White 202 vs Black 270
White starts from setup 202 (QNRKBBNR), Black from setup 270 (NRKNQBBR). 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 #202 Q N R K B B N R
King on the d-file, rooks on c, 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 202 gives White +0.30 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #270 N R K N Q B B R
King on the c-file, rooks on b, h, queen on the e-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 270 gives White +0.11 (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 60.
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 -12 and +45 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 202 gives White +0.30 and setup 270 gives White +0.11: 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 f4, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±15 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 | +45 | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 O-O-O 4. b3 d6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 22 | +2 | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. b3 Nxe5 4. Nf3 f6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 26 | +6 | 1. d4 d5 2. e3 f6 3. b3 Nc6 4. Nf3 e5 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 28 | -12 | 1. d4 f6 2. e3 e5 3. b3 Bf7 4. Nf3 Nc6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 36 | +7 | 1. d4 f6 2. e3 d5 3. b3 Nc6 4. Nf3 e5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 42 | 0 | 1. d4 f6 2. e3 d5 3. b3 Nc6 4. Nf3 e5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 48 | -1 | 1. f4 Nc6 2. Nf3 f6 3. b3 O-O-O 4. e3 h5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 53 | 0 | 1. f4 Nc6 2. Nf3 f6 3. b3 O-O-O 4. e3 h5 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 60 | 0 | 1. f4 Nc6 2. Nf3 f6 3. b3 O-O-O 4. e3 h5 |
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: -9
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 0, Black +67, difference -67. 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 | -13 | 40 | 1. f4 f6 2. b3 Nc6 3. Nf3 O-O-O 4. e3 h5 5. Bf2 Kb8 |
| 2 | -16 | 40 | 1. d4 f6 2. e4 e5 3. d5 b5 4. c4 bxc4 5. Nd2 c6 |
| 3 | -25 | 40 | 1. e3 e5 2. d4 f6 3. Nf3 Bf7 4. Be2 Bh5 5. Nc3 e4 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 15 cp, mean 2.4 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d4 | -6 | f6 | -12 |
| 2 | e4 | -7 | e5 | -9 |
| 3 | d5 | -8 | b5 | -13 |
| 4 | c4 | -6 | bxc4 | -15 |
| 5 | Nd2 | -9 | c6 | +2 |
| 6 | Nxc4 | -10 | f5 | -9 |
| 7 | f3 | 0 | Nc7 | 0 |
| 8 | b3 | 0 | fxe4 | 0 |
| 9 | fxe4 | +1 | cxd5 | 0 |
| 10 | exd5 | 0 | Bxd5 | +4 |
| 11 | Qxe5 | +5 | Qxe5 | +6 |
| 12 | Nxe5 | +11 | Nc6 | +5 |
| 13 | Ngf3 | 0 | Ba3 | 0 |
| 14 | Rc2 | 0 | Nb4 | +1 |
| 15 | Rc5 | 0 | d6 | 0 |
| 16 | Ra5 | +2 | dxe5 | 0 |
| 17 | Rxa3 | 0 | Nxa2 | 0 |
| 18 | Rxa2 | 0 | Bxb3+ | 0 |
| 19 | Rc2 | 0 | Rd8+ | 0 |
| 20 | Kc1 | 0 | Bxc2 | 0 |
| 21 | Kxc2 | 0 | Rd5 | 0 |
| 22 | Bc4 | 0 | Rc5 | 0 |
| 23 | Nd2 | 0 | Nb5 | 0 |
| 24 | Bf2 | 0 | Rc6 | 0 |
| 25 | Ra1 | 0 | Nd6 | 0 |
| 26 | Ra4 | 0 | a5 | 0 |
| 27 | Be1 | 0 | e4 | 0 |
| 28 | Bg3 | 0 | Nxc4 | 0 |
| 29 | Nxc4 | 0 | O-O-O | 0 |
| 30 | Bf4 | 0 | Rd4 | 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 38.0 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. b3 c5 2. f4 f6 3. Bf2 e5 4. fxe5 fxe5 5. e4 Nc6 6. Nf3 Nc7 7. Be2 O-O-O 8. O-O h5 9. Nc3 Be7 10. b4 cxb4 11. Nb5 Nxb5 12. Bxb5 h4 13. h3 Be6 14. Bxc6 dxc6 15. Bxa7 g5 16. Bb6 g4 17. Bxd8 Bxd8 18. hxg4 h3 19. g3 h2+ 20. Kh1 Bxg4 21. Rce1 Bh3 22. Qxe5 Qg8 23. Qf4 Qg7 24. Qe5 Bf6 25. Qf4 Bd8 26. Qe5 Bf6 27. Qd6 Bd8
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 f6 3. e3 e5 4. dxe5 fxe5 5. Bc3 e4 6. Nd4 Ne6 7. b3 O-O-O 8. Be2 h5 9. O-O Qg6 10. f4 exf3 11. Nxf3 Qh6 12. Rce1 Bc5 13. Bd2 Bh7 14. Ne5 Rdf8 15. Nf7 Rxf7 16. Rxf7 Bxc2 17. Nc3 Qg6 18. Rf3 c6 19. Rg3 Qh7 20. Qb2 Bf5 21. Nxd5 cxd5 22. Rc1 Bg4 23. Rxg4 hxg4 24. Qe5 Nac7 25. b4 Bb6 26. Qxe6+ Kb8 27. Qe5 Re8 28. Qd6 Qe4 29. Kh1 g5 30. Qg3 a6 31. Bxg4 Qd3 32. Rd1 Qc2 33. h3 Ka7 34. e4 Rxe4 35. Qb3 Qxb3 36. axb3 Be3 37. Bf3 Re7 38. Bc3 Nb5 39. Bf6 Rf7 40. Re1 Bf2 41. Re6 Nc7 42. Bh5 Rf8 43. Rd6 Nb5 44. Bg7 Nxd6
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 202 / 270 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): nrknqbbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNRKBBNR w CHbh - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 661 vs Black 596.
Current place in the live balance rating: 373.