White 299 vs Black 567
White starts from setup 299 (QNRKBRNB), Black from setup 567 (RNBKNRQB). 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 #299 Q N R K B R N B
King on the d-file, rooks on c, f, queen on the a-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 299 gives White +0.21 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #567 R N B K N R Q B
King on the d-file, rooks on a, f, queen on the g-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 567 gives White +0.13 (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 58.
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 ±11 cp.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 299 gives White +0.21 and setup 567 gives White +0.13: 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 g3, and 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (13 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 | 13 | +6 | 1. g3 g5 2. a4 Nc6 3. O-O-O b6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 23 | -2 | 1. a4 Nc6 2. g3 a5 3. d3 g5 4. O-O-O b6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 25 | -11 | 1. g3 a5 2. a4 f5 3. O-O-O Nc6 4. Qa3 g5 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 29 | -11 | 1. g3 Nc6 2. a4 a5 3. d3 g5 4. Bxc6 bxc6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 35 | +2 | 1. g3 g5 2. f4 f5 3. O-O-O g4 4. d3 a5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 43 | 0 | 1. g3 f5 2. a4 g5 3. f4 Nc6 4. O-O-O a5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 47 | -3 | 1. g3 f5 2. f4 g5 3. O-O-O a5 4. fxg5 a4 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 53 | 0 | 1. g3 f5 2. f4 g5 3. a4 g4 4. d3 a5 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 58 | 0 | 1. g3 f5 2. f4 g5 3. a4 Nc6 4. O-O-O a5 |
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: -5
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 +14, Black +68, difference -54. 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 | 43 | 1. g3 f5 2. a4 g5 3. O-O-O a5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Bd2 d6 |
| 2 | +7 | 43 | 1. a4 f5 2. g3 g5 3. O-O-O a5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Qa3 Nc6 |
| 3 | +6 | 43 | 1. f4 f5 2. g3 g5 3. a4 g4 4. d3 a5 5. e3 Nc6 |
Main-line play-out
13 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 10 cp, mean 1.3 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | g3 | -10 | f5 | -4 |
| 2 | d3 | +4 | Nc6 | -1 |
| 3 | a4 | -2 | g5 | +3 |
| 4 | O-O-O | -4 | Nf6 | 0 |
| 5 | Nc3 | -4 | a5 | 0 |
| 6 | Bd2 | 0 | Nb4 | 0 |
| 7 | f4 | 0 | gxf4 | 0 |
| 8 | gxf4 | 0 | d6 | -2 |
| 9 | Qa3 | 0 | c6 | 0 |
| 10 | Nf3 | 0 | Qf7 | 0 |
| 11 | Ng5 | 0 | Qg8 | 0 |
| 12 | Nf3 | 0 | Qf7 | 0 |
| 13 | Ng5 | 0 | Qg8 | 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 36.2 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. O-O-O g5 2. Nc3 f5 3. g3 a5 4. a4 Nc6 5. f4 g4 6. Qa3 Nb4 7. d3 d6 8. Bf2 Be6 9. e4 O-O-O 10. Nge2 fxe4 11. dxe4 Bc4 12. Rfe1 Nf6 13. Nd4 e5 14. Nf5 Rfe8 15. Ne3 Bg7 16. f5 Bh6 17. Kb1 Bxe3 18. Bxe3 d5 19. exd5 Nfxd5 20. Bc5 Nxc3+ 21. bxc3 Nd5 22. f6 b6 23. Bxd5 Rxd5 24. Be7 Rxd1+ 25. Rxd1 Qe6 26. Re1 Rg8 27. Re4 Rg6 28. Qc1 Qc6 29. Rxe5 Qxa4 30. Qe3 Bf7 31. Qd4 Qxd4 32. cxd4 c6 33. Kb2 b5 34. c4 bxc4 35. Rxa5 Rh6 36. Kc3 Rxh2 37. Ra8+ Kd7 38. Ra7+ Ke6 39. Rc7 Kf5 40. Rxc6 Kg6 41. Rc5 Rf2 42. d5 Rf3+ 43. Kxc4 Rxg3 44. Kd4 Rg1 45. d6
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. a4 f5 2. g3 a5 3. Qa3 Nc6 4. f4 g6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 Bd7 7. Bf2 Nf6 8. d3 Kc8 9. O-O-O Ra6 10. Nb5 Kb8 11. Nd2 Rc8 12. Kb1 Be6 13. c3 Nd7 14. e4 Nb6 15. Rc1 fxe4 16. Bxe4 d5 17. Bf3 Bf5 18. Ka1 Bxd3 19. Rfd1 e5 20. Nb3 Nc4 21. Qa2 e4 22. Nc5 Nb4 23. cxb4 Bxb2+ 24. Qxb2 Nxb2 25. Kxb2 Rc6 26. Bg4 Rd8 27. Nd4 Rxc5 28. bxc5 Qe8 29. c6 e3 30. Be1 Bc4 31. Bxa5 bxc6 32. Rc2 c5 33. Ne6 e2 34. Bxc7+ Ka7 35. Bxe2 Rd7 36. Bg4 h5 37. Bh3 g5 38. fxg5 Rxc7 39. Nxc7 Qe5+ 40. Ka3 Qe3+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 299 / 567 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): rnbknrqb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QNRKBRNB w CFaf - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 369 vs Black 482.