White 92 vs Black 127
White starts from setup 92 (NBNRKRBQ), Black from setup 127 (NQRNKRBB). In the encyclopedia since 2026-10-03: 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. 92, Black by position No. 127, 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 #92 N B N R K R B Q
King on the e-file, rooks on d, f, 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 92 gives White +0.15 (Morozov Balance Index, 400M nodes).
Black: setup #127 N Q R N K R B B
King on the e-file, rooks on c, f, queen on the b-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 127 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 60.
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 -25 and +2 cp before settling — a reminder that quick engine checks overstate imbalances, and why the ladder goes deep.
For comparison, in symmetric play setup 92 gives White +0.15 and setup 127 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 f4, and 3 first moves are within 10 cp of it.
Along the engine's main line (30 moves) the largest swing was 31 cp (around move 1), ending at 0 cp — the position stays playable for both sides.
Engine self-play agrees: 10 games, White won 0, drawn 8, Black won 2 (White scored 40.0%).
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 | +2 | 1. g4 g6 2. c3 Nb6 3. h4 Na4 4. Nd3 b5 |
| S1 | 500 000 | 16 | -1 | 1. g4 c5 2. h4 Nb6 3. Bh2 d6 4. h5 c4 |
| S2 | 2 000 000 | 21 | -25 | 1. g4 c5 2. c3 Nb6 3. Nd3 c4 4. Nb4 Ne6 |
| S3 | 8 000 000 | 26 | -12 | 1. c3 f5 2. h4 g6 3. Qh3 f4 4. Bh2 Nb6 |
| S4 | 32 000 000 | 37 | 0 | 1. g4 c5 2. c3 Nb6 3. Nd3 c4 4. Nb4 f5 |
| S5 | 128 000 000 | 47 | 0 | 1. g4 c5 2. c3 Nb6 3. Nd3 c4 4. Nb4 f5 |
| S6 | 400 000 000 | 55 | 0 | 1. g4 c5 2. c3 Nb6 3. Nd3 c4 4. Nb4 f5 |
| S7 | 800 000 000 | 59 | 0 | 1. g4 c5 2. c3 Nb6 3. Nd3 c4 4. Nb4 f5 |
| S8 | 1 600 000 000 | 60 | 0 | 1. g4 c5 2. c3 Nb6 3. Nd3 c4 4. Nb4 f5 |
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: 0
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 +29, Black +31, difference -2. 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, 8 draws, 2 Black wins, White scored 40.0%.
Best first moves
The 3 best first moves for White, searched together at 400 000 000 nodes.
| # | Eval, cp | Depth | Main line |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 46 | 1. f4 f5 2. g4 c5 3. gxf5 Rxf5 4. Be3 g6 5. c3 Rh5 |
| 2 | 0 | 46 | 1. g4 c5 2. c3 Nb6 3. Nd3 c4 4. Nb4 f5 5. gxf5 a5 |
| 3 | 0 | 46 | 1. c3 f5 2. h4 c5 3. Bh2 e5 4. f4 g6 5. g4 Ne6 |
Main-line play-out
30 moves, 5 000 000 nodes per half-move. Largest |evaluation| 31 cp, mean 6.7 cp, final 0 cp.
| # | White | cp | Black | cp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | c3 | -12 | f5 | -31 |
| 2 | h4 | -9 | g6 | -10 |
| 3 | h5 | +2 | g5 | 0 |
| 4 | f4 | 0 | c5 | 0 |
| 5 | fxg5 | +15 | Qg3+ | +15 |
| 6 | Bf2 | +16 | Qxg5 | +20 |
| 7 | Nc2 | +21 | f4 | +17 |
| 8 | Bh4 | +16 | Qxh5 | +18 |
| 9 | Nd3 | +13 | Ne6 | +9 |
| 10 | O-O-O | +11 | Nb6 | +5 |
| 11 | g3 | +4 | Nd5 | 0 |
| 12 | g4 | +1 | Qxg4 | 0 |
| 13 | Rf2 | +13 | f3 | +16 |
| 14 | Rg1 | +13 | Qh5 | +8 |
| 15 | Nde1 | +8 | O-O-O | +8 |
| 16 | e4 | +13 | Bf6 | +9 |
| 17 | Rh2 | +4 | Ndf4 | +5 |
| 18 | Bxf6 | +8 | f2 | +9 |
| 19 | Rxh5 | +11 | fxg1=R | +7 |
| 20 | Qxg1 | +5 | Ne2+ | +5 |
| 21 | Kd1 | +6 | Nxg1 | +3 |
| 22 | Bxe7 | +2 | Bf7 | +4 |
| 23 | Rxh7 | 0 | Bg6 | 0 |
| 24 | Rh4 | 0 | Rh8 | +1 |
| 25 | Bxd8 | 0 | Rxh4 | 0 |
| 26 | Bxh4 | 0 | Bh5+ | 0 |
| 27 | Kc1 | 0 | Ne2+ | 0 |
| 28 | Kd1 | 0 | Nxc3+ | 0 |
| 29 | Kc1 | 0 | Ne2+ | 0 |
| 30 | Kd1 | 0 | Nc3+ | 0 |
Engine self-play
10 games at 500 000 nodes per move: White won 0, drawn 8, Black won 2 — White scored 40.0%. Average length 46.0 moves.
