The simple method for Chess960 starting positions generation

A quick and easy way to create random Chess960 positions.

Method with 8 playing cards.

A

3

♣

5

♣

♣

7

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

A

♣

3

♣

♣

5

♣

♣

7

♣

♣

♣

♣

Step 1: Separate odd from even cards into two stacks. Draw one card from each stack.

2

♣

4

♣

♣

6

♣

♣

8

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

2

♣

♣

4

♣

♣

6

♣

♣

8

♣

♣

♣

♣

For example:

5	♣		♣			6	♣		♣
♣						♣
		♣					♣		♣
	♣		♣	5			♣		♣	6
				♣						♣

These first two cards are the positions for the Bishops (obviously there will be one white and one black Bishop, as required).

				♝	♝
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8

Step 2: Shuffle the remaining 6 cards (in our example they are : 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8) and draw 3 random cards.
Let's say we drew the 2, 1 and 8, in this order:

2

♣

A

8

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

♣

2

A

♣

♣

8

♣

♣

♣

These are the positions for the Queen and the 2 Knights.

♞	♛			♝	♝		♞
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8

Step 3: The remaining empty squares are for Rook, King, Rook, in this order, so that castling is possible.

♞

♛

♜

♚

♝

♝

♜

♞

Congratulations! You are done!

NOTE: This method ensures that each one of the 960 possible positions have an equal probability to come.
The positions are absolute and not relative.

For a method with eight cards but only one draw click here.