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The Shatranj Shuffle. Would our new CV have saved Shatranj from extinction? The Shatranj Shuffle is the simple technique to randomize the back-rank of the mediaeval game. Similar expedient is to be lifesaver of OrthoChess64 such as RNBQKBNR, or RKRBQNBN, or QRBNNKRB, or anything else you want up to 960 beauties. BNRKRNQB is another one still your basic Mad Queen chess64, now within chess960, or any other loose -- rather than strict -- prior-named random Orthodox rules-set. For Shatranj Shuffle, (Shatranj never having had the powerful Queen or long-range Bishops) F is Ferz the one-diagonal and A is Alfil the two-diagonal-only leaper. Those two complement in their inimitable way. There is no castling in pure Shatranj. The only subrule restriction in S.S. starting array is that the Alfils must be on opposite colours. That's it. Here are some Shatranj Shuffles, also known as S.S. Saviours: ARKFNRNA, NAARKRFN, RNAFKRNA. Ferz (queen) reaches 1/2 the squares, and that's why promotion is to another Ferz, just like in the year 1400 -- but decidedly NOT the year 1492 by which time Mad Queen(Rook + new Bishop) had taken root. Does Alfil (elephant) still reach 1/8 the squares, regardless where back-ranked initially? Of course, that's the math of it, and the Shatranj Shuffle gives many more opportunities._____________________________________________ How many? Let's see. (8 factorial) divided by 2 for the indistinguishable Rooks, divided by two again for the indistinguishable Knights. Times four-sevenths (4/7) for the Alfil same-colour restriction. That gives 5760, but we need one more division by 2 for the mirrors. 2880. 2880 starting line-ups, and 2879 of them are new. 2880 permutations, far more than a chess 96 or 100 or random chess960. If Shatranj Shuffle had been implemented in time, we would still in due course be happily Alfil-two-stepping today. [The original 2880 is confirmed correct. Shatranj Shuffle is now also known as Shatranj2880.]