from Hacker News

Hidden 960 Chess Variant

by reverseblade2 on 2/16/25, 10:07 PM with 3 comments

• by reverseblade2 on 2/16/25, 10:07 PM

  I built Hidden 960 Chess to bring back human creativity. At https://hidden960.onur.works, your back rank starts hidden—gray squares hide your pieces from a secret pool (1 King, 1 Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights). You reveal them as you play, and if an opponent threatens a hidden square, it must be revealed immediately. When only a couple of hidden squares remain, you reveal them together. Currently rules aren't enforced and no computers.

  Because of the hidden information and forced reveals, computer algorithms struggle with planning moves, making the game a true test of human intuition. Give it a try

• by WaltYoder on 2/16/25, 10:46 PM

  This doesn't seem to include a rule that the two starting positions are equal (same pieces on the A file, B file, etc.).

  Also, I don't see how "human intuition" comes into play, or why Stockfish couldn't play this as well as any other variant. Picking the most useful piece to put on a square requires no intuition at all, it's just a few additional possible actions.

  At least as implemented, there is no "hidden information", the pieces aren't assigned to a location before they are revealed.