White 179 vs Black 951
White starts from setup 179 (BNRNKRQB), Black from setup 951 (RKBRNNQB). 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 #179 B N R N K R Q B
King on the e-file, rooks on c, f, queen on the g-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 179 gives White +0.18 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #951 R K B R N N Q B
King on the b-file, rooks on a, d, queen on the g-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 951 gives White +0.34 (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 -9 and +18 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 179 gives White +0.18 and setup 951 gives White +0.34: 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 b3, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±18 cp the whole way: the balance holds as the pieces come out, not only on move one.
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 | 16 | -9 | 1. b3 g5 2. Bxh8 Qxh8 3. c4 Ne6 4. g3 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 19 | -3 | 1. b3 g5 2. Bxh8 Qxh8 3. c4 e5 4. g3 Ne6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 25 | -8 | 1. b3 g5 2. Bxh8 Qxh8 3. c4 Ng6 4. g3 e5 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 28 | +8 | 1. b4 g5 2. Bxh8 Qxh8 3. c4 a5 4. b5 d5 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 31 | +18 | 1. b4 d5 2. f4 g6 3. Bxh8 Qxh8 4. g3 f5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 41 | 0 | 1. b4 d5 2. f4 g6 3. Bxh8 Qxh8 4. g3 Qf6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 46 | -1 | 1. b4 d5 2. f4 g6 3. Bxh8 Qxh8 4. g3 Qf6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. b4 d5 2. f4 g6 3. Bxh8 Qxh8 4. g3 Qf6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. b4 d5 2. f4 g6 3. Bxh8 Qxh8 4. g3 Qf6 |
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: 0
- Lc0 0.32.1: -1
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 +111, Black +146, difference -35. 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 | -1 | 41 | 1. b3 g5 2. Bxh8 Qxh8 3. c4 d6 4. g3 a5 5. f4 gxf4 |
| 2 | -6 | 41 | 1. b4 d5 2. f4 g6 3. Bxh8 Qxh8 4. g3 h5 5. Na3 Be6 |
| 3 | -31 | 40 | 1. c4 g5 2. Nbc3 f5 3. b3 a5 4. g3 Ra6 5. Bb2 e5 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 18 cp, mean 5.1 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | b4 | +10 | f5 | +9 |
| 2 | c4 | +15 | d5 | +8 |
| 3 | f4 | +3 | dxc4 | 0 |
| 4 | Na3 | -6 | Nd6 | 0 |
| 5 | g3 | 0 | a5 | 0 |
| 6 | b5 | 0 | Be6 | 0 |
| 7 | Be5 | 0 | g6 | 0 |
| 8 | Qe3 | 0 | Bxe5 | 0 |
| 9 | fxe5 | 0 | Nc8 | 0 |
| 10 | Nxc4 | 0 | Bxc4 | 0 |
| 11 | Qc3 | 0 | Nb6 | 0 |
| 12 | Ne3 | 0 | Rd7 | 0 |
| 13 | Nxc4 | -8 | Nxc4 | -14 |
| 14 | Qxc4 | -14 | Qxc4 | -16 |
| 15 | Rxc4 | -2 | O-O-O | 0 |
| 16 | d3 | 0 | Rd4 | 0 |
| 17 | Rxd4 | -18 | Rxd4 | -10 |
| 18 | Rf4 | -9 | Ne6 | -8 |
| 19 | Rxd4 | -8 | Nxd4 | -12 |
| 20 | a4 | -15 | Ne6 | -15 |
| 21 | Bd5 | -13 | Nc5 | -13 |
| 22 | Bg8 | -16 | h6 | -16 |
| 23 | Bh7 | -10 | Nxa4 | -1 |
| 24 | Kd2 | 0 | e6 | 0 |
| 25 | Bxg6 | -4 | c6 | -6 |
| 26 | bxc6 | -8 | bxc6 | -8 |
| 27 | Be8 | -3 | Kc7 | 0 |
| 28 | Kc2 | -2 | Nb6 | -4 |
| 29 | Kb3 | 0 | c5 | 0 |
| 30 | Bb5 | 0 | Kd8 | 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 47.0 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. b4 a5 2. b5 d5 3. f4 g6 4. Bxh8 Qxh8 5. g4 h5 6. g5 Bh3 7. Rf2 Be6 8. Rf3 Bg4 9. Rd3 Ne6 10. Qf2 d4 11. h3 Bf5 12. e4 dxe3 13. Rxd8+ Nxd8 14. dxe3 Nd6 15. Ndc3 Bxh3 16. e4 e5 17. O-O-O b6 18. Nd5 Bg4 19. Rd2 Nxb5 20. Nxb6 Ra6 21. Nc4 exf4 22. e5 Qf8 23. c3 Be6 24. Qxf4 a4 25. Qf1 Bxc4 26. Qxc4 Rb6 27. Qxa4 Nb7 28. Bxb7 Kxb7 29. Rd5 Na7 30. Nd2 Ra6 31. Qb3+ Kc8 32. a4 Rb6 33. Qc4 Qa3+ 34. Kd1 Rc6 35. Qd4 Ra6 36. Rd8+ Kb7 37. Ne4 Ra5 38. Qc4 Nc6 39. Rd5 Rxd5+ 40. Qxd5 Qxa4+ 41. Kd2 Kb6 42. e6 fxe6 43. Qxe6 h4 44. Ke3 Qd1 45. Kf4 Qf1+ 46. Kg4 h3 47. Ng3 Qg2 48. Qxg6 h2 49. Qb1+ Ka6 50. Qa1+ Kb5 51. Qe1 Kc5 52. Kh4 Kd6 53. Qd1+ Ke7 54. Qe1+ Kf8 55. Qh1 Qxh1 56. Nxh1 Kf7 57. Kg3 Kg6 58. Kxh2 Kxg5 59. Kg3 Ne5 60. Nf2 Kf5 61. Nh3 c6 62. Kf2
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. b4 d5 2. f4 Nd6 3. g3 g5 4. Bxh8 Qxh8 5. Bxd5 gxf4 6. c4 fxg3 7. Qxg3 Ng6 8. Nbc3 e6 9. Bh1 a6 10. Nb2 e5 11. Nd5 f5 12. Qc3 Be6 13. a4 e4 14. Qxh8 Rxh8 15. Nf4 Nxf4 16. Rxf4 Rg8 17. Kf2 O-O-O 18. d3 Rde8 19. dxe4 Nxe4+ 20. Bxe4 fxe4 21. Ke3 Rg2 22. Rh4 h5 23. a5 Bg4 24. Re1 b6 25. axb6 cxb6 26. Na4 Kb7 27. Nc3 Rf8 28. Kxe4 Rd8 29. Ke5 Re8+ 30. Kd4 Rd8+ 31. Ke5 Re8+ 32. Kd4 Rd8+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 179 / 951 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): rkbrnnqb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BNRNKRQB w CFad - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 771 vs Black 2.
Current place in the live balance rating: 372.