[gcanyon]

My solution to fair chess:

1. White makes their opening moves - they can move more than one piece, and even the same piece more than once, but: all moves must be legal, and no captures.

2. When White is done, Black has the option to change sides, taking over the white pieces.

3. Regardless of step 2, the player with the black pieces makes the next move.

4. A draw counts as a win for the player with the black pieces.

Thus there are no longer drawn results, and the start must be relatively equal (between a white win and a black win or draw) in White’s estimation.

[tromp]

That's an interesting approach. But it still allows opening preparation by White. They could setup positions with deeply hidden threats, that Black would at least need to spend a lot of time on to try uncover.

So I propose that after White made all their opening moves, Black likewise makes their arbitrary legal moves, and then it's White who has the choice of swapping.

That should not only make the game fair, and optionally guarantee wins with your draw rule, but also eliminate all opening preparation.

There should probably be a limit on the number of moves that each player makes in their opening; perhaps around a dozen.

[gcanyon]

> That's an interesting approach

Thanks! I was put off by how much the article's solution changes the nature of the game, saw someone's comment about chess being too even and draws already being a problem, and it hit me in a flash how to largely solve both problems at once.

I agree that White potentially has an advantage because they can play a deceptively strong or weak opening, hoping to fool Black into a bad choice, but I don't see that as too much of a problem, but maybe I'm wrong -- I'm no expert at chess.