Transcendental Chess of one side can be any of 4²×6!÷2² = 2880. There is no castling. On the first turn a player, instead of making a move, can transpose any of two pieces on the back row. In Chess960 the back rows are mirror images, but in Transcendental Chess the setup of black and white is different 2879 out of every 2880 times (there being a 1–in–2880 chance that both sides will draw the same setup). This can create inequalities in the position. One way to equalize these inequalities is to play a couplet: the players play two games, one each as
First-move advantage in chess position and have the superior position due to his better pawn structure!" However, GM Paul Keres responded in "CHESS" magazine, "We just don't believe it!" In symmetrical positions, as the Hodgson–Arkell and Portisch–Tal games discussed below illustrate, Black can continue to imitate White as long as he finds it feasible and desirable to do so, and deviate when that ceases to be the case. Further, a particular extra move is sometimes more of a liability than an asset. For example, Soltis notes that the position arising after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6 "is pretty equal". The same