Sample game 1 (1/2-1/2)
1. c3 f5 2. h4 g6 3. Qh3 c5 4. Bh2 Be5 5. Bxe5 Qxe5 6. O-O Nb6 7. d4 cxd4 8. cxd4 Qf6 9. Nab3 Nc6 10. e4 fxe4 11. Bxe4 Bc4 12. Bd3 Nb4 13. Bxc4 Rxc4 14. Ne2 Qf5 15. Qxf5 Rxf5 16. a3 N4d5 17. Rd2 d6 18. Rc1 Nf4 19. Nc3 Nfd5 20. Ne2 Kd7 21. Rdc2 Rc7 22. Nd2 Rxc2 23. Rxc2 Nf4 24. Nxf4 Rxf4 25. Nf3 Nd5 26. Kf1 Rf8 27. Ke2 Nf4+ 28. Kf1 a5 29. g3 Ne6 30. Rc3 Rf5 31. Ke2 a4 32. Rd3 Rb5 33. Rd2 h6 34. Nh2 Ng7 35. Nf1 Nf5 36. d5 Rb3 37. Kd1 Kc7 38. Kc2 Rb5 39. Rd3 Rc5+ 40. Kb1 b5 41. Ne3 Kb6 42. Nxf5 gxf5 43. h5 Kc7 44. f4 Kb6 45. Rd2 Rc4 46. Re2 Kc5 47. Rxe7 b4 48. axb4+ Rxb4 49. Rf7 a3 50. Ka2
Sample game 2 (0-1)
1. c3 c5 2. h4 Qd6 3. g4 Nb6 4. b3 g6 5. h5 Nd5 6. f3 Qg3+ 7. Bf2 Qd6 8. Bg1 Nxc3 9. dxc3 Qg3+ 10. Rf2 Bxc3+ 11. Kf1 Bxa1 12. Be4 Qc7 13. Rg2 Bg7 14. Nd3 c4 15. bxc4 Qxc4 16. Rc1 Bc3 17. Bf2 d5 18. Be1 Qxa2 19. Bf5 gxf5 20. Rxc3 Rxc3 21. Bxc3 d4 22. Be1 fxg4 23. Rxg4 f6 24. Qh4 Be6 25. Rg7 Qd5 26. h6 Qf5 27. Kf2 Qh3 28. Qxh3 Bxh3 29. Bb4 Rf7 30. Rg8+ Rf8 31. Rg7 Nc6 32. Ba3 Rf7 33. Rg8+ Rf8 34. Rg7 Bf5 35. Nb4 Nxb4 36. Bxb4 Rf7 37. Rg8+ Kd7 38. Bc5 e5 39. Bxa7 Kc6 40. Rb8 Be6 41. Re8 Bf5 42. Rb8 Be6 43. Ke1 Bd5 44. Rc8+ Kd7 45. Rb8 Ke6 46. Bb6 Kf5 47. Ba5 Bc4 48. Bd2 b5 49. e4+ dxe3 50. Bxe3 Bd5 51. Rxb5 Bxf3 52. Rc5 Rb7 53. Kf2 Be4 54. Ra5 Rb2+ 55. Kg3 Rb3 56. Kf2 Kg4 57. Bc5 Bg6 58. Ra1 f5 59. Rg1+ Kf4 60. Ke2 Ke4 61. Ra1 f4 62. Bd6 Rb5 63. Kf2 Kf5 64. Rd1 e4 65. Kg2 Kg4 66. Rg1 Rb2+ 67. Kh1+ Kf5 68. Rf1 f3 69. Be7 Rc2 70. Re1 Kf4 71. Bd6+ Kg4 72. Rg1+ Kf5 73. Rf1 Bh5 74. Rb1 e3 75. Ba3 Bg6 76. Bd6 Kg4 77. Rg1+ Kh5 78. Rxg6 Kxg6
Play it in the CH960 app
Open this page on a phone with the CH960 app installed, or find pair 92 / 127 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): nqrnkrbb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/NBNRKRBQ w DFcf - 0 1
Mirror twin: White 876 vs Black 832 — a different position (castling squares are fixed), not evaluated by the search.
Current place in the live balance rating: 402.