Chess FAQ

Starting in 1966, at the initiative of FIDE, July 20 of each year was chosen to celebrate International Chess Day with the specific objective of commemorating the founding of FIDE.
Years later, on December 12, 2019, at the proposal of the Armenian representation at the UN, at the 74th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, International Chess Day was made official because it is a game related to thought, culture and sport, and because it “combines sport, scientific thought and art”, whose “transformative power helps transcend national boundaries, break social, political, and racial barriers”.

The permanent representative of Armenia, Mher Margaryan, presented a draft resolution to the UN, which proposed designating July 20 as World or International Chess Day.
Initially, the number of co-sponsors and drafters countries of the resolution that joined Armenia was 22. Later, another 30 joined them, for a total of 53 supporters.
After the presentation of the project, that same day, December 12, 2019, the resolution was adopted by consensus in the UN General Assembly.

Since 1966, FIDE began to celebrate International Chess Day every July 20 with the aim of commemorating the founding of FIDE.
However, it was not until December 12, 2019, after the approval of all UN Member States, that the celebration of International Chess Day was made official before the UN General Assembly.

July 20 is the celebration of International Chess Day and it is also the day that commemorates another year of the founding of FIDE.

All member countries of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) celebrate Chess Day on July 20 every year.

Celebrating International Chess Day on July 20 is not only a way to grow the chess community.
After the UN approved International Chess Day, chess has the following objectives:

• Promoting children’s physical, mental, and emotional health through play and sports.
• Ensuring “the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life, recreation, leisure, and sport”.
• The advancement of women and girls in chess activities.

On the UN page dedicated to World Chess Day , on the official FIDE channels, on the chess federation of the country you live in, on pages dedicated to chess.

First of all, shaking hands with another player before starting a game of chess is part of the standards of courtesy and etiquette between players. By tradition these standards are well established and long standing.
Secondly, shaking hands with another player before starting the game is part of the sportsmanship and values demanded by the Olympic sport, which is committed to harmony and the promotion of peace among the peoples of the world, as is the case of chess.

Yes. The matter may be investigated by the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission (EDC) of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) if it falls within the EDC’s jurisdiction.
And the violation may merit a warning, a reprimand, or a more severe punishment depending on the specific case. It’s worth mentioning that neither the FIDE Rules of Chess nor its Code of Ethics explicitly state that it is mandatory to shake an opponent’s hand before the start of the game or after the game has ended.
However, not shaking an opponent’s hand violates Article 11.9(a) of the Disciplinary and Ethics Code, which addresses socially unacceptable conduct and compliance with standards of courtesy and etiquette in chess.

According to FIDE rules, if a player has less than five minutes remaining on his clock during an allotted time period, and does not have an additional 30 seconds or more per move, then for the remainder of the period he is not required to record his moves and those of his opponent move by move on the score sheet.

From the start to the end of the game, you must record your moves and those of your opponent correctly, move by move, and as legibly as possible.
It is prohibited to record moves in advance, unless the player claims a draw or the game is adjourned.

In total there are 960 positions of Fischer Random Chess or Freestyle Chess. And one of those positions is the regular or classical chess position, which is position number 518.

To know all the initial positions, use our online Chess960 positions generator .

According to the FIDE Handbook:

• Pawns are placed in the second rank, as in regular chess.
• The king is placed somewhere between the two rooks, so that castle is possible in both sides.
• Bishops must always be on opposite-coloured squares.
• Black pieces are placed opposite the white pieces.

Chess960 or freestyle chess is played in the same way as regular chess. What varies is the initial setup, and castling can be confusing for first-time players due to the precastling position.

In Freestyle Chess, castling depends on the precastling position. So it can be done in four ways:

• In some precastling positions you have to make a move with the king and a move with the rook (‘double-move castling’).
• Sometimes you have to transpose the position of the king and the rook (’transposition castling’).
• Some other times you have to make only a move with the king (‘king-move-only castling’). Example: position 477, kingside castling.
• Sometimes you have to make only a move with the rook (“rook-move-only castling”). Example: position 53, kingside castling.
  After castling, the final positions should be exactly the same positions as they would be in regular chess.

It is generally accepted that the prime mover of ‘random chess’ was Robert James Fischer, aka Bobby Fischer. Around 1992, along with the chess clock, Fischer introduced random chess.
Fischer’s version of random chess is not the same as what is known today as “Chess960” or “freestyle chess”. In addition, there were other people before Fischer who were already looking for ways to eliminate the theoretical preparation in the opening.

Robert James Fischer, or better known as Bobby Fischer, had two main reasons for creating and promoting random chess or “freestyle chess”:

• To eliminate theoretical opening preparation, because the best elite GM games have their originality only after 20 moves.
• Fight against the interference of chess engines, because whoever has the most powerful computer, wins, without a real understanding of the game.

Chess960 or freestyle chess is a modality of chess in which the initial position of the pieces in the first rank are randomly arranged based on three simple rules.

Random chess or Chess960 has the same rules of play as the classical format of chess.
The difference is that, because 959 of the 960 possible starting positions are different from the typical chess position, there is no theoretical knowledge about how the opening should be played.
This results in a greater deployment of imagination and creativity, instead of analysis supported by chess engines.