White 9 vs Black 60
White starts from setup 9 (QNNBBRKR), Black from setup 60 (NBNRQKBR). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-21: 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. 9, 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 #9 Q N N B B R K R
King on the g-file, rooks on f, h, queen on the a-file; no bishop starts in a corner; the knights start on central files. The king already stands on a castled square, so one of the castlings moves only the rook. In ordinary symmetric play setup 9 gives White +0.22 (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 ±3 centipawns of equality, 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 -29 and +10 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 9 gives White +0.22 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 d4, and 2 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 32 cp (around move 4), 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 | 14 | +10 | 1. e4 f6 2. h4 Bf7 3. f4 d5 4. exd5 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 17 | +3 | 1. e4 c5 2. f4 f6 3. Nd3 d5 4. e5 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 22 | -10 | 1. e4 f6 2. f4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc7 4. h4 d5 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 25 | -29 | 1. e4 f6 2. d4 c5 3. dxc5 d6 4. cxd6 Nxd6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 36 | -22 | 1. e4 f6 2. Nd3 d5 3. e5 fxe5 4. f3 Nab6 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 43 | -9 | 1. d4 d5 2. f3 c6 3. Bf2 e5 4. dxe5 Qxe5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 49 | -3 | 1. d4 d5 2. f3 c6 3. Bf2 e5 4. dxe5 Qxe5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. d4 d5 2. f3 c6 3. Bf2 e5 4. dxe5 Qxe5 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 56 | 0 | 1. d4 d5 2. f3 c6 3. Bf2 e5 4. dxe5 Qxe5 |
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 | +1 |
| 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: -9
- Lc0 0.32.1: -2
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 +16, Black +92, 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, 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 | -8 | 41 | 1. d4 d5 2. f3 c6 3. Bf2 f6 4. Nd3 Nc7 5. Re1 Ne6 |
| 2 | -12 | 41 | 1. e4 f6 2. d4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. c4 b5 5. b3 exd5 |
| 3 | -30 | 40 | 1. b3 d5 2. d4 h5 3. Bb4 c6 4. Nd2 Nc7 5. e3 f6 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 32 cp, mean 16.7 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | e4 | -30 | f6 | -20 |
| 2 | f4 | -23 | c5 | -22 |
| 3 | d3 | -27 | Bf7 | -29 |
| 4 | Bg3 | -32 | d5 | -21 |
| 5 | e5 | -15 | Nc7 | -20 |
| 6 | Nd2 | -21 | O-O | -20 |
| 7 | Re1 | -19 | Bh5 | -20 |
| 8 | Ncb3 | -22 | fxe5 | -13 |
| 9 | fxe5 | -13 | Ne6 | -18 |
| 10 | O-O | -12 | Rxf1+ | -14 |
| 11 | Rxf1 | -12 | Bc7 | -17 |
| 12 | Bf2 | -21 | Bb6 | -22 |
| 13 | Nf3 | -21 | Qg6 | -29 |
| 14 | Qc1 | -20 | Rf8 | -25 |
| 15 | Nh4 | -20 | Qf7 | -19 |
| 16 | Nd2 | -20 | Bxd1 | -16 |
| 17 | Qxd1 | -24 | Qf4 | -19 |
| 18 | Nhf3 | -21 | Qa4 | -17 |
| 19 | a3 | -20 | a5 | -11 |
| 20 | Nb1 | -15 | Na7 | -16 |
| 21 | Nc3 | -17 | Qd7 | -17 |
| 22 | Ne2 | -15 | d4 | -23 |
| 23 | Ng3 | -21 | Nc6 | -24 |
| 24 | Ne4 | -16 | Bc7 | -21 |
| 25 | Bg3 | -21 | Qd5 | -13 |
| 26 | a4 | -7 | Nb4 | -10 |
| 27 | Nfg5 | -3 | Nxg5 | 0 |
| 28 | Rxf8+ | 0 | Kxf8 | 0 |
| 29 | Nxg5 | 0 | h6 | 0 |
| 30 | Nf3 | 0 | Kg8 | 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 41.0 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. e4 e5 2. Nb3 c6 3. h4 f6 4. d3 Qe7 5. h5 Be6 6. c4 O-O 7. Nc3 Nc7 8. Qc1 d5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. h6 g6 11. d4 dxe4 12. dxe5 Bc4 13. exf6 Rxf6 14. Nd2 Bxf1 15. Nxf1 Rc6 16. Bb3+ Kh8 17. Qe3 Nb6 18. Qxe4 Qxe4 19. Nxe4 Ncd5 20. Rh4 Bf4 21. Bd2 Rf8 22. Ng5 Rf5 23. Bxf4 Nxf4 24. Ng3 Rxg5 25. Rxf4 Rc1+ 26. Kh2 Rc8 27. Rf7 Rg4 28. Kh3 Rd4 29. Be6 Rcd8 30. Rxb7 Na4 31. Bg4 Nc5 32. Rxa7 Nd3 33. f3 Nf2+ 34. Kh4 Nxg4 35. fxg4 R8d7 36. Ra6 Kg8 37. Nf1 R7d5 38. Ra8+ Rd8 39. Ra7 R8d5 40. Ng3 Rd7
Sample game 2 (1/2-1/2)
1. Nc3 d5 2. d3 c6 3. e4 f6 4. f4 Bf7 5. Nb3 O-O 6. Qc1 dxe4 7. Nxe4 b6 8. Bg3 Qd7 9. Rf2 Nd6 10. Nxd6 Bxd6 11. c3 Nc7 12. Nd2 Bg6 13. Bb3+ e6 14. f5 Bxg3 15. hxg3 Bf7 16. fxe6 Bxe6 17. Bc2 Rde8 18. d4 g6 19. Rh4 Nd5 20. Re4 Kg7 21. Rfe2 Bg4 22. Re1 Rxe4 23. Bxe4 Re8 24. Bxd5 Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 cxd5 26. Nf1 h5 27. Ne3 Qe6 28. Kf2 Qe4 29. Qf1 h4 30. Nxg4 Qxg4 31. gxh4 Qxh4+ 32. Kg1 Qe4 33. Qa6 Qe7 34. Qc8 Qe1+ 35. Kh2 Qe4 36. Qc6 Qf4+ 37. Kh1 g5 38. Qd7+ Kh6 39. Qxd5 g4 40. Qd8 Qc1+
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 9 / 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/QNNBBRKR w FHdh - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 953 vs Black 908 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 98.