Novelty Chess Club Board of Director Dandel Fernandez of the Philippines defeated Grandmaster (GM) Monika Socko of Poland to finish in a three-way tie for first place with eventual champion Grandmaster (GM) Bartosz Socko of Poland and International Master (IM) Mokliss El Adnani of Morocco at the conclusion of the Fischer Random Chess-Sharjah last weekend at the Sharjah Chess Club in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
The triumvirate tallied 6.0 points each after seven rounds of play. Bartosz, however, took the title in the 10 minutes plus 5 seconds increment time control format after a superior quotient of 31.5 points from Mokliss 31.0 and Dandel 27.5.
International Master (IM) Oliver Dimakiling of the Philippines led the huge group of 5.5 pointers that includes International Master (IM) Olga Zimina of Italy, Woman International Master (WIM) Oliwia Kiolbasa of Poland, Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Josefine Heinemann of Germany, Woman International Master (WIM) Dinara Dordzhieva of Russia and Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Nguyen Thi Mai Hung of Vietnam.
Fischer random chess, also known as Chess960, is a variation of the game of chess invented by former world chess champion Bobby Fischer.
Fischer random chess employs the same board and pieces as standard chess, but the starting position of the pieces on the players’ home ranks is randomized, following certain rules.
The random setup eliminates the advantage of memorizing openings. Players instead must rely more on their spontaneous talent and creativity over the board.
In 2008, FIDE added Chess960 to an appendix of the Laws of Chess. The first world championship officially sanctioned by FIDE, the FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship, was held in 2019, bringing more prominence to the variant.