Taylor Kingston wrote:
As I understand it, in Fischerandom the starting arrays, picked at
random by computer, are all symmetrical, like the starting array in
normal chess. Are unfair setups possible under those circumstances?

I'm assuming that `fair' here means that, a priori, one's chance of
winning the game doesn't depend on whether one is playing black or
white. Symmetry of the initial position certainly doesn't imply
fairness. For example, the position identical to the ordinary chess
starting position except that the queens are on d4 and d5 is clearly
won for white. I realise this isn't a possible FRC starting
position so, for a less extreme example, just consider the
conventional chess starting position: white, empirically, does better
than black so the position isn't fair.


Dave.

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