White 4 vs Black 196
White starts from setup 4 (QBBNNRKR), Black from setup 196 (QBBNRKNR). 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. 4, Black by position No. 196, 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 #4 Q B B N N R K R
King on the g-file, rooks on f, h, queen on the a-file; no 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 4 gives White +0.38 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #196 Q B B N R K N R
King on the f-file, rooks on e, 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 196 gives White +0.27 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B nodes) the evaluation never left ±1 centipawns of equality, 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 -4 and +26 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 4 gives White +0.38 and setup 196 gives White +0.27: 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 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (25 moves) the largest swing was 32 cp (around move 3), 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 | 11 | 0 | 1. c4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. Ne3 Nf6 4. Qb2 b6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 18 | -4 | 1. d4 d5 2. h4 h5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Ne3 O-O |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 22 | +26 | 1. c4 c5 2. b4 cxb4 3. h4 b5 4. cxb5 Ne6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 28 | +18 | 1. h4 c5 2. c4 h5 3. b4 cxb4 4. d4 b5 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 34 | +5 | 1. c4 c5 2. h4 h5 3. b4 b6 4. e4 Ne6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 40 | +9 | 1. d4 d5 2. h4 h5 3. b3 c5 4. dxc5 Nf6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 45 | 0 | 1. d4 d5 2. b3 Nf6 3. c4 dxc4 4. bxc4 c5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 52 | -1 | 1. d4 d5 2. b3 c5 3. dxc5 Nf6 4. Nf3 Ne6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. d4 d5 2. b3 c5 3. dxc5 Nf6 4. Nf3 O-O |
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: +12
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 +79, Black +100, difference -21. 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 | 45 | 1. d4 d5 2. b3 c5 3. dxc5 Nf6 4. c4 dxc4 5. bxc4 Ne6 |
| 2 | 0 | 44 | 1. h4 c5 2. c4 b6 3. b4 h5 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. bxc5 bxc5 |
| 3 | 0 | 44 | 1. c4 c5 2. b4 b6 3. h4 h5 4. Bb2 Nf6 5. bxc5 bxc5 |
Main-line play-out
25 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 32 cp, mean 7.2 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | h4 | +18 | c5 | +4 |
| 2 | c4 | +14 | Ne6 | +14 |
| 3 | h5 | +21 | b6 | +32 |
| 4 | Nf3 | +17 | d5 | +16 |
| 5 | cxd5 | +24 | Qxd5 | +20 |
| 6 | b4 | +19 | Nd4 | +20 |
| 7 | Re1 | +15 | Nf6 | +14 |
| 8 | bxc5 | +8 | Nxf3+ | +24 |
| 9 | exf3 | +27 | Qxc5 | +29 |
| 10 | Qb2 | +18 | Bf4 | +5 |
| 11 | Ne3 | 0 | Qg5 | 0 |
| 12 | g3 | 0 | Bxg3 | 0 |
| 13 | fxg3 | 0 | Qxg3+ | 0 |
| 14 | Ng2 | 0 | Bh3 | 0 |
| 15 | Rxh3 | 0 | Qxh3 | 0 |
| 16 | Qb3 | 0 | O-O | 0 |
| 17 | d4 | 0 | Nxh5 | 0 |
| 18 | Ba3 | 0 | Rc8 | 0 |
| 19 | Rxe7 | 0 | Ng3 | 0 |
| 20 | d5 | 0 | Qh1+ | 0 |
| 21 | Kf2 | 0 | Qh2 | 0 |
| 22 | Qb4 | 0 | Nh1+ | 0 |
| 23 | Kf1 | 0 | Ng3+ | 0 |
| 24 | Kf2 | 0 | Nh1+ | 0 |
| 25 | Kf1 | 0 | Ng3+ | 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 37.5 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. b3 b6 2. d4 d5 3. c4 Ne6 4. h4 c5 5. dxc5 bxc5 6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. Ne3 Nf4 8. Qb2 Qe5 9. Bd3 Qxb2 10. Bxb2 Nf6 11. g3 Nxd3 12. Nxd3 Bb7 13. Rh3 Nd7 14. h5 f6 15. Rh4 Kf7 16. Ra4 Rc8 17. Rc1 Rc6 18. Kf1 Rhc8 19. Ba3 Ba6 20. Ra5 Bd6 21. Nd5 g6 22. N3f4 Nf8 23. Ke1 gxh5 24. Nxh5 Ne6 25. Nhf4 Nd4 26. Bb2 e6 27. Nc3 Bc7 28. Ra4 Bxf4 29. gxf4 Rg8 30. Kd2 Rd8 31. Ke3 Nf5+ 32. Kf3 Nd4+ 33. Ke3 Nf5+ 34. Kf3 Nd4+
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. h4 Nf6 2. h5 d5 3. h6 Ne6 4. b4 Nf4 5. Nc3 b6 6. e3 N4h5 7. hxg7+ Nxg7 8. Ne2 h5 9. Bb2 Rh6 10. Nd3 h4 11. f3 c5 12. bxc5 bxc5 13. Nxc5 e5 14. c4 Kg8 15. g4 Nxg4 16. fxg4 Bxg4 17. Nc3 Qc6 18. Ba3 f5 19. Nxd5 h3 20. Be4 fxe4 21. Kh2 Bf3 22. Rhg1 Bd6 23. Qe1 Bxc5 24. Qg3 Bg2 25. Bxc5 Qxc5 26. Nf6+ Rxf6 27. Rxf6 Qxc4 28. Rb1 Bf3 29. Rg1 Bg2 30. Rb1 Qc7 31. Rh6 Rb8 32. Rxb8+ Qxb8 33. Qg6 Qb1 34. Qh7+ Kf7 35. Qg6+ Kg8 36. Qh7+ Kf7 37. Qg6+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 4 / 196 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): qbbnrknr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/QBBNNRKR w FHeh - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 958 vs Black 670 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 78.