White 37 vs Black 822
White starts from setup 37 (NNBBQRKR), Black from setup 822 (RKBNQBRN). 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 #37 N N B B 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 37 gives White +0.25 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #822 R K B N Q B R N
King on the b-file, rooks on a, g, queen on the e-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 822 gives White +0.25 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B, 3.2B nodes) the evaluation never left ±1 centipawns of equality, 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 -33 and +13 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 37 gives White +0.25 and setup 822 gives White +0.25: 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 h4, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 44 cp (around move 12), ending at 0 cp — the position stays playable for both sides.
Engine self-play agrees: 10 games, White won 0, drawn 8, Black won 2 (White scored 40.0%).
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 | 15 | -33 | 1. e4 e5 2. h4 a5 3. Nc3 Ng6 4. Nd5 Ne6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 18 | -3 | 1. d4 g5 2. e4 a5 3. c4 Ng6 4. Nc3 Nf4 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 22 | +12 | 1. d4 g5 2. c4 f5 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nd5 Bg7 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 27 | +4 | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Qxe5 3. e4 b6 4. h4 Bb7 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 34 | +13 | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Qxe5 3. Nc3 g5 4. h4 h6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 47 | 0 | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Qxe5 3. f4 Qe8 4. Nc3 b6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 49 | 0 | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Qxe5 3. f4 Qe8 4. Nc3 b6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 49 | 0 | 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Qxe5 3. f4 Qe8 4. Nc3 b6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 52 | -1 | 1. d4 e5 2. d5 f5 3. c4 a5 4. Bc2 g6 |
| S9 | 3 200 000 000 | 56 | 0 | 1. d4 e5 2. d5 f5 3. c4 b6 4. Bc2 e4 |
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: +4
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 +65, Black +60, difference +5. 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, 8 draws, 2 Black wins, White scored 40.0%.
Best first moves
The 3 best first moves for White, searched together at 400 000 000 nodes.
| # | Eval, cp | Depth | Main line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 41 | 1. h4 e5 2. c4 Ne6 3. Nc3 f5 4. e3 g5 5. hxg5 Nxg5 |
| 2 | 0 | 41 | 1. d4 e5 2. e3 g5 3. f4 gxf4 4. exf4 Ne6 5. dxe5 f5 |
| 3 | -21 | 41 | 1. Nc3 b6 2. d3 e6 3. e4 a5 4. f4 Bb7 5. h4 a4 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 44 cp, mean 14.7 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d4 | +12 | e5 | -9 |
| 2 | dxe5 | -3 | Qxe5 | -8 |
| 3 | Nc3 | -9 | b6 | 0 |
| 4 | f4 | 0 | Qe8 | 0 |
| 5 | e4 | 0 | a5 | 0 |
| 6 | Qf2 | 0 | f6 | -16 |
| 7 | a3 | -20 | Nhf7 | -29 |
| 8 | Be3 | -27 | a4 | -25 |
| 9 | Be2 | -30 | g5 | -30 |
| 10 | O-O-O | -30 | Bb7 | -35 |
| 11 | Nd5 | -25 | Bxd5 | -35 |
| 12 | exd5 | -36 | gxf4 | -44 |
| 13 | Bxf4 | -36 | Bc5 | -35 |
| 14 | Qf3 | -35 | Ne5 | -31 |
| 15 | Qe4 | -34 | Ndf7 | -25 |
| 16 | Bh5 | -29 | Nd6 | -21 |
| 17 | Qe2 | -20 | Rxg2 | -15 |
| 18 | Qxg2 | -13 | Qxh5 | -19 |
| 19 | Rhf1 | -9 | Nec4 | -23 |
| 20 | Qf3 | -28 | Qg6 | -15 |
| 21 | Qd3 | -15 | f5 | -7 |
| 22 | c3 | -7 | b5 | -7 |
| 23 | Bxd6 | -14 | Bxd6 | -7 |
| 24 | Qxf5 | -6 | Qxf5 | -5 |
| 25 | Rxf5 | -1 | Ne3 | 0 |
| 26 | Rh5 | 0 | Nxd1 | 0 |
| 27 | Kxd1 | 0 | O-O-O | 0 |
| 28 | Nc2 | 0 | Rg8 | 0 |
| 29 | Rxh7 | 0 | Rg2 | 0 |
| 30 | Rh4 | 0 | Kb7 | 0 |
Engine self-play
10 games at 500 000 nodes per move: White won 0, drawn 8, Black won 2 — White scored 40.0%. Average length 43.0 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. Nc3 f6 2. d4 a5 3. e4 b6 4. Nb3 Nhf7 5. a4 e5 6. dxe5 fxe5 7. Nd5 Bb7 8. Qc3 Bc6 9. Bh5 Bb4 10. Qd3 Bxa4 11. Be3 Bc6 12. Ra1 Bxd5 13. exd5 e4 14. Qb5 Nb7 15. c3 Bd6 16. Ra4 Be7 17. O-O Nbd6 18. Bxf7 Nxb5 19. Bxe8 Rxe8 20. c4 Nd6 21. c5 Nf5 22. cxb6 Nxe3 23. bxc7+ Kxc7 24. fxe3 Kb6 25. Rf7 Bg5 26. Rxd7 Bxe3+ 27. Kf1 Kb5 28. Ra3 Bb6 29. Nd2 Bc5 30. Rb3+ Bb4 31. Ke2 Rac8 32. d6 Ka6 33. Ke3 Bc5+ 34. Ke2 Bb4 35. Ke3 Re6 36. Rc7 Rxc7 37. dxc7 Rc6 38. Nxe4 Rxc7 39. Kd3 Rc1 40. h3 Kb5 41. Nc3+ Kc5 42. Ne4+
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. c4 g5 2. Nc2 e5 3. Nc3 Ne6 4. e3 Ng6 5. d4 f5 6. h3 Qf7 7. d5 Nc5 8. e4 Nf4 9. exf5 Qxf5 10. Qd2 Ncd3 11. g3 e4 12. Rh2 Qe5 13. Ne3 h5 14. Kh1 Bc5 15. Rg1 Re8 16. Na4 Bb4 17. Nc3 Bc5 18. Na4 Bb4 19. Nc3
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 37 / 822 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): rkbnqbrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNBBQRKR w FHag - 0 1
Mirror twin (the same position mirrored): White 922 vs Black 134.
Current place in the live balance rating: 81.