White 74 vs Black 692
White starts from setup 74 (NNRKBBQR), Black from setup 692 (RBBQKNNR). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-03: 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. 74, Black by position No. 692, 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 #74 N N R K B B Q R
King on the d-file, rooks on c, h, queen on the g-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 74 gives White +0.25 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #692 R B B Q K N N R
King on the e-file, rooks on a, h, queen on the d-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 692 gives White +0.15 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B, 3.2B nodes) the evaluation is exactly 0.00 each time, reaching search depth 64.
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 -24 and +12 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 74 gives White +0.25 and setup 692 gives White +0.15: with both sides on the same rank the first move is worth something. In this pair Black's own setup absorbs that edge completely.
The engine's first choice for White is e4; the alternatives are slightly weaker but keep the game level.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 67 cp (around move 17), 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 | 18 | +10 | 1. d4 c6 2. O-O-O Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Kb1 a5 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 20 | -1 | 1. d4 c6 2. O-O-O Nf6 3. Nc3 d5 4. f3 b5 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 24 | +12 | 1. d4 c6 2. O-O-O d5 3. f3 Nf6 4. Nc3 Ne6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 29 | -24 | 1. d4 d5 2. O-O-O Nf6 3. f3 c6 4. Nb3 a5 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 39 | 0 | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. O-O-O Nxd5 4. d4 c6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 45 | 0 | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. O-O-O Nxd5 4. d4 c6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. O-O-O Nxd5 4. d4 c6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. O-O-O Nxd5 4. d4 c6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 58 | 0 | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. O-O-O Nxd5 4. d4 c6 |
| S9 | 3 200 000 000 | 64 | 0 | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. O-O-O Nxd5 4. d4 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: 0
- Lc0 0.32.1: -11
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 +52, Black +53, difference -1. 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 | 44 | 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 c6 4. O-O-O Nxd5 5. c4 Bf4+ |
| 2 | -26 | 43 | 1. O-O-O d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. f3 c6 4. Nb3 a5 5. Nc5 N8d7 |
| 3 | -26 | 43 | 1. d4 d5 2. O-O-O Nf6 3. f3 c6 4. Nb3 a5 5. Nc5 N8d7 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 67 cp, mean 21.9 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d4 | -18 | d5 | -13 |
| 2 | g4 | -29 | c6 | -38 |
| 3 | O-O-O | -43 | a5 | -32 |
| 4 | Nb3 | -26 | Nd7 | -16 |
| 5 | f3 | -17 | Ngf6 | -11 |
| 6 | h4 | -11 | a4 | -17 |
| 7 | N3d2 | -6 | e5 | -30 |
| 8 | dxe5 | -6 | Bxe5 | -13 |
| 9 | a3 | -12 | b5 | -13 |
| 10 | Bg3 | -34 | O-O | -12 |
| 11 | h5 | -18 | Bxg3 | -27 |
| 12 | Qxg3 | -20 | d4 | -25 |
| 13 | h6 | -39 | g5 | -35 |
| 14 | Ne4 | -45 | Nxe4 | -57 |
| 15 | fxe4 | -50 | Qe7 | -65 |
| 16 | Rxd4 | -61 | Ne5 | -61 |
| 17 | Nd2 | -67 | Bb7 | -62 |
| 18 | Nf3 | -43 | c5 | -44 |
| 19 | Rd1 | -24 | Bxe4 | -39 |
| 20 | Rh5 | -19 | Nc4 | -19 |
| 21 | Rxg5+ | -15 | Bg6 | -15 |
| 22 | e4 | -16 | Qxe4 | -10 |
| 23 | Bd3 | -11 | Qe3+ | -8 |
| 24 | Kb1 | -4 | Rad8 | 0 |
| 25 | Rf5 | 0 | Qxh6 | 0 |
| 26 | Rxc5 | 0 | Qe3 | 0 |
| 27 | Rf5 | -7 | Rfe8 | -8 |
| 28 | Re1 | 0 | Qb6 | 0 |
| 29 | Ne5 | 0 | Qd6 | 0 |
| 30 | Bxc4 | 0 | bxc4 | 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 41.1 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. d4 c6 2. e4 Bf4 3. Bd2 Bxd2 4. Nxd2 d5 5. O-O-O Ne6 6. f3 dxe4 7. Nxe4 Nf6 8. c3 O-O 9. Nc2 b5 10. g3 a5 11. Bd3 Qb6 12. Qe3 Rb8 13. Rhe1 b4 14. Nxf6+ exf6 15. cxb4 axb4 16. Bc4 Qa5 17. d5 cxd5 18. Rxd5 Qa8 19. Kb1 h6 20. Rd6 Qa5 21. Rd5 Qa8 22. Rd6 Ng5 23. f4 Be6 24. Qd3 Bxc4 25. Qxc4 Nf3 26. Red1 b3 27. axb3 Nxh2 28. Qe2 Rxb3 29. Nd4 Rxg3 30. Nc6 Ng4 31. Rd8 Qxc6 32. Rxf8+ Kh7 33. Rxf7 Qa4 34. Rc1 h5 35. Qc2+ Qxc2+ 36. Kxc2 h4 37. Rd7 h3 38. Rd3 Rg2+ 39. Rd2 Rg3 40. Rd3 Rg2+ 41. Rd2 Rg3
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. O-O-O e5 2. f3 Ne6 3. e4 a5 4. Nb3 Ne7 5. a4 Ba7 6. Bf2 Bxf2 7. Qxf2 Nc6 8. Nc3 O-O 9. h4 d6 10. Nb5 Bd7 11. g4 Qb8 12. d4 Na7 13. Nc3 b5 14. dxe5 bxa4 15. Nd2 Nb5 16. Bxb5 Bxb5 17. exd6 cxd6 18. Nd5 Ra7 19. f4 Nc5 20. Qd4 Rb7 21. Rh3 Be2 22. Re1 Bxg4 23. Rc3 h5 24. Nc4 Re8 25. f5 Bxf5 26. e5 Bg4 27. Qf2 Qa7 28. Qg1 Rbb8 29. exd6 Rxe1+ 30. Qxe1 Qa6 31. Qe3 Nd7 32. Qd4 Kh8 33. Kb1 Qb5 34. Rg3 Re8 35. Ne7 Rd8 36. Re3 Kh7 37. Qe4+ g6 38. Qf4 Rf8 39. Ne5 Qb4 40. Nd5 Qxf4 41. Nxf4 Nxe5 42. Rxe5 Rd8 43. Rd5 g5 44. Rxg5 Rxd6 45. Rxa5 Kh6 46. Rxa4 Rd1+ 47. Ka2 Rh1 48. Ra6+ Kg7 49. Ra4 Kh6 50. Ra6+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 74 / 692 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): rbbqknnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNRKBBQR w CHah - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 885 vs Black 462 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 21.