White 85 vs Black 68
White starts from setup 85 (NNBBRKRQ), Black from setup 68 (NBBNRKQR). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-15: 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. 85, Black by position No. 68, 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 #85 N N B B R K R Q
King on the f-file, rooks on e, g, queen on the h-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 85 gives White +0.08 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #68 N B B N R K Q R
King on the f-file, rooks on e, 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 68 gives White +0.23 (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 57.
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 agreed early: from 100 thousand to 128 million nodes the evaluation never left ±11 cp.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 85 gives White +0.08 and setup 68 gives White +0.23: 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 Nb3, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 56 cp (around move 12), ending at +16 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 | 13 | -10 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nb3 Qf7 3. O-O c6 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 20 | +1 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nc3 Qf7 3. Nb3 O-O 4. O-O e5 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 23 | -11 | 1. Nb3 f5 2. g4 fxg4 3. e4 h5 4. h3 c6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 29 | +8 | 1. Nb3 f5 2. O-O Qf7 3. f4 c6 4. d4 O-O |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 34 | +4 | 1. Nb3 d5 2. d3 c6 3. e4 dxe4 4. dxe4 Nb6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 41 | +1 | 1. Nb3 d5 2. d3 c6 3. h4 Nb6 4. g4 f6 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 49 | 0 | 1. Nb3 f5 2. g4 fxg4 3. e4 h5 4. d4 c6 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 50 | 0 | 1. Nb3 f5 2. g4 fxg4 3. e4 h5 4. d4 c6 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 57 | 0 | 1. Nb3 f5 2. g4 fxg4 3. e4 h5 4. h3 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: -3
- 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 +32, Black +31, 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 | 43 | 1. Nb3 f5 2. f4 a5 3. d4 c6 4. e3 d6 5. g4 fxg4 |
| 2 | 0 | 42 | 1. d3 f5 |
| 3 | -11 | 42 | 1. e4 f5 2. Nb3 fxe4 3. O-O Qf7 4. g3 O-O 5. Qxe4 e5 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 56 cp, mean 23.2 cp, final +16 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nb3 | +5 | f5 | +9 |
| 2 | O-O | +7 | e5 | +8 |
| 3 | e4 | -1 | f4 | +10 |
| 4 | g3 | +10 | Qf7 | +2 |
| 5 | d4 | +10 | d6 | +8 |
| 6 | Qg2 | -6 | g5 | -12 |
| 7 | Bd2 | -5 | Nc6 | +14 |
| 8 | dxe5 | +25 | dxe5 | +29 |
| 9 | Nc3 | +32 | Nb6 | +24 |
| 10 | Nd5 | +37 | Rg8 | +37 |
| 11 | Kh1 | +38 | Rd8 | +36 |
| 12 | Rg1 | +56 | Rd6 | +46 |
| 13 | gxf4 | +53 | gxf4 | +45 |
| 14 | Qxg8+ | +52 | Qxg8 | +41 |
| 15 | Rxg8+ | +42 | Kxg8 | +45 |
| 16 | Nb4 | +39 | Nxb4 | +42 |
| 17 | Bxb4 | +32 | Rh6 | +29 |
| 18 | Rg1+ | +22 | Rg6 | +24 |
| 19 | Na5 | +23 | c6 | +36 |
| 20 | Rxg6+ | +24 | hxg6 | +13 |
| 21 | Kg2 | +27 | Na8 | +15 |
| 22 | b3 | +12 | Kg7 | +20 |
| 23 | h3 | +16 | Bc7 | +17 |
| 24 | Nc4 | +16 | b6 | +20 |
| 25 | Nb2 | +25 | Kf6 | +14 |
| 26 | Nd3 | +12 | g5 | +22 |
| 27 | h4 | +21 | gxh4 | +23 |
| 28 | c4 | +17 | c5 | +19 |
| 29 | Bc3 | +16 | Bd6 | +18 |
| 30 | Nxf4 | +16 | Nc7 | +16 |
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 61.7 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. Nb3 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nc7 5. h4 f6 6. d4 Qf7 7. Be2 e5 8. Be3 Nce6 9. dxe5 fxe5 10. Nxd5 Nd4 11. Nc3 Nxe2 12. Kxe2 O-O 13. Kd2 Bd6 14. h5 Bb4 15. Qh4 Bxc3+ 16. bxc3 Qc7 17. h6 Rf6 18. hxg7 Qd6+ 19. Kc1 Qa3+ 20. Kb1 Ra6 21. Nc1 Qxc3 22. Qe4 Qc6 23. Bd4 Ra4 24. Qxc6 Nxc6 25. Bb2 Bf5 26. Nd3 Kxg7 27. a3 Kg8 28. f3 Bg6 29. Rgf1 Rc4 30. Re3 Rd8 31. Rf2 e4 32. fxe4 Rxe4 33. Rxe4 Bxe4 34. Nc5 Bg6 35. Nxb7 Rd5 36. Kc1 Na5 37. Nxa5 Rxa5 38. Rf4 h5 39. c4 Rg5 40. g4 hxg4
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. Nb3 f6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 Nb6 4. d3 Nxd5 5. Bd2 c6 6. Nc3 h5 7. h4 Bg4 8. Bf3 Nxc3 9. Bxc3 b6 10. g3 Bxf3 11. Qxf3 Qd5 12. Qe3 e5 13. O-O-O Ne6 14. Kb1 Bc7 15. Rde1 c5 16. a3 b5 17. g4 hxg4 18. Rxg4 Rh7 19. Qg3 O-O-O 20. Ba5 Bxa5 21. Nxa5 Rd7 22. Nb3 Rh5 23. Rge4 Rf5 24. f3 Kc7 25. Qg4 Rf4 26. Qg2 c4 27. Nc1 Kb8 28. h5 Rxe4 29. fxe4 Nf4 30. Qg3 Qf7 31. dxc4 Qxc4 32. Qh2 Rc7 33. Na2 a5 34. Qd2 Kb7 35. Nc1 a4 36. Na2 Nxh5 37. Qa5 Rc8 38. Rg1 Qc5 39. Rg2 g5 40. Rd2 Qg1+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 85 / 68 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): nbbnrkqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NNBBRKRQ w EGeh - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 874 vs Black 894 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 363.