White 44 vs Black 865
White starts from setup 44 (NBNQRKBR), Black from setup 865 (BQRBKRNN). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-21: 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. 44, Black by position No. 865, 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 #44 N B N Q R K B R
King on the f-file, rooks on e, h, queen on the d-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 44 gives White +0.09 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #865 B Q R B K R N N
King on the e-file, rooks on c, f, queen on the b-file; one 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 865 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 54.
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 -11 and +24 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 44 gives White +0.09 and setup 865 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 e4, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±24 cp the whole way: the balance holds as the pieces come out, not only on move one.
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 | 14 | +24 | 1. e4 e6 2. c3 b6 3. h4 c5 4. Nc2 Ne7 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 18 | +1 | 1. e4 b6 2. c3 e6 3. d4 c5 4. Nab3 Nh6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 24 | -11 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 b5 3. h4 Nh6 4. Bh2 Bc7 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 28 | -9 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 b5 3. f3 c4 4. Nc2 e6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 35 | -10 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 e6 3. h4 Nh6 4. Bh2 Bc7 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 41 | -10 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 e6 3. h4 Nh6 4. Nc2 f5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 46 | 0 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Ng6 3. h4 b6 4. f3 e6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 51 | 0 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Ng6 3. h4 b6 4. f3 e6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 e6 3. h4 Ne7 4. Nc2 f5 |
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: +6
- Lc0 0.32.1: +10
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 +80, Black +121, difference -41. 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 | 41 | 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Ng6 3. h4 b6 4. h5 Nf4 5. Ne2 f5 |
| 2 | -8 | 41 | 1. f3 c5 2. e4 Ng6 3. c3 e6 4. Bf2 N8e7 5. d4 cxd4 |
| 3 | -22 | 41 | 1. c3 f5 2. Nab3 c5 3. d4 c4 4. Nd2 b5 5. h4 Nh6 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 24 cp, mean 7.2 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | e4 | +4 | b5 | -17 |
| 2 | h4 | -19 | c5 | -8 |
| 3 | c3 | +15 | Nh6 | +13 |
| 4 | Bh2 | +12 | Bc7 | +16 |
| 5 | Bxc7 | +17 | Qxc7 | +3 |
| 6 | d4 | +14 | cxd4 | +11 |
| 7 | cxd4 | +7 | O-O | +17 |
| 8 | Qd2 | +21 | f6 | +5 |
| 9 | Nd3 | +13 | N8f7 | +18 |
| 10 | Nb3 | +18 | Nd6 | +24 |
| 11 | Qf4 | +22 | Qd8 | -3 |
| 12 | O-O | +13 | Nc4 | +11 |
| 13 | Re2 | +3 | e6 | +11 |
| 14 | Rc1 | +8 | d6 | +12 |
| 15 | Qg3 | +8 | e5 | +10 |
| 16 | dxe5 | +8 | fxe5 | -1 |
| 17 | f3 | 0 | Kh8 | 0 |
| 18 | a4 | 0 | a6 | +6 |
| 19 | axb5 | 0 | axb5 | +8 |
| 20 | Nd2 | +8 | Nxb2 | +6 |
| 21 | Rxc8 | +8 | Qxc8 | +6 |
| 22 | Nxb2 | +5 | Qc1+ | 0 |
| 23 | Qe1 | 0 | Qxb2 | 0 |
| 24 | Nf1 | 0 | Qd4+ | 0 |
| 25 | Ne3 | 0 | Bc6 | 0 |
| 26 | Rd2 | 0 | Qc5 | 0 |
| 27 | Ba2 | 0 | Rb8 | 0 |
| 28 | Rc2 | 0 | Qb6 | 0 |
| 29 | Qc1 | 0 | Be8 | 0 |
| 30 | Bd5 | 0 | b4 | 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 42.1 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. e4 b6 2. d4 Nh6 3. c3 c5 4. f3 f5 5. Bf2 Ng6 6. exf5 Nxf5 7. Ne2 e6 8. Bxf5 Rxf5 9. Nc2 Kf8 10. h4 Rh5 11. dxc5 Rd5 12. Qc1 bxc5 13. h5 Ne5 14. Ne3 Nd3 15. Qb1 Nxe1 16. Nxd5 Nxg2 17. Qxh7 Bxd5 18. Kxg2 Qe5 19. Ng3 Qf4 20. Ne4 Bxe4 21. Qxe4 Qg5+ 22. Bg3 Bf6 23. Rd1 Rb8 24. b3 Rd8 25. Qg4 Qe3 26. Qe4 Qg5 27. Kf2 Qxh5 28. Bc7 Re8 29. Rxd7 Kg8 30. Bf4 Bxc3 31. Rxa7 Qh4+ 32. Kg2 Bd4 33. Ra8 Qf2+ 34. Kh3 Rxa8 35. Qxa8+ Kf7 36. Bg3 Qc2 37. Qb7+ Kf6 38. Qa8 Qf5+ 39. Kg2 Qc2+ 40. Kf1 Kf7
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. e4 c5 2. c3 b5 3. h4 Nh6 4. Bh2 Bc7 5. Bxc7 Qxc7 6. d4 cxd4 7. cxd4 O-O 8. Nd3 e6 9. Qd2 f5 10. e5 d6 11. Nb3 dxe5 12. Rxe5 Bd5 13. Nbc5 Rfe8 14. b3 N8f7 15. Re1 Ng4 16. Nf4 Qd6 17. Bd3 a6 18. O-O h6 19. f3 Nf6 20. b4 Bxa2 21. Qxa2 Qxd4+ 22. Qf2 Qxf4 23. Nxe6 Qxb4 24. Bxf5 Qd6 25. Rd1 Qb8 26. Nd4 Rc7 27. Rfe1 b4 28. Rxe8+ Qxe8 29. Qg3 Qe5 30. Qxe5 Nxe5 31. Ra1 Nc6 32. Nb3 Ra7 33. Bd3 Kf7 34. Kf2 a5 35. Bb5 Ne7 36. Bc4+ Nfd5 37. Rxa5 Rxa5 38. Nxa5 Kf6 39. g3 Ke5 40. Nb3 Nf5 41. Ba6 Nf6 42. Bd3 Nd4 43. Na5 Nd5 44. Nc4+ Kf6 45. Bb1 Nc3 46. Bd3 b3 47. g4 Ne6 48. Ke3 Nd5+ 49. Kd2 Ndf4 50. Kc3 Nxd3 51. Kxd3 Nf4+ 52. Kc3 Ng6 53. h5 Nh4 54. Kxb3 Nxf3 55. Kc3 Kg5 56. Ne3 Nh2 57. Nf5 Kf6 58. Kd4 Nxg4 59. Nd6 Ke7 60. Nf5+ Kf7 61. Nd6+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 44 / 865 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): bqrbkrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBNQRKBR w EHcf - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 924 vs Black 91 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 200.