White 214 vs Black 356
White starts from setup 214 (NQBRKBNR), Black from setup 356 (NBBRKRQN). 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 #214 N Q B R K B N R
King on the e-file, rooks on d, 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 214 gives White +0.21 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #356 N B B R K R Q N
King on the e-file, rooks on d, f, queen on the g-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 356 gives White +0.26 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B nodes) the evaluation never left ±3 centipawns of equality, reaching search depth 57.
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 -17 and +4 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 214 gives White +0.21 and setup 356 gives White +0.26: 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 c4, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (20 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±24 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 | -13 | 1. c4 f5 2. e3 c6 3. d4 g5 4. Qc2 Ng6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 20 | +4 | 1. c4 f5 2. e3 d5 3. Qc2 Ng6 4. d4 f4 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 23 | 0 | 1. c4 f5 2. Qc2 d5 3. e3 c6 4. cxd5 Qxd5 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 29 | -17 | 1. c4 d5 2. cxd5 f5 3. d4 Qxd5 4. Nb3 c6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 40 | 0 | 1. e3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Bxc4 g5 4. d4 c6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 43 | -5 | 1. c4 d5 2. e3 dxc4 3. Bxc4 Nb6 4. Be2 g5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 51 | -3 | 1. c4 d5 2. e3 dxc4 3. Bxc4 Nb6 4. Be2 g5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 57 | 0 | 1. c4 d5 2. e3 dxc4 3. Bxc4 Nb6 4. Be2 g5 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 57 | 0 | 1. c4 d5 2. e3 dxc4 3. Bxc4 Nb6 4. Be2 g5 |
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 +31, Black +40, difference -9. 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 | 45 | 1. c4 d5 2. e3 dxc4 3. Bxc4 g5 4. d4 Nb6 5. Be2 f5 |
| 2 | 0 | 45 | 1. e3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Bxc4 g5 4. d4 Nb6 5. Be2 f5 |
| 3 | -22 | 44 | 1. Nb3 f5 2. d4 c6 3. g3 d6 4. Bg2 Nb6 5. f4 e5 |
Main-line play-out
20 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 24 cp, mean 7.2 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | c4 | -12 | d5 | -11 |
| 2 | cxd5 | -15 | f5 | -7 |
| 3 | d4 | 0 | Qxd5 | -15 |
| 4 | Nf3 | -15 | c6 | -8 |
| 5 | Nb3 | -18 | Nb6 | -19 |
| 6 | Qc2 | -24 | f4 | -23 |
| 7 | g3 | -18 | Ng6 | -23 |
| 8 | Bg2 | -16 | O-O | -19 |
| 9 | O-O | -16 | Qh5 | -13 |
| 10 | Nc5 | -16 | Kh8 | -3 |
| 11 | Qb3 | 0 | Rde8 | 0 |
| 12 | Nd3 | 0 | Bc7 | 0 |
| 13 | Nfe5 | -3 | Nxe5 | -2 |
| 14 | dxe5 | 0 | fxg3 | 0 |
| 15 | hxg3 | 0 | Nd7 | 0 |
| 16 | Bf3 | 0 | Qf5 | 0 |
| 17 | g4 | 0 | Qg6 | 0 |
| 18 | Nf4 | 0 | Qg5 | 0 |
| 19 | Nd3 | 0 | Qg6 | 0 |
| 20 | Nf4 | 0 | Qg5 | 0 |
| 21 | Nd3 | 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 38.5 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. c4 c6 2. Nb3 f5 3. e3 d5 4. cxd5 Qxd5 5. d4 e5 6. Bd2 Ng6 7. dxe5 Nxe5 8. Bc3 Qxd1+ 9. Qxd1 Rxd1+ 10. Kxd1 Nb6 11. Nf3 Ng4 12. Ke1 O-O 13. Nbd2 Rd8 14. Bd4 Bd6 15. h3 c5 16. hxg4 cxd4 17. Nxd4 fxg4 18. Nc4 Bb4+ 19. Kd1 Nd5 20. Bd3 g6 21. Ke2 Bc5 22. Nb3 Bf8 23. Rc1 g3 24. Ne5 Bd6 25. Bc4 Bxe5 26. Bxd5+ Kh8 27. f4 Bxb2 28. Rc2 Ba3 29. Kf3 h5 30. Be4 g5 31. Kxg3 Bd6 32. Rd2 h4+ 33. Kf3 g4+ 34. Ke2 Bc7 35. Rc2 Bb6 36. a4 a5 37. Nd4 h3 38. gxh3 gxh3 39. Kf3 Bxd4 40. exd4 Kg7 41. Rc5 h2 42. Kg3 b6 43. Rc7+ Kf6 44. Rc6+
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. d4 d5 2. c3 c6 3. e4 f6 4. Nb3 dxe4 5. Qxe4 Nc7 6. Bd3 Nd5 7. Qxh7 Qxh7 8. Bxh7 g6 9. h4 Rf7 10. Bg8 Rg7 11. Bxd5 Rxd5 12. Ne2 Rh5 13. Bf4 Bxf4 14. Nxf4 Rh6 15. d5 Rgh7 16. dxc6 bxc6 17. Na5 Bd7 18. O-O-O Rxh4 19. Rxh4 Rxh4 20. Nd3 Nf7 21. b4 Rh2 22. Nc5 Bf5 23. Nxc6 Rxg2 24. Re1 e5 25. Rf1 Nd6 26. Nxa7 e4 27. Nc6 e3 28. fxe3 Rxa2 29. Rd1 Rc2+ 30. Kb1 Rd2+ 31. Kc1 Rc2+ 32. Kb1 Rd2+ 33. Kc1
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 214 / 356 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): nbbrkrqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NQBRKBNR w DHdf - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 646 vs Black 318.