White 196 vs Black 195
White starts from setup 196 (QBBNRKNR), Black from setup 195 (BQNRKNRB). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-09: neither side starts better.
|cp| ≤ 5 at 400M · 800M · 1.6B · 4B nodes, two independent engines agree
The two setups
White: setup #196 Q B B N R K N R
King on the f-file, rooks on e, 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 196 gives White +0.27 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #195 B Q N R K N R B
King on the e-file, rooks on d, g, 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 195 gives White +0.14 (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 55.
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 ±12 cp.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 196 gives White +0.27 and setup 195 gives White +0.14: 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 c3, and 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (27 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±26 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 | 17 | +4 | 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. c3 g6 4. h4 Nd6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 19 | +3 | 1. b4 d5 2. c3 b6 3. Nf3 Nd6 4. d4 g6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 24 | -12 | 1. b4 d5 2. c3 b6 3. b5 Nd6 4. a4 g6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 29 | -5 | 1. b4 g6 2. Bb2 Bxb2 3. Qxb2 d5 4. d4 b6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 36 | 0 | 1. b4 g6 2. Bb2 Bxb2 3. Qxb2 d5 4. Nf3 b6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 44 | 0 | 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nb6 3. Ne3 Na4 4. Be5 b5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 47 | 0 | 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nb6 3. Ne3 Na4 4. Be5 b5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. d4 d5 2. c3 c5 3. dxc5 g6 4. Nf3 Nd7 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. d4 d5 2. c3 c5 3. dxc5 g6 4. Nf3 Nd7 |
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: -12
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 +100, Black +136, difference -36. 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 | 46 | 1. c3 d5 2. d4 c5 3. b4 b6 4. bxc5 bxc5 5. Ba3 cxd4 |
| 2 | +4 | 46 | 1. d4 d5 2. c3 c5 3. b4 b6 4. bxc5 bxc5 5. Ba3 cxd4 |
| 3 | 0 | 45 | 1. b4 d5 2. Bb2 Nb6 3. Ne3 Na4 4. Be5 b5 5. Nf3 f6 |
Main-line play-out
27 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 26 cp, mean 6.8 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | b4 | -6 | g6 | -13 |
| 2 | Bb2 | -9 | Bxb2 | -2 |
| 3 | Qxb2 | -6 | d5 | +1 |
| 4 | d3 | +12 | Nd6 | 0 |
| 5 | c3 | -4 | b6 | -9 |
| 6 | f3 | -12 | c5 | -17 |
| 7 | e4 | -6 | Ne6 | -13 |
| 8 | Nh3 | -16 | dxe4 | -15 |
| 9 | fxe4 | -7 | cxb4 | -6 |
| 10 | Qxb4 | -7 | Qc7 | -19 |
| 11 | a3 | -17 | Qc5 | -25 |
| 12 | Nhf2 | -26 | Nf4 | -16 |
| 13 | Ne3 | -18 | O-O | -19 |
| 14 | Qxc5 | -10 | bxc5 | -9 |
| 15 | g3 | -6 | Ne6 | -8 |
| 16 | Ba2 | -5 | Kg7 | -9 |
| 17 | O-O | -3 | Ng5 | 0 |
| 18 | Kg2 | -1 | f6 | -4 |
| 19 | h4 | 0 | Ngf7 | 0 |
| 20 | Nd5 | 0 | Bxd5 | 0 |
| 21 | Bxd5 | -4 | c4 | 0 |
| 22 | d4 | 0 | e5 | 0 |
| 23 | Rb1 | -4 | Rb8 | -6 |
| 24 | g4 | -2 | Rfc8 | -1 |
| 25 | Be6 | 0 | Re8 | 0 |
| 26 | Bd5 | 0 | Rec8 | 0 |
| 27 | Be6 | 0 | Re8 | 0 |
| 28 | Bd5 | 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 36.5 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. c3 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. cxb4 b5 4. Bb2 Nb6 5. Nf3 Na4 6. Bd4 h6 7. h4 Ne6 8. Be5 d6 9. Bd4 a6 10. h5 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Qb6 12. e3 O-O-O 13. Bh7 Rgf8 14. Qb1 Kb8 15. f3 Rc8 16. Nf2 Bd5 17. Nb3 Bc4+ 18. Kg1 e6 19. Nd3 Rc7 20. Rc1 g5 21. hxg6 f5 22. Rh4 Rfc8 23. Re1 d5 24. f4 Qd6 25. Nd4 Bxd3 26. Qxd3 Nb2 27. Qe2 Nc4 28. Rxh6 Bxd4 29. exd4 Qxf4 30. Rh3 Nxd2 31. Qxe6 Qxd4+ 32. Qe3 Qxb4 33. a3 Qa5 34. Rd1 Rc1 35. Qe5+ Ka7 36. Qd4+ Kb8 37. Qe5+ Ka7 38. Qd4+ Ka8 39. Qxd5+ Kb8 40. Qe5+ Ka8
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. d4 d5 2. h4 Nd6 3. c3 g6 4. Bf4 c5 5. e3 b6 6. Bd3 Nd7 7. Nf3 Nf6 8. Ng5 Qc8 9. Qb1 Bb7 10. Kg1 Qd7 11. Qc2 Bg7 12. Qe2 e6 13. Rh3 Qe7 14. a4 O-O 15. Nf3 Bc6 16. Bb5 Be8 17. Bxd6 Rxd6 18. Ne5 h5 19. f4 Ne4 20. g4 f6 21. Nd3 e5 22. gxh5 gxh5 23. Bxe8 Qxe8 24. f5 Rd7 25. N1f2 cxd4 26. exd4 Nd6 27. Kh1 Bh6 28. dxe5 fxe5 29. Nxe5 Re7 30. Nfd3 Ne4 31. Qg2+ Rg7 32. Qf3 Qc8 33. Rf1 Nd2 34. Qxd5+ Kh7 35. Rg1 Qxf5 36. Rhg3 Rxg3 37. Rxg3 Qf1+ 38. Kh2 Rf2+ 39. Nxf2 Qxf2+ 40. Kh3 Qf1+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 196 / 195 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): bqnrknrb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QBBNRKNR w EHdg - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 670 vs Black 659 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.