White 59 vs Black 290
White starts from setup 59 (NNRQBKRB), Black from setup 290 (BQNRKBRN). 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. 59, Black by position No. 290, 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 #59 N N R Q B K R B
King on the f-file, rooks on c, g, queen on the d-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 59 gives White +0.25 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #290 B Q N R K B R N
King on the e-file, rooks on d, g, 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 290 gives White +0.39 (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 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 +27 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 59 gives White +0.25 and setup 290 gives White +0.39: 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 (30 moves) the evaluation stayed within ±20 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 1, drawn 8, Black won 1 (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 | +27 | 1. d4 e6 2. Qd3 Ng6 3. g3 c5 4. Nb3 cxd4 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 15 | -4 | 1. d4 e6 2. Qd3 Ng6 3. h4 h5 4. b4 b6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 25 | +12 | 1. g3 e6 2. d4 Be7 3. c4 b6 4. Bxa8 Qxa8 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 32 | +11 | 1. g3 e6 2. d4 c5 3. c4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Be7 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 38 | +3 | 1. g3 e6 2. d4 b6 3. Bxa8 Qxa8 4. b4 Be7 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 43 | +8 | 1. d4 b6 2. c4 e6 3. b4 Be7 4. O-O O-O |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 49 | 0 | 1. d4 b6 2. c4 f5 3. O-O g6 4. b4 Bg7 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 51 | 0 | 1. d4 b6 2. c4 f5 3. O-O g6 4. d5 c6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. d4 b6 2. c4 f5 3. O-O g6 4. d5 c6 |
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: +5
- Lc0 0.32.1: +17
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 +38, Black +86, difference -48. A balanced pair needs White's setup to be weaker by about the price of the first move.
Extended self-play: 10 games, 1 White wins, 8 draws, 1 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 | -12 | 43 | 1. d4 e6 2. c4 Be7 3. b4 b6 4. O-O O-O 5. Nb3 Ng6 |
| 2 | -12 | 44 | 1. c4 e6 2. d4 Be7 3. b4 b6 4. O-O O-O 5. Nb3 Ng6 |
| 3 | -20 | 44 | 1. O-O e6 2. d4 b5 3. a4 a6 4. b3 f5 5. axb5 axb5 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 20 cp, mean 5.4 cp, final -8 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | g3 | +16 | e6 | -7 |
| 2 | d4 | +12 | Be7 | +11 |
| 3 | c4 | -4 | b6 | -13 |
| 4 | Bxa8 | -4 | Qxa8 | -6 |
| 5 | b4 | +5 | O-O | +1 |
| 6 | Nb3 | -2 | f5 | 0 |
| 7 | Qd3 | -2 | Ng6 | -4 |
| 8 | O-O | 0 | f4 | -17 |
| 9 | e4 | 0 | Nd6 | +8 |
| 10 | f3 | +1 | Nf7 | +6 |
| 11 | c5 | +12 | e5 | +16 |
| 12 | Nc3 | +20 | bxc5 | +15 |
| 13 | bxc5 | +15 | exd4 | +16 |
| 14 | Qxd4 | +15 | Bg5 | +19 |
| 15 | Rd1 | +10 | Nfe5 | +3 |
| 16 | Bd2 | -5 | Qc6 | +6 |
| 17 | Kg2 | +7 | Rb8 | +8 |
| 18 | Qd5+ | +5 | Qxd5 | +6 |
| 19 | Nxd5 | +8 | c6 | 0 |
| 20 | Nc3 | +2 | h5 | +3 |
| 21 | Ne2 | 0 | a5 | -1 |
| 22 | Bc3 | 0 | Rf7 | 0 |
| 23 | h4 | 0 | Bh6 | 0 |
| 24 | Nbd4 | 0 | Nc4 | 0 |
| 25 | Nf5 | -5 | fxg3 | 0 |
| 26 | Nxh6+ | 0 | gxh6 | 0 |
| 27 | Rd3 | 0 | Nxh4+ | 0 |
| 28 | Kxg3 | 0 | Ng6 | 0 |
| 29 | f4 | 0 | Re8 | 0 |
| 30 | Rd4 | 0 | Ne3 | -8 |
Engine self-play
10 games at 500 000 nodes per move: White won 1, drawn 8, Black won 1 — White scored 50.0%. Average length 43.9 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. g3 g6 2. b4 Bg7 3. d4 d5 4. Nb3 O-O 5. Qd3 b6 6. c4 dxc4 7. Qxc4 Bxh1 8. Rxh1 Qa8 9. f3 g5 10. Qc6 Qxc6 11. Rxc6 Bxd4 12. h4 gxh4 13. Nxd4 Rxd4 14. Rxh4 Rd7 15. Rhc4 Nd6 16. Rxc7 Rfd8 17. Rxd7 Rxd7 18. Rc1 Ng6 19. a4 f6 20. Na3 h5 21. a5 Ne5 22. a6 Kg7 23. Kg2 Kf7 24. Bf2 Kg6 25. b5 Nef7 26. Rc6 Nd8 27. Bxb6 axb6 28. Rxb6 Ra7 29. Rb8 Nc6 30. bxc6 Rxa6 31. Nc2 Rxc6 32. Nd4 Rc4 33. Ne6 h4 34. g4 Kf7 35. Nd8+ Kg6 36. Ne6 Kf7 37. Nd8+ Kg6
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. c4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 b6 4. g3 Bxh1 5. Rxh1 e6 6. Bc3 Bc5 7. Qf4 Bd6 8. Qd4 Ng6 9. Nb3 a5 10. h4 f5 11. a4 Ne5 12. O-O-O Nc6 13. Qd3 O-O 14. Na3 Bxa3 15. bxa3 Qc7 16. h5 h6 17. g4 fxg4 18. Bxg7 Kxg7 19. Qg6+ Kh8 20. Qxh6+ Kg8 21. Qg6+ Kh8 22. Qh6+ Kg8 23. Qg6+ Kh8
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 59 / 290 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): bqnrkbrn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNRQBKRB w CGdg - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 897 vs Black 375 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 251.