White 108 vs Black 180
White starts from setup 108 (QBNRNKBR), Black from setup 180 (NBBRNKRQ). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-15: neither side starts better.
|cp| ≤ 5 at 400M · 800M · 1.6B · 4B nodes, two independent engines agree
How to play with different setups
White sets up the pieces by position No. 108, Black by position No. 180, mirrored on their own side; the pawns stand as usual.
Moves as usual: White starts; everything else follows the Chess960 rules.
The two setups
White: setup #108 Q B N R N K B R
King on the f-file, rooks on d, h, queen on the a-file; no bishop starts in a corner; the knights start on central files. Castling follows the Chess960 rule: king and rook end on the classical squares. In ordinary symmetric play setup 108 gives White +0.14 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #180 N B B R N K R Q
King on the f-file, rooks on d, g, queen on the h-file; no bishop starts in a corner; the knights start away from the centre. Castling follows the Chess960 rule: king and rook end on the classical squares. In ordinary symmetric play setup 180 gives White +0.12 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B nodes) the evaluation is exactly 0.00 each time, reaching search depth 59.
Admission rule: |cp| ≤ 5 at four budgets up to 4 billion nodes, no one-sided drift along the ladder, and confirmation by two independent engines — Berserk and Lc0 — each below its own median on symmetric positions. The same corridor is required at every deeper budget (8 G, 16 G) at which the pair has been evaluated.
The shallow rungs agreed early: from 100 thousand to 128 million nodes the evaluation never left ±8 cp.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 108 gives White +0.14 and setup 180 gives White +0.12: with both sides on the same rank the first move is worth something. In this pair Black's own setup absorbs that edge completely.
White is not forced into a single path: the best first move is h4, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 37 cp (around move 12), ending at +7 cp — the position stays playable for both sides.
Engine self-play agrees: 10 games, White won 1, drawn 9, Black won 0 (White scored 55.0%).
Verification ladder
Nine independent searches of the starting position, each with a larger node budget. Evaluation in centipawns from White's point of view.
| Stage | Nodes | Depth | Eval, cp | Main line |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S0 | 100 000 | 15 | -6 | 1. d4 c6 2. h4 O-O 3. c3 h5 4. Ncd3 Qh7 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 23 | -1 | 1. h4 c6 2. h5 Nf6 3. d4 d5 4. Ncd3 O-O |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 27 | -8 | 1. h4 c6 2. d4 h5 3. c3 Qh6 4. Ncd3 Nb6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 33 | -3 | 1. h4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. c3 h5 4. Ncd3 Qh6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 34 | 0 | 1. h4 c6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Ncd3 Ne4 4. c4 d5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 39 | -4 | 1. h4 c6 2. b3 d5 3. c4 Nb6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 52 | 0 | 1. h4 c6 2. h5 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. c3 Nb6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 56 | 0 | 1. h4 c6 2. h5 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. c3 Nb6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 59 | 0 | 1. h4 c6 2. h5 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. c3 Nb6 |
Deep verification
The search ladder reaches 1.6 billion nodes; admission needs a 4-billion rung and two further engines on top of that. Beyond even that, every pair was re-checked at budgets up to ten times larger and in thousands of self-play games. This section shows what each check returned for this pair.
| Nodes | Eval, cp |
|---|---|
| 4 000 000 000 | 0 |
| 8 000 000 000 | not checked |
| 16 000 000 000 | not checked |
This pair stays within the ±5 cp corridor up to 4 000 000 000 nodes.
Independent engines, run on the same position:
- Berserk 14: 0
- Lc0 0.32.1: -1
Independent confirmations: 3 of 3. An engine counts as confirming when its reading of the pair is closer to equality than its own reading of a typical symmetric Chess960 position (+10 for Berserk, +18 for Lc0). Where only one engine confirms, the pair is balanced according to that engine alone, and this page says so.
Own weight of each setup, measured against the classical array: White +47, Black +70, difference -23. A balanced pair needs White's setup to be weaker by about the price of the first move.
Extended self-play: 10 games, 1 White wins, 9 draws, 0 Black wins, White scored 55.0%.
