Transcendental chess

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Transcendental chess. One of the possible starting positions.

Transcendental chess is a chess variant invented in 1978 by Maxwell Lawrence. Chess960 (Fischer Random Chess) is similar but has fewer starting positions. In transcendental chess the beginning positions of the pieces on the back row are randomly determined, with the one restriction that the bishops be on opposite-colored squares. There are 8,294,400 such positions in total. In Chess960 there are 960 possible starting positions, but that is because the king must be located between the rooks and both sides must have the same starting position. In transcendental chess there is no such rule so the position of one side can be any of 4² x 6! / 2² = 2880. There is no castling. On the first turn a player, instead of making a move, can transpose any of two pieces on the back row.

In Chess960 the back rows are mirror images, but in transcendental chess the setup of black and white is different 2879 out of every 2880 times (there being a 1-in-2880 chance that both sides will draw the same setup). This can create inequalities in the position. One way to equalize these inequalities is to play a couplet: the players play two games, one each as white and as black. To win the couplet, a player must win at least one game and draw or win the other. The other way to equalize the opening positions is Auction transcendental chess, in which each player bids to give his or her opponent extra opening moves in order to play the side of the board he or she wants.

In orthodox chess, innovations in opening play are increasingly hard to come by, with most good players having processed an extensive catalogue of opening moves—novelties tend to occur later in the game. Transcendental chess offers opening complexity and novelty immediately because every game starts in a dense and unfamiliar position.

Variations

• D-chess: Similar to Transcendental Chess, but only one game is needed to be played against each opponent as the unequal starting positions are equalized with the weaker side having the option to transpose two pieces and then gets to move first.
• Moab Random Chess: A variant of shuffle chess similar to Transcendental Chess, invented by philosopher and game theorist Eulalio Paul Cane in Moab, Utah, in 1997. Moab Random Chess uses the same initial positions as Transcendental Chess, except that the set-up phase is part of the game. Players take turns placing pieces on their back rank or their opponent's back rank until a Transcendental Chess starting position is reached. Because the piece set-up phase is part of the overall game strategy, the "auction" concept of Transcendental Chess is not necessary. Strategic skill, not fate, is responsible for any inequalities in the initial position. In addition, Moab Random has an "evacuation" rule that is a simplified form of castling: The king can move to any unoccupied first-rank square just once in the game, so long as it has not moved and is not in check. The concept of "evacuation" keeps the feeling of castling from Classical Chess because the king can suddenly relocate to another region of the board. Yet, the "evacuation" concept avoids the (possibly awkward) rules of castling in Fischer Random Chess (Chess960).