White 78 vs Black 60
White starts from setup 78 (NNRKQBBR), Black from setup 60 (NBNRQKBR). 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. 78, Black by position No. 60, 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 #78 N N R K Q B B R
King on the d-file, rooks on c, h, queen on the e-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 78 gives White +0.21 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #60 N B N R Q K B R
King on the f-file, rooks on d, h, queen on the e-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 60 gives White +0.22 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Why the pair is balanced
At the deepest rungs (400M, 800M, 1.6B nodes) the evaluation never left ±5 centipawns of equality, reaching search depth 61.
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 -2 and +22 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 78 gives White +0.21 and setup 60 gives White +0.22: 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 ±18 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 9, Black won 1 (White scored 45.0%).
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 | +22 | 1. O-O-O f6 2. Nb3 d5 3. e4 dxe4 4. Nc3 Nd6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 17 | +6 | 1. O-O-O f6 2. Nb3 c6 3. h4 Bf7 4. Nc5 Nd6 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 23 | +1 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nb3 c6 3. O-O-O d5 4. exd5 cxd5 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 31 | -2 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nb3 c6 3. O-O-O d5 4. f3 Nc7 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 36 | 0 | 1. e4 c6 2. Nb3 f6 3. Nc5 Nd6 4. f4 b6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 40 | +12 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nb3 c6 3. Nc5 Nd6 4. Nc3 Nc7 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 45 | +5 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nb3 c6 3. Nc5 Nd6 4. Nc3 Nc7 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 54 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. f3 f6 3. d4 d5 4. exd5 exd4 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 61 | 0 | 1. e4 e5 2. f3 f6 3. d4 d5 4. exd5 exd4 |
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: +1
- Lc0 0.32.1: +4
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 +61, Black +92, difference -31. 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, 9 draws, 1 Black wins, White scored 45.0%.
Best first moves
The 3 best first moves for White, searched together at 400 000 000 nodes.
| # | Eval, cp | Depth | Main line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -11 | 41 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nb3 c6 3. Nc5 Nd6 4. O-O-O Nc7 5. d4 b6 |
| 2 | -21 | 41 | 1. Nb3 d5 2. O-O-O c6 3. h4 h6 4. e3 Bh7 5. g4 O-O |
| 3 | -22 | 41 | 1. O-O-O d5 2. Nb3 c6 3. h4 h5 4. e4 dxe4 5. Qxe4 Nab6 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 18 cp, mean 3.5 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | e4 | 0 | f6 | +9 |
| 2 | Nb3 | +4 | c6 | -17 |
| 3 | Nc5 | -17 | Nd6 | -17 |
| 4 | Nc3 | +6 | Nc7 | +3 |
| 5 | d4 | +18 | Bc4 | +7 |
| 6 | Bxc4 | +11 | Nxc4 | +11 |
| 7 | O-O-O | -1 | b6 | -1 |
| 8 | Nd3 | -6 | d5 | -11 |
| 9 | f3 | -9 | O-O | +3 |
| 10 | b3 | +7 | dxe4 | +15 |
| 11 | Nxe4 | +7 | Nd6 | +4 |
| 12 | Bf2 | +8 | Nf7 | +13 |
| 13 | Qb4 | +6 | Qd7 | 0 |
| 14 | Rhe1 | -1 | Rfe8 | 0 |
| 15 | a4 | 0 | h6 | 0 |
| 16 | Kb1 | 0 | Nd5 | 0 |
| 17 | Qd2 | 0 | e5 | 0 |
| 18 | dxe5 | 0 | Nxe5 | 0 |
| 19 | Bg3 | 0 | Nxd3 | 0 |
| 20 | Qxd3 | 0 | Qc8 | 0 |
| 21 | Qc4 | 0 | Bxg3 | -1 |
| 22 | hxg3 | 0 | f5 | 0 |
| 23 | Nc3 | 0 | Kh7 | 0 |
| 24 | Nxd5 | 0 | Rxd5 | 0 |
| 25 | Qc3 | 0 | Rc5 | 0 |
| 26 | Qd4 | 0 | Rd5 | 0 |
| 27 | Qc3 | 0 | Rc5 | 0 |
| 28 | Qb4 | 0 | Rce5 | 0 |
| 29 | Rxe5 | 0 | Rxe5 | 0 |
| 30 | Rd6 | 0 | Qe8 | 0 |
Engine self-play
10 games at 500 000 nodes per move: White won 0, drawn 9, Black won 1 — White scored 45.0%. Average length 42.0 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. f3 d5 2. d4 c6 3. O-O-O f6 4. Nb3 Bf7 5. Nc3 Nc7 6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 O-O 8. Bf2 b6 9. h4 e5 10. dxe5 Rxd1+ 11. Nxd1 Qxe5 12. Bg3 Qe8 13. Nd4 Ne7 14. Ne3 Ne6 15. Nxe6 Bxe6 16. h5 h6 17. b3 Qd8 18. Kb1 Qd4 19. Bxb8 Rxb8 20. Bc4 Bxc4 21. Nxc4 Rd8 22. Qe2 c5 23. a4 Nc6 24. Re1 Re8 25. Qe3 Qxe3 26. Rxe3 g6 27. Rg3 g5 28. Rf3 Re6 29. Re3 Ne5 30. Nxe5 Rxe5 31. g4 Re7 32. Kc1 Rd7 33. c3 Kf7 34. Kc2 Ke6 35. Rd3 c4 36. bxc4 Rxd3 37. Kxd3 Kd7 38. c5 bxc5 39. e5 fxe5 40. c4 a5
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. Nb3 c6 2. Nc5 Nd6 3. e4 f6 4. O-O-O Bxa2 5. f4 b6 6. Na6 Nc7 7. Nxb8 Rxb8 8. h4 Bf7 9. f5 Bh5 10. Be2 Bxe2 11. Qxe2 O-O 12. g4 e6 13. d3 Qe7 14. Be3 Ndb5 15. c4 Nd6 16. Nc3 b5 17. Rhg1 Nde8 18. Rgf1 d5 19. exd5 cxd5 20. fxe6 dxc4 21. dxc4 bxc4 22. Rfe1 Qxe6 23. Bxa7 Qxe2 24. Rxe2 Rc8 25. Bf2 h6 26. Rd7 f5 27. g5 hxg5 28. hxg5 f4 29. Re4 Rf7 30. Rxf7 Kxf7 31. Rxf4+ Kg6 32. Rxc4 Nd6 33. Rc6 Ne8 34. Rxc8 Nxc8 35. Be3 Ncd6 36. b4 Nf7 37. b5 Ned6 38. Kc2 Nxg5 39. b6 Ne6 40. Kb3 Kf5
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 78 / 60 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): nbnrqkbr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNRKQBBR w CHdh - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 884 vs Black 908 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 343.