Best first moves
The 3 best first moves for White, searched together at 400 000 000 nodes.
| # | Eval, cp | Depth | Main line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -4 | 41 | 1. h4 c6 2. d4 g6 3. c3 d5 4. Ncd3 Nf6 5. a4 Bd6 |
| 2 | -8 | 42 | 1. b3 d5 |
| 3 | -17 | 42 | 1. c4 g5 2. d4 d5 3. cxd5 Nb6 4. e4 f5 5. h4 fxe4 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 37 cp, mean 16.8 cp, final +7 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | h4 | -7 | c6 | -1 |
| 2 | d4 | +15 | d5 | +6 |
| 3 | Ncd3 | +9 | h5 | +3 |
| 4 | c3 | +13 | Qh6 | +7 |
| 5 | a4 | +10 | O-O | +8 |
| 6 | a5 | +25 | Bf5 | +14 |
| 7 | Nc5 | +24 | Bxb1 | +25 |
| 8 | Qxb1 | +24 | b6 | +24 |
| 9 | axb6 | +25 | axb6 | +25 |
| 10 | Ncd3 | +26 | Nf6 | +21 |
| 11 | f3 | +26 | Rfe8 | +24 |
| 12 | Qc1 | +37 | Qh7 | +19 |
| 13 | Be3 | +20 | Nd7 | +22 |
| 14 | Nb4 | +19 | Rc8 | +24 |
| 15 | Qc2 | +26 | e5 | +24 |
| 16 | Qxh7+ | +25 | Kxh7 | +24 |
| 17 | Kf2 | +24 | Re6 | +24 |
| 18 | Nec2 | +27 | f6 | +20 |
| 19 | Na6 | +17 | Nc7 | +17 |
| 20 | Nxb8 | +19 | Rxb8 | +20 |
| 21 | Rhe1 | +18 | Rbe8 | +11 |
| 22 | c4 | +19 | dxc4 | +18 |
| 23 | dxe5 | +16 | Nxe5 | +10 |
| 24 | Bxb6 | +18 | Nd5 | +11 |
| 25 | Bc5 | +11 | Rb8 | +14 |
| 26 | Rb1 | +11 | Ree8 | +16 |
| 27 | Ne3 | +16 | Rb3 | 0 |
| 28 | Nf5 | +6 | Kg6 | +3 |
| 29 | Nd4 | +13 | Rb7 | +8 |
| 30 | Rec1 | +12 | Nf4 | +7 |
Engine self-play
10 games at 500 000 nodes per move: White won 1, drawn 9, Black won 0 — White scored 55.0%. Average length 40.6 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. h4 c6 2. Nf3 h5 3. c3 O-O 4. d4 Nf6 5. Bh2 Bxh2 6. Nxh2 d6 7. e4 e5 8. O-O Ng4 9. Nf3 Nc7 10. Bc2 g6 11. Ne2 Qf6 12. Qc1 Kg7 13. Ng5 Qe7 14. Rde1 Rde8 15. Qd2 Qd8 16. Rd1 f6 17. Nh3 d5 18. exd5 cxd5 19. dxe5 fxe5 20. f3 Nh6 21. Ng5 Ne6 22. Qe3 Nxg5 23. hxg5 Nf7 24. Ba4 Re6 25. Bb3 Qxg5 26. Qxa7 Ra6 27. Qc5 Rf6 28. Bxd5 b6 29. Qf2 h4 30. Rfe1 h3 31. Qg3 Qf5 32. Qxh3 Qxh3 33. gxh3 Ng5 34. Rd3 Nxf3+ 35. Bxf3 Rxf3 36. Rxf3 Rxf3 37. h4 Ba6 38. b3 Rh3 39. Kg2 Rd3 40. c4 Bb7+
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. c3 d5 2. d4 g5 3. h4 g4 4. Bh2 Nf6 5. Ncd3 Nb6 6. Bc2 g3 7. Bxg3 Rxg3 8. fxg3 Ne4 9. O-O Nxg3 10. Rf3 c6 11. Ne5 Bxe5 12. dxe5 Qxe5 13. Nd3 Qd6 14. Nf2 Nxe2+ 15. Kf1 Ng3+ 16. Kg1 Ne2+ 17. Kf1 Ng3+ 18. Kg1
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 108 / 180 in the app's encyclopedia, then choose how to play.
- Local game — two players on one device, with a clock.
- With a mentor — a clearly labelled training bot with hints, at your level.
- Challenge a friend — an online game by link; both players get the same pair, colours swap on rematch.
Play this pair against the computer, right here Play a friend
FEN (Shredder, castling rights by rook files): nbbrnkrq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QBNRNKBR w DHdg - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 860 vs Black 782 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 439.