White 30 vs Black 930
White starts from setup 30 (NQNRKBBR), Black from setup 930 (BRKRNBQN). In the encyclopedia since 2026-11-01: neither side starts better.
|cp| ≤ 5 at 400M · 800M · 1.6B · 4B nodes, two independent engines agree
How to play with different setups
White sets up the pieces by position No. 30, Black by position No. 930, mirrored on their own side; the pawns stand as usual.
Moves as usual: White starts; everything else follows the Chess960 rules.
The two setups
White: setup #30 N Q N R K B B 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 30 gives White +0.14 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #930 B R K R N B Q N
King on the c-file, rooks on b, d, queen on the g-file; one 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 930 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 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 wandered between -26 and +14 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 30 gives White +0.14 and setup 930 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 f3, and 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 63 cp (around move 27), ending at +48 cp — the position stays playable for both sides.
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 | +14 | 1. c3 b6 2. e4 f5 3. e5 e6 4. Ba6+ Bb7 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 18 | 0 | 1. c3 b6 2. f3 d5 3. e3 Nd6 4. Bf2 e5 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 23 | +3 | 1. c3 b6 2. f3 Bb7 3. d4 g5 4. Qc2 g4 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 26 | -23 | 1. c3 b6 2. f3 Bb7 3. d4 g5 4. h3 Ng6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 32 | -26 | 1. f3 b6 2. d4 g5 3. Nab3 Nd6 4. Nd2 f5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 38 | -11 | 1. c3 e5 2. h4 a5 3. f3 b6 4. Bh2 e4 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 43 | 0 | 1. c3 b6 2. d4 g5 3. h4 g4 4. e3 e6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 49 | 0 | 1. c3 e5 2. Nab3 g5 3. d4 Ng6 4. h4 Nxh4 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. c3 e5 2. Nab3 g5 3. f3 b6 4. d4 exd4 |
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: -1
- Lc0 0.32.1: -9
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 0, Black +14, difference -14. 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 | -10 | 39 | 1. f3 b6 2. c3 e5 3. Nab3 g5 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nd6 |
| 2 | -18 | 40 | 1. f3 b6 |
| 3 | -16 | 39 | 1. Nab3 b6 2. h4 f5 3. e3 Nf6 4. c3 g6 5. d4 Re8 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 63 cp, mean 35.1 cp, final +48 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | c3 | -16 | b6 | -33 |
| 2 | f3 | -37 | Bb7 | -38 |
| 3 | d4 | -38 | g5 | -43 |
| 4 | h3 | -20 | Ng6 | -33 |
| 5 | Nab3 | -22 | d5 | -12 |
| 6 | Qf5+ | -7 | e6 | 0 |
| 7 | Qxg5 | +22 | a5 | +9 |
| 8 | h4 | +18 | f6 | +28 |
| 9 | Qg3 | +26 | h5 | +32 |
| 10 | e3 | +35 | Rd7 | +30 |
| 11 | Ne2 | +29 | a4 | +16 |
| 12 | Na1 | +24 | Rg7 | +25 |
| 13 | Qf2 | +20 | Ra8 | +22 |
| 14 | Nc2 | +27 | Ba6 | +22 |
| 15 | O-O-O | +27 | Kb7 | +33 |
| 16 | Kb1 | +26 | Nd6 | +31 |
| 17 | Bh2 | +34 | f5 | +36 |
| 18 | a3 | +52 | Qf7 | +40 |
| 19 | Ng3 | +53 | Bxf1 | +37 |
| 20 | Nxf1 | +37 | Nc4 | +34 |
| 21 | Nd2 | +35 | Na5 | +50 |
| 22 | Rhg1 | +43 | Rh7 | +47 |
| 23 | Bg3 | +44 | Bh6 | +51 |
| 24 | Qf1 | +53 | Rg7 | +49 |
| 25 | Bf2 | +60 | e5 | +54 |
| 26 | Qe2 | +52 | exd4 | +52 |
| 27 | cxd4 | +63 | Ne7 | +51 |
| 28 | Qb5 | +47 | Qe8 | +49 |
| 29 | Qe2 | +44 | Nec6 | +47 |
| 30 | Qb5 | +43 | Ne7 | +48 |
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 37.9 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. c3 e6 2. e4 g5 3. f3 b6 4. Be3 Be7 5. Ba6+ Bb7 6. Bxb7+ Kxb7 7. O-O Nd6 8. d4 g4 9. f4 h5 10. f5 f6 11. Bf4 exf5 12. exf5 Re8 13. Nc2 Bf8 14. Ne3 Nc4 15. Nxc4 Qxc4 16. Qd3 Qxd3 17. Nxd3 Nf7 18. Rde1 Nd6 19. Bxd6 Bxd6 20. Nf2 g3 21. Ne4 gxh2+ 22. Kh1 Rbd8 23. Re2 b5 24. b3 a5 25. Rfe1 Rg8 26. a4 b4 27. Nxd6+ cxd6 28. cxb4 axb4 29. Rb2 Kb6 30. Re7 Kc6 31. Kxh2 Kd5 32. Rf2 Kxd4 33. Rf4+ Kc3 34. Re3+ Kd2 35. Rh3 Rde8 36. Rxb4 Rg4 37. Rxg4 hxg4 38. Rh6 Rf8 39. Rh7 Rd8 40. Rf7 d5
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. c3 b6 2. f3 Bb7 3. e4 e5 4. d4 f5 5. exf5 Nd6 6. dxe5 Re8 7. Be2 Rxe5 8. Bd4 Rxf5 9. O-O Ng6 10. Bd3 Rg5 11. Be3 Rxg2+ 12. Kxg2 Nh4+ 13. Kf2 Qf7 14. Ke2 O-O-O 15. Kd2 Re8 16. Bg1 Nxf3+ 17. Kc2 Nc4 18. Ne2 Ba3 19. Nd4 Nxb2 20. Nxf3 Bxf3 21. Ba6+ Kd8 22. Rde1 Qf5+ 23. Kd2 Qd5+ 24. Bd4 Be4 25. Rxe4 Rxe4 26. Nc2 b5 27. Ne3 Rxd4+ 28. cxd4 Qxd4+ 29. Ke2 c6 30. Qxh7 Bc5 31. Qg8+ Kc7 32. Nd5+ cxd5 33. Qc8+ Kd6 34. Qb8+ Ke7 35. Qf8+ Ke6 36. Qg8+ Kd6 37. Qf8+ Ke6 38. Qg8+ Kd6 39. Qb8+ Ke7 40. Qf8+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 30 / 930 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): brkrnbqn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NQNRKBBR w DHbd - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 932 vs Black 23 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 165.