Why Chess960/9LX and not Chess959?

Question

This question asks if Chess960 is really Chess960 and not Chess959, i.e. the dice are really not re-rolled (positive, instead of normative). The answer is yes, it really is.

However, why is Chess960 used over Chess959? (This is normative, instead of positive.)

Personally. I encountered this only once (and I remember the castling fail was funny). But in general, anyone playing this more than 959 times is expected to encounter this once. I believe the point of 960 is to get rid of openings. But technically it, ostensibly, doesn't (but of course, it does with at least 99.895833333% accuracy). Please explain what's going on.

My guess: Fun. Trolling players.

Answer 1

Fischer Random is actually not chess960 but really chess959...at least for FIDE's WFRCC but not necessarily for, say, lichess or chesscube. (In chesscom, I've never encountered SP 518, and I believe I've played over 960 chess960 games.)

As to why lichess insists on SP 518? Who knows? But for FIDE:

2019 WFRCC:

From 'Regulations for the 2019 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship', it's excluded:

If during the event the start position of classical chess is selected, the draw for the initial setup of the pieces will be done again.

Even 2022 WFRCC:

Also Regulations for the 2022 FIDE World Fischer Random Chess Championship

If the start position of classical chess is randomly selected, the draw for the initial position of the pieces will be repeated.

---

Check out:

Chess959 not Chess960 ! See in 2019 and 2022 regulations that FIDE's World Fischer Random Chess is actually Chess959. Now can lichess please do the same?

---

But notice FIDE really calls their tournament 'Fischer Random' not chess960. Lichess calls their variant 'chess960'. SP 518 is technically part of the 960 positions. However, chesscom says 'chess960' and St Louis Chess Club says 'Chess 9LX' not 'Chess 9LIX' so lichess what's your excuse?