Fischer Fiction

[Ovyron]

(this thread is a satiric depiction on how a Fischer Random Chess book of the future would look like)

Prologue

Welcome to Volume 54 of Fischer Random Chess Theory, where we examine at length the FRC positions numbered from 849 to 864 in these series. If this is the first Volume that you read, you should know that they're not meant to be read in order. If you're reading this Volume it means it contains a position you're interested in. They will be looked at briefly, if they don't interest you it's because something wrong happened and you should be reading a different Volume.

The 16 positions covered are:

Position 849: "The Usurper"

[d]qbrkrnbn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QBRKRNBN w KQkq - 0 1

This is one of the most important positions in the "Long Swap" category, so called because the King and the Rook swap places when castling. If you ever get the Usurper you should be aware that unlike in most FRC position, in this one you should not aim to get your pieces out quickly. 849 is known for being lost for impatient players that try to apply opening principles that don't apply.

1.b3

This is the best move of the Usuper. The g pawn is the only unprotected one from the start and white must put it to the test. A move like 1.b4!? allows 1...e5! to block the attack and black is already better!

1...Ne6

This is a very good move by black! The pawn is defended and the Knight is developed to its strongest square. The book will also examine 1...e5!? 2.Nhg3! where the variations lead to positions where it's clear white's b pawn is better on the 3rd file than on the 4th file, and the popular 1...f6!? which weakens the king side and basically makes king side castle distasteful.

2.Ne3

Another clear best! If e6 is the strongest square for the black Knight, so is e3 the best for its mirror.

2...c5 (D)

This active move is absolutely necessary. Black forgets about its defense and prepares to attack after successfully equalizing. But remember white had nothing better to play!

[d]qbrkr1bn/pp1ppppp/4n3/2p5/8/1P2N3/P1PPPPPP/QBRKR1BN w KQkq -

This is the Quarterback Counter-Attack of the Arabian Nights Defense. Black prepares f6 and Bf7 ideas (which become very strong if played on the right moment.) The book discusses the moves 3.g3, 3.c3, 3.Qb2, 3.f3 and 3.Nb3 at length, showing how from this positions, it's the white player who should be careful.

Position 850: "Tremendous"

[d]qbnnrkbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QBNNRKBR w KQkq - 0 1

Welcome to the dreaded Tremendous, if you got this position you know you'll have guaranteed an exciting game! It doesn't matter what the players want, it's as if these positions played themselves into uncharted territory that will make the players go to the edged of their seats!

1.c4

From the start the h7 pawn is attacked by the Bishop. You might have heard that Tarrasch said the best attacking piece is the King's Bishop, but here it's the Queen's one and it comes ready for action out-of-the-box!

1...e5

After b3 two pawns on black's kingside are attacked, if black doesn't want to be on the defensive all game, covering the Queen's diagonal is a must. The book will cover 1...f6, 1...c5, and 1...b6 and display the concepts that allow white to launch Tremendous attacks that give this starting position its name.

2.b3

White's primary object is to dominate the h1-a8 diagonal, by making use of the d pawn. The best hopes of black are to close the game and getting it into strategical territory after black's king is safe, what is the best move for that?

2...c6 (D)

This move is so beautiful! The best defense that black has against d4 is d5, but it needs support from the c pawn!

[d]qbnnrkbr/pp1p1ppp/2p5/4p3/2P5/1P6/P2PPPPP/QBNNRKBR w KQkq -

This is known as the Missionary Gambit, referring to the Queen's Bishop who will be sacrificed on h7 if black castles there. In traditional chess only positions where material is put for grabs is called a Gambit, in Tremendous the side that doesn't sacrifice material will get in trouble!

Position 851: "Immoral"

[d]nrkbbrnq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRKBBRNQ w KQkq - 0 1

You might have seen analysis about Immortal games, but what about immoral games? This starting position from the "Long Lazy King" category, where when castling long doesn't move its King, does not conform to accepted standards of morality.

1.g3

This repugnant move with which the queen attacks a pawn protected by the king directly is nasty and must be avoided. However, we have run out of paper for this book, so we were only able to take a look to this move, so you're invited to examine the rest on your own.

1...g6 (D)

[d]nrkbbrnq/pppppp1p/6p1/8/8/6P1/PPPPPP1P/NRKBBRNQ w KQkq -

This is known as the "naked Queens", and it is a position recommended only for people over the age of 18.

Position 852: "The Usurper"

[d]qbrkrnbn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QBRKRNBN w KQkq - 0 1

This one will look familiar. It's a position identical to the 849th one. The idea here is that if we replace one of the 960 positions at random with this one, we save the time of having to analyze it, and nobody will notice as we haven't published our list of the 960 positions in our Volumes, hoping that people will buy one at random to see if the one they're interested in is in the Volume, and that they don't buy Volume 54 first...

Positions 853-864

The other 12 positions allowed the players to use known opening principles of traditional chess to develop and play their games without needing to know any theory, so including them on this book would have been a waste. Instead, we have included analysis from the 12 most common chess openings, including the Spanish, the Sicilian, the Italian, Queen's Gambit, Modern Indian, and another seven very important openings, and we assure you that the content therein will be more valuable than analysis of Positions 853-864, because let's get real, almost nobody was going to be interested on analysis of those random opening positions (were you really interested in Tremendous?) and almost nobody reads Prologues...

[Nordlandia]

Ovyron i look forward for position #534 (aka the mirror position).

[Geonerd]

Eagerly waiting for you to complete the rest of your book!

[Ovyron]

Ovyron i look forward for position #534 (aka the mirror position).

That one might require an entire Volume dedicated to it, at least for games where no sides castle!

[carldaman]

Hahaha, very funny and entertaining satirical posting, Uly.

[Peter Berger]

Huge surprise - I didn't know you had this in you.

I loved your post.

Peter