White 36 vs Black 753
White starts from setup 36 (NBBNQRKR), Black from setup 753 (BRKBNNRQ). 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 #36 N B B N Q R K R
King on the g-file, rooks on f, h, queen on the e-file; no 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 36 gives White +0.26 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #753 B R K B N N R Q
King on the c-file, rooks on b, g, queen on the h-file; one bishop starts in a corner; the knights start on central files. The king already stands on a castled square, so one of the castlings moves only the rook. In ordinary symmetric play setup 753 gives White +0.19 (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 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 -3 and +28 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 36 gives White +0.26 and setup 753 gives White +0.19: 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 d4, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 43 cp (around move 21), ending at 0 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 | 12 | +28 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 b5 3. c3 h5 4. e4 e6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 20 | -3 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 Nd6 3. e4 e6 4. e5 Nf5 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 28 | 0 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 b6 3. c4 e6 4. e4 Ng6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 26 | +9 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 e6 3. c4 b6 4. e4 Ng6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 36 | 0 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 b6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 h5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 39 | -2 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 h5 3. c4 h4 4. g4 b5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 46 | 0 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 b6 3. c4 Ng6 4. e4 e6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 b6 3. c4 Ng6 4. e4 e6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 57 | 0 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 b6 3. c4 Ng6 4. e4 e6 |
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: +6
- Lc0 0.32.1: -3
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 +74, Black +59, difference +15. 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 | -9 | 40 | 1. d4 g5 2. Nb3 b6 3. c4 Ng6 4. Nc3 e6 5. e4 Qg7 |
| 2 | -12 | 41 | 1. d4 |
| 3 | -21 | 41 | 1. e4 g5 2. Nb3 b6 3. d4 a5 4. c3 Ng6 5. f3 e6 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 43 cp, mean 8.4 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d4 | +10 | g5 | +1 |
| 2 | Nb3 | -17 | b6 | -26 |
| 3 | c4 | -17 | e6 | -25 |
| 4 | e4 | -16 | Ng6 | -12 |
| 5 | f3 | -19 | Nd6 | 0 |
| 6 | Qe2 | 0 | Qg7 | 0 |
| 7 | e5 | +4 | Nf5 | -3 |
| 8 | Bxf5 | 0 | exf5 | 0 |
| 9 | Nc3 | +2 | f6 | 0 |
| 10 | e6 | 0 | Re8 | 0 |
| 11 | h4 | 0 | Rxe6 | 0 |
| 12 | Qc2 | 0 | Nxh4 | -6 |
| 13 | d5 | +5 | Re5 | 0 |
| 14 | f4 | -11 | Re8 | 0 |
| 15 | g3 | 0 | gxf4 | 0 |
| 16 | Bxf4 | 0 | Ng6 | 0 |
| 17 | Nd4 | +15 | Qe7 | +12 |
| 18 | a3 | +33 | b5 | +31 |
| 19 | cxb5 | +27 | Rb6 | +19 |
| 20 | Rd1 | +25 | Qc5 | +42 |
| 21 | b4 | +43 | Qc4 | +35 |
| 22 | Qb3 | +26 | Qxb3 | +9 |
| 23 | Nxb3 | 0 | Nxf4 | 0 |
| 24 | gxf4 | 0 | Re3 | 0 |
| 25 | Rc1 | +2 | Rd3 | +5 |
| 26 | Nc5 | 0 | Rd2 | 0 |
| 27 | Rh2 | +6 | Rxh2 | 0 |
| 28 | Kxh2 | +1 | Rd6 | 0 |
| 29 | Rd1 | 0 | c6 | 0 |
| 30 | Rc1 | 0 | cxb5 | 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 41.5 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. Nb3 b6 2. d4 e6 3. e4 g5 4. c4 Ng6 5. Nc3 h5 6. Qd1 h4 7. Re1 Nd6 8. c5 bxc5 9. Nxc5 Bf6 10. Be3 Rxb2 11. O-O Rb4 12. e5 Bxe5 13. Bxg6 h3 14. g3 Bxd4 15. Bxd4 Qxd4 16. Qxd4 Rxd4 17. Bh7 Rh8 18. Bd3 Bg2 19. Ba6+ Kd8 20. Rd1 Rxd1 21. Rxd1 Bf3 22. Be2 Bxe2 23. Nxe2 Ke7 24. Nc1 Rb8 25. N1b3 g4 26. Rd4 f5 27. Kf1 c6 28. Ra4 Nb5 29. Ra6 e5 30. Nd3 Ke6 31. Ndc5+ Ke7 32. Nd3 Ke6 33. Ke2 Nc3+ 34. Ke3 Kd5 35. Rxa7 d6 36. Ra5+ Ke6 37. Ra6 Kd5 38. Nd2 Nd1+ 39. Ke2 Nc3+ 40. Ke3 c5
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. d4 b6 2. c4 g5 3. Nb3 e6 4. e4 Ng6 5. Nc3 Qg7 6. Qe2 f5 7. exf5 exf5 8. d5 Bf6 9. Bxf5 Bxc3 10. bxc3 Nf4 11. Qc2 Nd6 12. Bd3 Bb7 13. Bxf4 gxf4 14. O-O-O Ba6 15. Nd2 Kb7 16. Rhe1 Qxg2 17. Ne4 Rbc8 18. Bf1 Qg6 19. Nxd6+ Qxd6 20. Qa4 Qc5 21. Rd4 Rg1 22. Kb2 Rd8 23. Qd1 Rf8 24. Kb3 Kb8 25. a4 h6 26. f3 h5 27. Qd2 Bb7 28. Rde4 Bc8 29. Qd4 d6 30. Bd3 Rxe1 31. Rxe1 Rg8 32. Qxf4 Rg2 33. Re8 Qf2 34. Re2 Qf1 35. Rxg2 Qxg2 36. Qf8 Kb7 37. c5 Qd2 38. c6+ Kb8 39. Ba6 Qd1+ 40. Kb2 Qd2+ 41. Kb3 Qd1+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 36 / 753 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): brkbnnrq/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBBNQRKR w FHbg - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 926 vs Black 395.