26 August 2008

'Fischerandom Chess' or 'Chess960'?

The title of my first post -- Shall We Play Fischerandom Chess? (*) -- on Fischer's proposal to reduce the influence of opening preparation in general, and the influence of computer preparation in particular, was taken from GM Svetozar Gligoric's book of the same name. When the book was published in 2002 by Batsford, the synonym 'Chess960' had not yet been invented. Has the choice of name been settled, or is it still open to discussion?

Here is the current page count for the terms that I am most familiar with, plus a link to the related Google search.

4,020,000chess960
44,200chess "fischer random"
5,500chess fischerandom
2,460"shuffle chess"
2,110chess fischerrandom

Google indicates that the choice has indeed been settled: 'Chess960' it is.