White 74 vs Black 880
White starts from setup 74 (NNRKBBQR), Black from setup 880 (BBRQKRNN). 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. 880, 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 #880 B B R Q K R N N
King on the e-file, rooks on c, f, 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 880 gives White +0.63 (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 56.
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 -13 and +16 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 880 gives White +0.63: 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 d4; the alternatives are slightly weaker but keep the game level.
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 7, Black won 3 (White scored 35.0%).
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 | 16 | +14 | 1. d4 b6 2. e3 Bb7 3. O-O-O Nf6 4. Nb3 O-O |
| S1 | 500 000 | 18 | -3 | 1. d4 b6 2. e3 Bb7 3. O-O-O f5 4. Nc3 Nf6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 25 | -9 | 1. d4 b6 2. e3 Bb7 3. O-O-O f5 4. d5 Nf6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 29 | +4 | 1. d4 b6 2. e3 c5 3. Ba6 Rc6 4. d5 Rg6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 35 | +16 | 1. d4 b6 2. O-O-O c5 3. dxc5 bxc5 4. e4 Nf6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 38 | -13 | 1. d4 b6 2. Nb3 c5 3. dxc5 bxc5 4. e4 Qb6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 44 | 0 | 1. e4 c5 2. f3 Ng6 3. O-O-O f5 4. exf5 Rxf5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 53 | 0 | 1. e4 c5 2. f3 Ng6 3. O-O-O f5 4. exf5 Rxf5 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 56 | 0 | 1. e4 c5 2. f3 Ng6 3. O-O-O f5 4. exf5 Rxf5 |
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: -8
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 +128, difference -76. 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, 7 draws, 3 Black wins, White scored 35.0%.
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. d4 b6 2. e4 Bxe4 3. Ba6 h6 4. f3 Bh7 5. Nc3 Ng6 |
| 2 | -12 | 41 | 1. e4 |
| 3 | -26 | 41 | 1. f3 c5 2. e4 Ng6 3. Bg3 Nf4 4. O-O-O f5 5. e5 Ne6 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 24 cp, mean 6.5 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | d4 | +4 | b6 | +11 |
| 2 | O-O-O | +16 | c5 | +2 |
| 3 | dxc5 | 0 | bxc5 | 0 |
| 4 | e4 | 0 | Nf6 | +16 |
| 5 | f3 | +21 | Ng6 | +24 |
| 6 | Na3 | +24 | Qb6 | +17 |
| 7 | Nb3 | +14 | O-O | +8 |
| 8 | Kb1 | +16 | d5 | +16 |
| 9 | exd5 | +13 | Bxd5 | +7 |
| 10 | Bc4 | +8 | Bxc4 | +12 |
| 11 | Nxc4 | +10 | Qe6 | +9 |
| 12 | Qf1 | +8 | Nd5 | +11 |
| 13 | Ba5 | +10 | Qc6 | +4 |
| 14 | g3 | +7 | e6 | +12 |
| 15 | Qd3 | +9 | Nge7 | +5 |
| 16 | Rhe1 | 0 | h6 | +7 |
| 17 | f4 | +11 | Qa6 | 0 |
| 18 | Qe2 | +4 | Nf5 | 0 |
| 19 | Qd3 | 0 | Bc7 | 0 |
| 20 | Na3 | +4 | Qc6 | +10 |
| 21 | Bxc7 | +2 | Qxc7 | 0 |
| 22 | Nc4 | 0 | Nb6 | 0 |
| 23 | Nba5 | +5 | Rfd8 | +12 |
| 24 | Qe2 | +11 | Rd5 | 0 |
| 25 | c3 | +12 | Nxc4 | 0 |
| 26 | Nxc4 | 0 | Rcd8 | 0 |
| 27 | Ne5 | 0 | Qb7 | 0 |
| 28 | Rxd5 | 0 | exd5 | 0 |
| 29 | Qc2 | 0 | Rb8 | 0 |
| 30 | Qb3 | 0 | Qa8 | 0 |
Engine self-play
10 games at 500 000 nodes per move: White won 0, drawn 7, Black won 3 — White scored 35.0%. Average length 54.1 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. f3 c5 2. O-O-O f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nb3 O-O 5. Kb1 Nf7 6. Nxc5 b5 7. Rc1 b4 8. N3a4 e5 9. b3 e4 10. d4 exd3 11. Nxd3 Bc6 12. Ndb2 a5 13. Bg3 Nd5 14. Bxb8 Rxb8 15. Qd4 f4 16. e3 fxe3 17. c4 Qf6 18. Qxf6 Nxf6 19. Re1 Rbe8 20. Nd1 g5 21. Rxe3 g4 22. Nc5 Ng5 23. fxg4 Rxe3 24. Nxe3 Nge4 25. Nd3 Nc3+ 26. Kc2 Re8 27. g5 Rxe3 28. gxf6 Kf7 29. Rg1 Ne2 30. Kd2 Rxd3+ 31. Kxe2 Rc3 32. Kd2 Be4 33. Be2 Kxf6 34. Bd1 Ke5 35. Re1 Rd3+ 36. Kc1 Rc3+ 37. Kd2 Rd3+ 38. Kc1 Rc3+
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. f3 c5 2. O-O-O f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nb3 O-O 5. Kb1 Nf7 6. Nxc5 b5 7. Rc1 b4 8. N3a4 e5 9. b3 e4 10. d4 exd3 11. Nxd3 Bc6 12. Ndb2 a5 13. Bg3 Nd5 14. Bxb8 Rxb8 15. Qd4 f4 16. e3 fxe3 17. c4 Qf6 18. Qxf6 Nxf6 19. Re1 Rbe8 20. Nd1 g5 21. Rxe3 g4 22. Nc5 Ng5 23. fxg4 Rxe3 24. Nxe3 Nge4 25. Nd3 Nc3+ 26. Kc2 Re8 27. g5 Rxe3 28. gxf6 Kf7 29. Rg1 Ne2 30. Kd2 Rxd3+ 31. Kxe2 Rc3 32. Kd2 Be4 33. Be2 Kxf6 34. Bd1 Ke5 35. Re1 Rd3+ 36. Kc1 Rc3+ 37. Kd2 Rd3+ 38. Kc1 Rc3+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 74 / 880 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): bbrqkrnn/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNRKBBQR w CHcf - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 885 vs Black 79 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 328.