis, CEO and founder of DeepMind, the most advanced enterprise in developing Artificial Intelligence said: „When we first introduced AlphaZero, its creative and dynamic style inspired chess players around the world. Now, it’s exciting to see world-class players like Vladimir Kramnik work with AlphaZero to design novel possibilities for the game. I look forward to seeing the No-Castling variant played between two former World Champions, and I hope it will once again inspire players of all levels to explore new possibilities and ideas in chess.“

The Sparkassen Chess Trophy and the 48th Dortmund International take place 10 to 18 July, 2021

See: https://en.chessbase.com/post/anand-...ik-no-castling

Also: https://sparkassen-chess-trophy.de/en

[Hans Jung]

Will be very interesting to watch.

[Brad Thomson]

A very small step in the right direction. At least the problem is being recognized, if not adequately dealt with. But players will still have plenty of time for "preparation" with computer analysis, however, by simply inputting the moves 1.Nh3 Nh6 2.Rg1 Rg8 3.Rh1 Rh8 4.Ng1 Ng8... Further, do not expect games where the central pawns are exchanged early, expect games where the central pawns are locked, or held back, and play to take place on the wings. Chess is shooting itself in the foot by not recgonzing the need for Fischerandom. What humans always seem to fear the most is change, yet change is the only thing in existence that is permanent.

[Pargat Perrer]

A very small step in the right direction. At least the problem is being recognized, if not adequately dealt with. But players will still have plenty of time for "preparation" with computer analysis, however, by simply inputting the moves 1.Nh3 Nh6 2.Rg1 Rg8 3.Rh1 Rh8 4.Ng1 Ng8... Further, do not expect games where the central pawns are exchanged early, expect games where the central pawns are locked, or held back, and play to take place on the wings. Chess is shooting itself in the foot by not recgonzing the need for Fischerandom. What humans always seem to fear the most is change, yet change is the only thing in existence that is permanent.

Brad, as you likely know, one of the criticisms of FischerRandom chess has to do with castling. I'm wondering what you think of FischerRandom chess combined with No Castling Chess?

We'd have to come up with a cool name for it, since FischerRandom No Castling chess is kind of wordy. Perhaps something that recognizes both Fischer and Kramnik for their contribution. But not something like F**K chess lol.

Fischnik?

FiKr?

[Peter McKillop]

[Hans Jung]

My afternoon chuckle Pete, and my supportive wife Anne laughed uproariously!

[Brad Thomson]

Brad, as you likely know, one of the criticisms of FischerRandom chess has to do with castling. I'm wondering what you think of FischerRandom chess combined with No Castling Chess?

I will defer to Fischer himself. But it may be the case that certain permutations favour White to an unusal extent, and perhaps computers could be used to eliminate these from the mix.

[Patrick Kirby]

I've been playing a little bit of Fischer Random chess online. I think without castling it would kind of suck as a game, since there are many positions where it would be too hard to bring the rooks into play.

The main criticisms I would have of it would be that it's hard to play a decent game at fast time controls. 3 0 is pretty much pointless, and even 5 0 is a stretch. Also some of the start positions tend to be inflexible, so you're pretty much forced into particular set ups from the get-go. Like if the bishop starts in the corner you don't have any choice but to fianchetto or if a Knight starts in the corner, most of the time you will develop it to b3 or g3. Not all the starting positions will be as rich as classical chess, but eliminating theory makes it a more interesting game, at least from my point of view.