SamTimer User Manual page 35

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HOW TO GENERATE RANDOM POSITIONS WITH THE
KING BETWEEN THE ROOKS:
Use the SHCH - 1 or SHCH - 2 shuffle chess modes to
generate a random position or a random position with the
bishops on different colors. If the king is between the rooks,
you are done . If not, simply exchange the king with the
nearest rook . All positions you get with this procedure are
equally likely .
WHY PLAY SHUFFLE CHESS?
Changing the starting position makes all opening books and
computer opening databases obselete. It tends to level the
playing] field whether you are playing a strong human or a
computer. It seems humans can connect opening systems
with middlegame plans in a way that computers are not yet
powerful enough to do.
It should be noted that very small changes in the starting
position can have the desired effect. For example, reversing
the positions of the black king and queen would alter all
opening theory . (And only two pieces are changed.) Or
starting the game with pawns on OR3 . (Again, only two
pieces, or more precisely, pawns, are changed .) Or
reversing the position of the bishops and knights . (This
changes 8 pieces but keeps symmetry.) Perhaps just
reversing white's OR and ON (but not black's) would alter
opening theory and also reduce the advantage of the first
move . In any event it would be impossible to rely on
databases or memorized variations in these games . People
and computers would be forced to play the openings more
by general principles and less by memory.
HOW TO GENERATE A RANDOM POSITION:
Turn the clock on with both play switches pressed, then long
press the red switch . You will see Pitch, Sr - Nr on the
ulsplay. Long press the red switch again. You wi" see
SHCH - 1, SHCH - 2 on the displays. Press the left side
(SHCH - 1) to generate all postions including positions with
LJ ishops on the same color, or the right side (SHCH - 2) to
enerate all positions with bishops on different colors. The
in itial display will show the pieces in the standard starting
position . Short press the red switch to generate a random
position . Long press the red switch to restrict the shuffle to
the left and right sides seperately. Short or long press the
red switch repeatedly for more positions . Press either play
switch to exit the mode.
You can use the randomly generated position for both sides,
or, as in standard chess, do a left-right reflection for the
black side .
THE PROBABILITY OF ROOKS, KNIGHTS, OR BISHOPS
ON CONSECUTIVE SQUARES:
The probability of two rooks on consecutive squares when
the pieces are completely shuffled (SHCH - 1), or shuffled
with bishops on different colors (SHCH - 2), is
~xactly
1/4.
The same is true for the knights. The same is ·true for the
bishops if SHCH - 1 is used, but if the pieces are shuffled
with SHCH - 2 that is, with bishops on different colors, the
probability of consecutive bishops goes up to 7/16. These
probabilities explain why consecutive rooks, and/or knights ,
and/or bishops occur so frequently in the randomly
generated positions .