lichess.org
Donate
Dice

unsplash.com

On broadcasting cooperation and Chess960 naming

ChessTournamentChess variantLichessOff topic
Thoughts after last 9LX event

Recently The Champions Showdown Chess 9LX took place in Saint Louis. It's Chess960 rapid tournament where Kasparov plays regularly, so I noticed this tournament even though lichess didn't broadcast it. So, I had some thoughts on chess960 naming and Lichess not cooperating with US chess federation which I share here.

I think it's unfortunate that Lichess decided to stop cooperation with US chess federation (including broadcasting events). Too many chess federations/organisers can be attacked on ethical grounds, irresponsible behavior, questionable sponsorships, generally chess are far from ideal and it makes zero sense to me to not broadcast major events from United States, or any country honestly.

On Chess960 naming, I find it interesting that we already have at least 4 names Fischer Random chess, Chess960, Freestyle chess, Chess 9LX. After all Fischer Random is best since it has the legacy of 11th champion and general meaning "Random". Chess960 is brief to the point so also suitable. Freestyle Chess is rather funny, but I get why Carlsen came up with it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6zJMbRSLd8 9LX maybe has some aesthetic, but weird nevertheless.

On the tournament itself, computer analyzed games can be founded here and you might also try solving some puzzles out of the games!

https://lichess.org/study/eI7RyGfc