New Fischer moves
01.04.2002
– Although the reclusive ex-world champion Bobby Fischer has not played much chess in the last 30 years, he has introduced a number of important innovations into the game. After the Fischer Clock and Fischer Random Chess he is now proposing a further change, the "Fischer move". It was presented to FIDE and will come up for a vote at the Executive Council meeting in Dubai. More...
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Nigel Davies:
A busy person’s opening system
Players with interests and commitments away from the chess board often find it difficult to compete against those with more study time. Their opponents come to the board armed with the latest theory and can bash out moves well into the middle game. On this DVD Nigel Davies addresses this issue by demonstrating a simple and easy to learn opening system designed for the busy person.
More information...
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Bobby Fischer has already introduced two important innovations that have received
a larger or smaller degree of acceptance by the chess community. First came
the "Fischer clock", which adds a small time increment after every
move, thereby alleviating the brutal time trouble some players tend to get into.
Then came "Fischer Random Chess", which scrambles the position of
the pieces at the beginning of the game. This is designed to eliminate the very
extensive openings preparation that is encountered in top-level chess today.
Now Fischer has turned his sights on what he believes is an unbearable preponderance
of tactics in chess. His declared intention is to return the game to its origins
and not allow the strategic spirit to be destroyed by "cheapo shots constantly
fired by younger players." To this end he has submitted a rule modification,
which FIDE is currently considering and will present to the delegates at its
next general council meeting during the Dubai
Grand Prix.
Fischer's proposal adds one rule to section 4.1-4.7 ("The act of moving
the pieces") in FIDE's "Laws
of chess". The new article 4.8 states that: "After a player
has registered a move by his opponent he may, as part of his next move, either
execute a move in the form stipulated by the rules 4.1-4.7 given above; or instead
he may execute the opponent's and his own previous moves in reverse order, replacing
any captured pieces onto their original squares, and then execute an alternative
move, in accordance with the rules 4.1-4.7 given above."
The new "Fischer move" (which is also referred to as a "retractor")
does not change the original flavour of the game – in fact many believe it actually
reflects it more completely than the rules practised in tournaments today. The
new rule has been extensively tested in informal play, where the advantages
of the system are immediately obvious. Games are no longer decided by simple
tactical strokes, the outcome depends much more on a painstaking exploratory
strategy of "trial and error". The only disadvantage is that games
may sometimes last a little longer, especially when a number of Fischer moves
are executed.
The new Fischer move rule also provides an interesting solution to the problem
of chess playing computers, which are the sharpest tactical entities on the
planet. Our own experiments have shown that players who were scoring zero points
against the 2750-rated Fritz program were actually winning some of their games
when allowed to make extensive use of retractor moves.
Fide has stressed that a decision in Dubai to adopt the Fischer move rule would
not mean that it would be immediately implemented in all tournaments organised
or sanctioned by the world chess organisation. "We anticipate that it will
take a number of years before the new rule is universally accepted," said
a ranking Fide official. "Until then both forms of chess can coexist."
Many players are very enthusiastic about Fischer move games. "Retractor
games remove the unnecessary tension of ruining your game with stupid blunders,"
said one leading grandmaster. "I can be much more daring in my choice of
moves." But Judit Polgar, the world's strongest female player, disagrees.
"I have my doubts about this new rule, maybe because I am not very good
at it. I lost an retractor game in an important tournament once."
If you have the urge to express an opinion on the new Fischer move rule please
write to us.
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Attention: It turns out that the above report on a
new rule proposed by Bobby Fischer was a cruel hoax, perpetrated by an
evil prankster in the ChessBase team. Apparently he was practising a pagan
ritual know as "April Fool". We apologise to the visitors who
for who found the spurious article distressing, and thank everyone for
the many letters we we received. You will find some excerpts
here.
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