White 317 vs Black 198
White starts from setup 317 (NQRBKRBN), Black from setup 198 (QNBRKBNR). 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 #317 N Q R B K R B N
King on the e-file, rooks on c, f, 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 317 gives White +0.43 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #198 Q N B R K B N R
King on the e-file, rooks on d, 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 198 gives White +0.16 (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 56.
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 +4 and +19 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 317 gives White +0.43 and setup 198 gives White +0.16: 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 (30 moves) the largest swing was 33 cp (around move 3), ending at -3 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 | 13 | +4 | 1. f3 g6 2. c4 b6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bh6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 18 | +4 | 1. c4 g6 2. f3 d6 3. b4 b6 4. Bd4 Nf6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 27 | +12 | 1. f3 g6 2. c4 d6 3. e4 c5 4. Ba4+ Nc6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 26 | +19 | 1. c4 d6 2. f3 g6 3. e4 e5 4. d4 Bh6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 36 | +15 | 1. c4 b6 2. f3 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bxd4 Nc6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 39 | +5 | 1. c4 b6 2. f3 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bxd4 Nf6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 51 | 0 | 1. c4 b6 2. f3 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bxd4 Nf6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 56 | 0 | 1. c4 b6 2. f3 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bxd4 Nf6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. c4 b6 2. f3 c5 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bxd4 Nf6 |
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: +17
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 -6, Black +37, difference -43. 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 | 42 | 1. c4 b6 2. e4 c5 3. f4 d6 4. Be3 g6 5. O-O Bg7 |
| 2 | +3 | 41 | 1. e4 b6 2. c4 c5 3. f4 d6 4. Ng3 Bb7 5. Be3 g6 |
| 3 | -17 | 41 | 1. f3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Rxc4 Nf6 4. Bf2 e6 5. b4 b6 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 33 cp, mean 11.4 cp, final -3 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | c4 | +12 | d6 | +13 |
| 2 | f3 | +11 | g6 | +22 |
| 3 | Nc2 | +27 | c5 | +33 |
| 4 | e4 | +26 | Bg7 | +22 |
| 5 | d4 | +24 | cxd4 | +22 |
| 6 | Bxd4 | +25 | Bxd4 | +22 |
| 7 | Nxd4 | +22 | a6 | +24 |
| 8 | Qd3 | +19 | Qa7 | +16 |
| 9 | Nf2 | +19 | Nf6 | +20 |
| 10 | Qd2 | +21 | O-O | +8 |
| 11 | O-O | +7 | Nc6 | +9 |
| 12 | Nxc6 | +15 | bxc6 | +13 |
| 13 | h3 | +10 | Nh5 | +9 |
| 14 | f4 | +7 | Ng7 | +8 |
| 15 | Bg4 | +9 | Bxg4 | +12 |
| 16 | hxg4 | +15 | f6 | +11 |
| 17 | f5 | +11 | gxf5 | +23 |
| 18 | exf5 | +13 | e6 | +18 |
| 19 | fxe6 | +9 | Nxe6 | +10 |
| 20 | b4 | +18 | Rfe8 | +6 |
| 21 | a4 | +5 | d5 | +10 |
| 22 | Rfe1 | +5 | Qd4 | 0 |
| 23 | Qxd4 | 0 | Nxd4 | -1 |
| 24 | cxd5 | -4 | Rxe1+ | 0 |
| 25 | Rxe1 | 0 | cxd5 | -2 |
| 26 | Nd3 | -1 | Rb8 | 0 |
| 27 | Kf2 | 0 | Nc6 | 0 |
| 28 | Rb1 | -6 | Kf7 | 0 |
| 29 | Ke3 | -2 | Re8+ | 0 |
| 30 | Kf2 | -2 | Rb8 | -3 |
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 40.8 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. f3 b6 2. b4 g6 3. c4 d6 4. Bd4 e5 5. Bc3 Ne7 6. O-O Bg7 7. e4 c5 8. b5 O-O 9. Nc2 f5 10. exf5 gxf5 11. f4 exf4 12. Bxg7 Kxg7 13. Bf3 Bb7 14. Bxb7 Qxb7 15. Ne1 Nd7 16. Nd3 f3 17. Rxf3 Ne5 18. Rf2 Nxd3 19. Qxd3 f4 20. Rcf1 Ng6 21. Qc3+ Kg8 22. g3 Qe4 23. gxf4 Rxf4 24. Ng3 Qe5 25. Rxf4 Nxf4 26. Qf3 Rf8 27. Qg4+ Kh8 28. Kh1 d5 29. d3 dxc4 30. dxc4 Qb2 31. Ne2 Ng6 32. Rxf8+ Nxf8 33. a4 Qa1+ 34. Kg2 Qxa4 35. Qf5 Kg7 36. Qe5+ Kg8 37. Qd5+ Kg7 38. Qe5+ Kf7 39. Qf5+ Kg8 40. Qd5+ Kg7
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. f3 d5 2. Bf2 Nf6 3. O-O g6 4. c4 Bg7 5. d4 O-O 6. c5 a5 7. e3 Nc6 8. Ba4 Bf5 9. Nc2 e5 10. Bxc6 bxc6 11. Rcd1 exd4 12. exd4 Qa6 13. b3 Rfe8 14. Ng3 Bd3 15. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 16. Bxe1 h5 17. h4 Nd7 18. Qc1 Bf6 19. Bf2 Bxc2 20. Qxc2 Re8 21. Nf1 Nf8 22. a4 Ne6 23. g3 Qc8 24. Rd3 g5 25. Rd2 gxh4 26. Qf5 Qd8 27. Qxh5 hxg3 28. Nxg3 Bg5 29. Re2 Qf6 30. Qg4 Kf8 31. Nh5 Qg6 32. f4 Bd8 33. Qxg6 fxg6 34. f5 gxf5 35. Re5 Kf7 36. Rxf5+ Kg6 37. Re5 Bg5 38. Ng3 Bf4 39. Re1 Kg5 40. Kg2 Kg4 41. Nf1 Kf5 42. Ng3+ Kg6 43. Kf3 Bh6 44. Kg4 Kf7 45. Rd1 Rf8 46. Rd3 Ke8 47. Nf5 Rg8+ 48. Kf3 Rf8 49. Kg4 Rg8+ 50. Kf3 Bg5 51. Rc3 Rh8 52. Rd3 Kf7 53. Kg4 Rg8 54. Ng3 Bf6+ 55. Kf3 Rh8 56. Be3 Rh4 57. Ne2 Rh1 58. Kg4 Rh2 59. Nf4 Rh4+ 60. Kg3 Ng7 61. Bf2 Nf5+ 62. Kf3 Rh2 63. Bg3 Rh8 64. Bf2 Bh4 65. Be3
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 317 / 198 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): qnbrkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NQRBKRBN w CFdh - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 360 vs Black 662.