White 230 vs Black 214
White starts from setup 230 (NRBQKBNR), Black from setup 214 (NQBRKBNR). 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 #230 N R B Q K B N R
King on the e-file, rooks on b, h, queen on the d-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 230 gives White +0.47 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: 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).
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 59.
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 agreed early: from 100 thousand to 128 million nodes the evaluation never left ±12 cp.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 230 gives White +0.47 and setup 214 gives White +0.21: 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 e4, and 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (10 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±0 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 | +12 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nb3 Nb6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 20 | +2 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 exd4 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 31 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 exd4 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 38 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 exd4 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 38 | +12 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Qc2 c5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 45 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 exd4 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 exd4 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 58 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Bd3 exd4 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 59 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nb3 Be7 |
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: +10
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 -10, Black +31, difference -41. 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 | 45 | 1. e4 |
| 2 | +6 | 45 | 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 e6 3. Bf4 Bd6 4. e3 Ne7 5. Bg3 Nb6 |
| 3 | -2 | 44 | 1. c4 e5 2. b4 c6 3. e3 Be7 4. Bb2 Nh6 5. Qc2 O-O |
Main-line play-out
10 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 0 cp, mean 0.0 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | e4 | 0 | e5 | 0 |
| 2 | Nf3 | 0 | d6 | 0 |
| 3 | d4 | 0 | Nf6 | 0 |
| 4 | Bd3 | 0 | exd4 | 0 |
| 5 | O-O | 0 | c5 | 0 |
| 6 | Bf4 | 0 | Be7 | 0 |
| 7 | b4 | 0 | Nh5 | 0 |
| 8 | Bd2 | 0 | Nf6 | 0 |
| 9 | Bf4 | 0 | Nh5 | 0 |
| 10 | Bd2 | 0 | Nf6 | 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 30.5 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. c4 e5 2. e3 d6 3. b4 Nf6 4. Bb2 c5 5. Nf3 cxb4 6. Qa4+ Bd7 7. Qxb4 Nb6 8. Be2 Rc8 9. Qb3 Ba4 10. Qb4 Bd7 11. Qb3 Ba4 12. Qb4
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. e4 d6 2. d4 e5 3. d5 c6 4. c4 f5 5. exf5 Bxf5 6. Nc2 Nf6 7. Ne2 Qc7 8. Nc3 Qf7 9. Ra1 Be7 10. Be2 O-O 11. Ne3 Bg6 12. O-O Nb6 13. a4 a5 14. b3 Nbd7 15. Ba3 Nc5 16. Bxc5 dxc5 17. Ra2 e4 18. Rd2 Ne8 19. Bg4 Qf6 20. dxc6 bxc6 21. Rxd8 Bxd8 22. Ne2 Bc7 23. g3 h5 24. Bd7 Be5 25. Qd2 Bd4 26. Nf4 Qd6 27. Be6+ Kh7 28. Nxg6 Kxg6 29. Bh3 h4 30. Qe2 hxg3 31. Qg4+ Kf7 32. hxg3 Bxe3 33. fxe3+ Nf6 34. Kg2 Qd2+ 35. Kh1 Rh8 36. Qe6+ Kg6 37. Qf5+ Kf7 38. Qe6+ Kg6 39. Rf4 Qe2 40. Qf5+ Kf7
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 230 / 214 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): nqbrkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NRBQKBNR w BHdh - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 630 vs Black 646.
Current place in the live balance rating: 164.