Other Variants

One variant I find interesting is symmetric semi-random.

Basically: Randomize whites pieces, subject to king on e, rooks on a and h and all pawns in the 2nd rank.  Then give black the same piece structure.

This only has 32 combinations, but that`s more than enough to throw the idea of opening book out for non-computers.

Symmetry guarantees avoiding some absurd starts like when you happen to get Queen on a, bishop on c, and your opponent has a bad piece position for the g-pawn + with only rook at h, with no compensating piece position.

The fianchetto in those kind of positions is often absurd and it feels like the starting position is significantly better for one side.

if blacks king is on the g file too, and whites bishop is on b and c file, and white's queen is on the a file, then chess960 is becoming a little racist, with white beating up black in 5 or 6 moves