White 177 vs Black 213
White starts from setup 177 (BNRBNKRQ), Black from setup 213 (NQBBRKNR). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-03: neither side starts better.
|cp| ≤ 5 at 400M · 800M · 1.6B · 4B nodes, two independent engines agree
The two setups
White: setup #177 B N R B N K R Q
King on the f-file, rooks on c, g, queen on the h-file; one 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 177 gives White +0.45 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #213 N Q B B R K N R
King on the f-file, rooks on e, h, queen on the b-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 213 gives White +0.28 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B nodes) the evaluation never left ±1 centipawns of equality, reaching search depth 54.
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 shallow rungs wandered between -25 and +2 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 177 gives White +0.45 and setup 213 gives White +0.28: with both sides on the same rank the first move is worth something. In this pair Black's own setup absorbs that edge completely.
The engine's first choice for White is g4; the alternatives are slightly weaker but keep the game level.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 39 cp (around move 5), ending at 0 cp — the position stays playable for both sides.
Engine self-play agrees: 10 games, White won 0, drawn 10, Black won 0 (White scored 50.0%).
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 | -17 | 1. g4 b5 2. b3 e5 3. h4 b4 4. c4 c5 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 20 | +2 | 1. g4 c6 2. h4 d5 3. e3 e5 4. c4 h5 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 24 | -25 | 1. g4 c6 2. h4 d5 3. e3 e5 4. b3 Ne7 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 28 | -22 | 1. g4 c6 2. h4 d5 3. e3 e5 4. b3 Nh6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 33 | -4 | 1. g4 h5 2. gxh5 Rxh5 3. Qg2 g6 4. e3 Rh6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 40 | 0 | 1. g4 h5 2. gxh5 Rxh5 3. Qg2 g6 4. e3 Rh6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 51 | 0 | 1. g4 h5 2. gxh5 Rxh5 3. Qg2 Rh7 4. c4 g6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 53 | 0 | 1. g4 h5 2. gxh5 Rxh5 3. Qg2 Rh7 4. c4 g6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 54 | -1 | 1. g4 h5 2. gxh5 Rxh5 3. Qg2 Rh7 4. c4 g6 |
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 | not checked |
| 8 000 000 000 | not checked |
| 16 000 000 000 | not checked |
This pair held exactly 0.00 up to 1 600 000 000 nodes.
Independent engines, run on the same position:
- Berserk 14: -6
- Lc0 0.32.1: +2
Independent confirmations: 2 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 +54, Black +78, difference -24. A balanced pair needs White's setup to be weaker by about the price of the first move.
Extended self-play: 10 games, 0 White wins, 10 draws, 0 Black wins, White scored 50.0%.
Best first moves
The 3 best first moves for White, searched together at 400 000 000 nodes.
| # | Eval, cp | Depth | Main line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +6 | 42 | 1. g4 h5 2. gxh5 Rxh5 3. Qg2 Rh7 4. c4 g6 5. h4 e5 |
| 2 | -11 | 42 | 1. b3 e5 2. g4 h5 3. gxh5 Rxh5 4. e3 Rh6 5. Nd3 Bf6 |
| 3 | -15 | 41 | 1. e3 h5 2. Nd3 e5 3. g4 hxg4 4. Bxg4 Nf6 5. Be2 c5 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 39 cp, mean 12.8 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | g4 | -29 | c6 | -19 |
| 2 | h4 | -3 | d5 | -14 |
| 3 | e3 | -4 | e5 | -13 |
| 4 | b3 | +2 | h5 | +8 |
| 5 | gxh5 | +39 | Bf6 | +30 |
| 6 | Nd3 | +25 | e4 | +25 |
| 7 | Bxf6 | +25 | Nxf6 | +26 |
| 8 | Nf4 | +26 | Nc7 | +22 |
| 9 | Qg2 | +20 | Ne6 | +19 |
| 10 | Nxe6+ | +17 | Bxe6 | +15 |
| 11 | Be2 | +23 | O-O-O | +15 |
| 12 | O-O-O | +30 | Rdg8 | +25 |
| 13 | f3 | +23 | exf3 | +21 |
| 14 | Qxf3 | +24 | Nxh5 | +21 |
| 15 | Qf2 | +17 | g6 | +16 |
| 16 | Bg4 | +20 | f5 | +15 |
| 17 | Bxh5 | +16 | Rxh5 | +10 |
| 18 | Nc3 | +13 | Bf7 | +12 |
| 19 | Kb2 | +15 | Qe5 | +17 |
| 20 | Rg2 | +19 | Rd8 | +17 |
| 21 | d4 | +8 | Qe7 | 0 |
| 22 | Rh1 | 0 | Re8 | 0 |
| 23 | Nd1 | 0 | b6 | 0 |
| 24 | a3 | 0 | Kb7 | 0 |
| 25 | Rgh2 | +7 | a5 | +4 |
| 26 | a4 | +1 | Rh6 | 0 |
| 27 | Qg3 | 0 | Rh5 | 0 |
| 28 | Rh3 | 0 | Reh8 | 0 |
| 29 | Nf2 | 0 | f4 | 0 |
| 30 | Qxf4 | 0 | Be6 | 0 |
Engine self-play
10 games at 500 000 nodes per move: White won 0, drawn 10, Black won 0 — White scored 50.0%. Average length 37.6 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. g4 c6 2. e3 d5 3. h4 e5 4. b3 h5 5. g5 Nb6 6. c4 Ne7 7. Be2 Bc7 8. Nc3 a6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. O-O Bd6 11. Nd3 Kg8 12. f4 e4 13. Ne1 Nf5 14. Nc2 Ng3 15. Qg2 Nxf1 16. Rxf1 Bd7 17. a4 Qc8 18. Kh2 Bg4 19. a5 Bxe2 20. Qxe2 Na8 21. Qg2 Nc7 22. Nd4 Bb4 23. Na4 Ne6 24. Nf5 Qc7 25. Kh1 Bxa5 26. Be5 Qc6 27. g6 f6 28. Bd6 Rh6 29. b4 Bc7 30. Bxc7 Qxa4 31. Bd6 Qd7 32. Kh2 Nf8 33. Nxh6+ gxh6 34. g7 Qxg7 35. Qe2 Qf7 36. f5 Kh7 37. Rg1 Nd7 38. Rg6 Ne5 39. Bxe5 Rxe5 40. Qxh5 Qf8
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. g4 Nb6 2. c4 c6 3. c5 Nd5 4. b4 h5 5. gxh5 e5 6. e3 d6 7. Qg2 Bf6 8. Nc3 Nxc3 9. Bxc3 d5 10. d3 Be6 11. Qg3 Qd8 12. Ng2 Bf5 13. Be2 Nh6 14. b5 O-O 15. bxc6 bxc6 16. e4 dxe4 17. dxe4 Bxe4 18. Rd1 Qc8 19. Ne3 Kh8 20. Rd6 Rg8 21. Bc4 Bf5 22. Kg2 Be4+ 23. Kf1 Bd5 24. Nxd5 cxd5 25. Rxd5 Rd8 26. Qe3 Nf5 27. Qe4 Rxd5 28. Bxd5 Qxc5 29. Bxf7 Nd6 30. Qd5 Rc8 31. Be1 Nxf7 32. Qxf7 Qb5+ 33. Kg2 Qe2 34. h6 Rg8 35. h3 gxh6+ 36. Kh2 Rxg1 37. Qxf6+ Rg7 38. Qxh6+ Kg8 39. Qe6+ Rf7 40. Qg6+ Rg7
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 177 / 213 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): nqbbrknr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNRBNKRQ w CGeh - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 779 vs Black 650.