White 194 vs Black 148
White starts from setup 194 (BQNRKBNR), Black from setup 148 (NBBRNQKR). 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 #194 B Q N R K B N R
King on the e-file, rooks on d, h, queen on the b-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 194 gives White +0.12 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #148 N B B R N Q K R
King on the g-file, rooks on d, h, queen on the f-file; no bishop starts in a corner; the knights start away from the centre. The king already stands on a castled square, so one of the castlings moves only the rook. In ordinary symmetric play setup 148 gives White +0.41 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B, 3.2B nodes) the evaluation is exactly 0.00 each time, reaching search depth 65.
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 +5 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 194 gives White +0.12 and setup 148 gives White +0.41: 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 d4, and 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (24 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±10 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 | 15 | -2 | 1. b3 c6 2. Nf3 h5 3. e3 d5 4. c4 Rh6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 18 | -3 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 e5 4. dxe5 Qb4+ |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 24 | -25 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 f6 4. e3 g5 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 33 | +2 | 1. b3 c6 2. Nf3 f6 3. d4 d5 4. e3 Qf7 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 37 | +5 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 f6 4. Nf3 Nd6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 50 | 0 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 f6 4. Nf3 Nd6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 57 | 0 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 f6 4. Nf3 Nd6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 60 | 0 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 f6 4. Nf3 Nd6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 62 | 0 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 f6 4. Nf3 Nd6 |
| S9 | 3 200 000 000 | 65 | 0 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e3 f6 4. Nf3 Nd6 |
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: -1
- Lc0 0.32.1: +4
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 +66, Black +106, difference -40. 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 | 0 | 50 | 1. d4 c6 2. Nf3 f6 3. b3 d5 4. e3 Nd6 5. Bd3 Nf7 |
| 2 | 0 | 49 | 1. Nf3 c6 2. d4 f6 3. b3 d5 4. e3 Nd6 5. Bd3 Nf7 |
| 3 | 0 | 49 | 1. b3 c6 2. d4 f6 3. Nf3 d5 4. e3 Nd6 5. Bd3 Nf7 |
Main-line play-out
24 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 10 cp, mean 0.8 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | b3 | -3 | c6 | -3 |
| 2 | Nf3 | 0 | d5 | 0 |
| 3 | e3 | +4 | f6 | +4 |
| 4 | d4 | +5 | Nd6 | +10 |
| 5 | Bd3 | +2 | Nf7 | 0 |
| 6 | c4 | 0 | e5 | 0 |
| 7 | dxe5 | 0 | fxe5 | 0 |
| 8 | Bf5 | 0 | Qb4+ | 0 |
| 9 | Nd2 | +3 | e4 | +4 |
| 10 | Bxc8 | 0 | Rxc8 | 0 |
| 11 | O-O | 0 | O-O | 0 |
| 12 | f4 | 0 | exf3 | 0 |
| 13 | Nxf3 | 0 | Qe7 | 0 |
| 14 | cxd5 | 0 | Qxe3+ | 0 |
| 15 | Kh1 | 0 | cxd5 | 0 |
| 16 | Rxd5 | 0 | Nc7 | 0 |
| 17 | Rh5 | 0 | Ng5 | 0 |
| 18 | Ne2 | 0 | Nce6 | 0 |
| 19 | Ned4 | 0 | Ne4 | 0 |
| 20 | Nxe6 | 0 | Rc1 | 0 |
| 21 | Qxc1 | 0 | Nf2+ | 0 |
| 22 | Kg1 | 0 | Nh3+ | 0 |
| 23 | Kh1 | 0 | Nf2+ | 0 |
| 24 | Kg1 | 0 | Nh3+ | 0 |
| 25 | Kh1 | 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 43.5 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. b3 f6 2. e4 Qf7 3. Bc4 e6 4. Bd3 c5 5. c4 d5 6. exd5 exd5 7. Nge2 Nd6 8. O-O dxc4 9. Bc2 Nb6 10. Rfe1 Nd5 11. d4 cxb3 12. axb3 c4 13. bxc4 Nxc4 14. Bb3 Qc7 15. g3 O-O 16. Nd3 b5 17. Nc3 Qc6 18. Nc5 Nxc3 19. Bxc3 Bh3 20. Qe4 Qxe4 21. Nxe4 Kh8 22. f3 h5 23. Rb1 Bf5 24. Bxc4 bxc4 25. Rb5 Bg6 26. Nc5 Rc8 27. Nd7 Rfd8 28. Nxb8 Rxb8 29. Rc5 Bf7 30. Re7 Bd5 31. Ba5 Rb1+ 32. Kf2 Rd6 33. Bc7 Rb2+ 34. Ke3 Rb3+ 35. Kf2 Rb2+ 36. Ke3 Rb3+ 37. Kf2
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. b3 f6 2. e4 c6 3. d4 d5 4. e5 Qf7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. c4 fxe5 7. dxe5 Bf5 8. Bd3 Bxd3 9. Qxd3 Nec7 10. O-O Ne6 11. Ne2 Nb6 12. Nfd4 dxc4 13. Qh3 Nxd4 14. Rxd4 c3 15. Rxd8 Rxd8 16. Bxc3 Nd5 17. f4 Nxc3 18. Qxc3 Bc7 19. Kh1 g6 20. Ng3 Qd5 21. Qe3 Qa5 22. Ne4 Qb5 23. Qf3 Rf8 24. Rd1 Bxe5 25. a4 Qb4 26. g3 Bd4 27. Ng5 e5 28. h4 Qc3 29. Qxc3 Bxc3 30. Rd3 Bb2 31. Rd7 exf4 32. Ne6 Rf5 33. gxf4 Rf6 34. Rg7+ Kh8 35. Re7 h6 36. Nd8 Rxf4 37. Rxb7 Rxh4+ 38. Kg2 Rd4 39. Nxc6 Rd2+ 40. Kh1 Rd1+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 194 / 148 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): nbbrnqkr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/BQNRKBNR w DHdh - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 663 vs Black 814.