Transcendental Chess

What happens when you radically alter the basic setup of a classic game of strategy? In Transcendental Chess, a so-called random variant, the back rows of the board are lined up by chance and chosen out of a hat. Forget the book; here, players are on equal footing, every move is a novelty and creative thinking is king. All levels of experience in chess are welcome and encouraged. Please bring a chess set if you have one. In the annex. Complimentary tea and coffee provided.

Transcendental Chess Rules:

Pieces of white are shuffled and put in random order on the squares a1 – h1. Likewise, the pieces of black are shuffled and put in random order on the squares a8 – h8. The setup of black may be different from the setup of white. Only setups where the bishops of each player are on squares of different colors are taken. Games are often played in pairs–the same setup is used in both games. Each player plays white in one of the two games and black in the other. There is no castling. In a player’s first move, a player may, instead of making a normal move, use transposition: exchange the positions of two of the pieces at the first row. All other rules are as in orthodox chess.