White 74 vs Black 798
White starts from setup 74 (NNRKBBQR), Black from setup 798 (RQKNRBBN). 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. 74, Black by position No. 798, 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 #798 R Q K N R B B N
King on the c-file, rooks on a, e, queen on the b-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 798 gives White +0.32 (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 59.
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 -1 and +19 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 798 gives White +0.32: 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 f4, and 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 43 cp (around move 10), 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 | 15 | +4 | 1. c4 e5 2. e4 Bc5 3. Nb3 b6 4. Nxc5 bxc5 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 19 | -1 | 1. d4 f5 2. c4 b5 3. cxb5 a6 4. Ba5 Qxb5 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 23 | 0 | 1. Nc3 f5 2. f3 a5 3. a4 e5 4. e4 fxe4 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 27 | +19 | 1. Nc3 a5 2. a4 e5 3. e4 Ne6 4. Nb3 Qa7 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 31 | +4 | 1. Nc3 a5 2. a4 e5 3. e4 Ne6 4. Nb3 Nc5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 38 | +13 | 1. f4 f6 2. c4 e5 3. fxe5 fxe5 4. Bg3 Nhf7 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 43 | 0 | 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 f5 3. e3 a6 4. Nc2 b5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 52 | 0 | 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 f5 3. e3 a6 4. Nc2 b5 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 59 | 0 | 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 f5 3. e3 a6 4. Nc2 b5 |
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: +3
- Lc0 0.32.1: +3
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 +29, difference +23. 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 | 43 | 1. f4 f6 2. c4 e5 3. fxe5 fxe5 4. Bg3 Nhf7 5. e3 Nd6 |
| 2 | 0 | 43 | 1. Nc3 e5 2. e4 f6 3. f3 c6 4. d4 a5 5. d5 b5 |
| 3 | 0 | 43 | 1. c4 e5 2. e3 f5 3. Nc3 a6 4. Nc2 b5 5. b3 bxc4 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 43 cp, mean 10.2 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nc3 | +13 | e5 | +24 |
| 2 | e4 | +27 | a5 | +16 |
| 3 | a4 | +16 | f6 | +3 |
| 4 | f3 | 0 | c6 | 0 |
| 5 | Nb3 | 0 | Ng6 | 0 |
| 6 | Bf2 | 0 | Bb4 | -5 |
| 7 | Na2 | 0 | Qd6 | 0 |
| 8 | Nxb4 | -3 | axb4 | -42 |
| 9 | Bc5 | -38 | Qb8 | -34 |
| 10 | a5 | -43 | Bxb3 | -26 |
| 11 | cxb3 | -10 | Rxa5 | -21 |
| 12 | Bb6 | -36 | Qa8 | -29 |
| 13 | Bc4 | -27 | d6 | -28 |
| 14 | Qf2 | -28 | Ra6 | -32 |
| 15 | O-O | -24 | Ne6 | -29 |
| 16 | Be3 | -25 | Ra2 | -24 |
| 17 | Bxe6+ | 0 | Rxe6 | -1 |
| 18 | d4 | -5 | exd4 | 0 |
| 19 | Bxd4 | 0 | Qa6 | 0 |
| 20 | Qd2 | 0 | c5 | 0 |
| 21 | Bf2 | 0 | Qc6 | 0 |
| 22 | Rfd1 | 0 | Kb8 | 0 |
| 23 | Rc2 | 0 | Ne5 | 0 |
| 24 | Qc1 | 0 | Ra6 | 0 |
| 25 | Rcd2 | 0 | g5 | 0 |
| 26 | Rd5 | 0 | h6 | 0 |
| 27 | Bg3 | 0 | Ka7 | 0 |
| 28 | h3 | 0 | Qc7 | 0 |
| 29 | Qd2 | 0 | Qb6 | 0 |
| 30 | Kh2 | 0 | Qc7 | 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 40.0 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 a6 3. e4 b5 4. cxb5 axb5 5. Bxb5 f5 6. exf5 c6 7. Ba4 g6 8. g4 Qb4 9. Bc2 Qxb2 10. Rb1 Qa3 11. Bb3 Bxb3+ 12. axb3 Qd6 13. Nc2 Nhf7 14. Na4 Rxa4 15. bxa4 Qd5 16. Qf1 Qf3+ 17. Kc1 Ba3+ 18. Nxa3 Qxa3+ 19. Rb2 Qa1+ 20. Rb1 Qa3+ 21. Rb2 Qa1+ 22. Rb1
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. d4 f6 2. c4 b5 3. cxb5 a6 4. e4 axb5 5. Nc3 c6 6. f3 Ne6 7. Nxb5 Nc7 8. Nxc7 Kxc7 9. d5 Qxb2 10. Bd3 e5 11. Rb1 Qd4 12. Qxd4 exd4 13. Bg3+ Bd6 14. Nb3 Bxg3 15. hxg3 Nf7 16. Nxd4 Ra4 17. Nf5 g6 18. Bc2 Rxa2 19. Ne3 Nd6 20. Ng4 Rf8 21. Ne3 Re8 22. Bb3 Ra3 23. Kd2 Rb8 24. Bc2 Rxb1 25. Rxb1 cxd5 26. exd5 Ra5 27. Bb3 h5 28. Kc3 Kb6 29. Kd4 Nb5+ 30. Kd3 Nd6 31. g4 h4 32. Kd4 Nb5+ 33. Kd3 Nd6 34. Kd4 Nb5+ 35. Kd3
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 74 / 798 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): rqknrbbn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNRKBBQR w CHae - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 885 vs Black 164 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 327.