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FRCEC’s page on Fischerandom Castling Rules
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FRCEC’s Fischerandom Chess Terms Glossary page
Last Updated 4/24/05
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FRC Castling Rules
Fischer Random chess allows each player to castle once per
game, a move by potentially both the king and rook in a single move. However, a
few interpretations of standard chess games rules are needed for castling,
because the standard rules presume initial locations of the rook and king that
are often untrue in Fischer Random Chess games.
In Fischer Random chess, depending on the pre-castling
position on the castling king and rook, the castling manoeuvre
is performed by one of these four methods:
a.
Double-move castling: By on one turn making
a move with the king and a move with the rook.
b.
Transposition castling: By transposing the
position of the king and the rook.
c.
King-move-only castling: By making only a move
with the king.
d.
Rook-move-only castling: By making only a move
with the rook.
After castling, the rook and king's final positions are exactly the same positions as
they would be in standard chess. Thus, after a-side castling (notated as O-O-O
and known as queen-side castling in orthodox chess), the King is on the
c-square (c1 for White and c8 for Black) and the Rook is on the d-square (d1
for White and d8 for Black). After h-side
castling (notated as O-O and known
as king-side castling in orthodox chess), the King is on the g-square
(g1 for White and g8 for Black) and the Rook is on the f-square (f1 for White
and f8 for Black).
However, castling may only occur under the following
conditions, which are extensions of the standard rules for castling:
1.
Unmoved: The king and the castling rook must not
have moved before in the game, including castling.
2.
Unattacked: All of the squares
between the king's initial and final squares (including the initial and final
squares) must not be under attack by any opposing piece.
3.
Vacant: All the squares between the king's
initial and final squares (including the final square), and all of the squares
between the rook's initial and final squares (including the final square), must
be vacant except for the king and castling rook.
These
rules have the following consequences:
·
Castling cannot capture any pieces.
·
The king and castling rook cannot "jump" over any pieces
other than each other.
·
A player may castle at most once in a game.
·
If a player moves his king or both of his initial rooks without
castling, he may not castle during the rest of the game.
·
In some starting positions, some squares can stay filled during
castling that would have to be vacant in standard chess. For example, after
a-side castling (O-O-O), it's possible for to have a, b, and/or e still filled,
and after h-side castling (O-O), it's possible to have e and/or h filled.
·
In some starting positions, the
king or rook (but not both) do not move during castling.
·
In some starting positions, castling can take place as early as
the first move.
·
The king may not be in check before or after castling.
·
The king cannot move through check.
·
The king cannot jump over his own rook if and when said rook
stands on a “checked” square. (see example #11 below)
The rules above are based on the Castling rules
found in the book “Shall we play Fischerandom Chess?” by Svetozar Gligoric, and in Wikipedia.
Examples of Castling
(all examples below are from actual FRCEC
games)
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** Example h-side Castlings or O-O **
Example # 1
King-move-only Castling
DP0001-M0255
Grayling Hill – Guillermo Cual
Position #311
Before and after Black’s 8...O-O
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Example # 2
Transposition Castling
M0163
Paul Grosemans
– Mark Havrilla
Position #613
Before and after White’s 1.O-O
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Example # 3
Double-Move Castling
M0082
Jack Cheiky – David Atkinson
Position #069
Before and after Black’s 8… O-O
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Example # 4
Rook-move-only Castling
T0004.M0055
Jose Carrillo – Roscoe Ellis
Position #144
Before and after White’s 26.O-O
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Example # 5
Double-move Castling
T0016.M0135
Frank Todaro – Marc Wakeham
Position #170
Before and after Black’s 11…O-O
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** Example a-side Castlings or O-O-O **
Example # 6
Double-move Castling
T0007.M0074
Raul Eduardo Palacio – Alice Wood
Position #534
Before and after White’s 19.O-O-O
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Example # 7
Rook-move-only Castling
T0004.M0056
Roscoe – Juan Carlos Izquierdo
Position #929
Before and after Black’s 29...O-O-O
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Example # 8
King-move-only Castling
DP0001-M0255
Grayling Hill – Guillermo Cual
Position #311
Before and after White’s 11.O-O-O
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Example # 9
Transposition Castling
M0153
Jack Cheiky – Abhay
Kumar
Position #203
Before and after White’s 6.O-O-O
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Example # 10
Double-move Castling
M0008
Jose Carrillo – Jose Sanchez
Position #938
Before and after White’s 15.O-O-O
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** Example positions where
Castling is illegal **
M0368
Uwe Kreuzer – George Tsavdaris
Position #647
After 5… Bg7
6.O-O would be
illegal because the e1-square is under attack by the e8-Rook.
White’s King cannot jump over his own rook, as the rook
stands on a “checked” square.
(Black actually played 5… Rxe1 to prevent
an argument over the validity of castling on this position.)
Example # 12
T0001-M0037
Paul Grosemans
– Mark Havrilla
Position #182
After 12.Qg4
12...O-O-O would be illegal because the c8-square is under
attack by the White Queen.
Black’s King cannot move into a check.
While 12…O-O-O is illegal, 12… O-O is legal on this position.
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