Starting position #142
Back-rank setup: NRQNKBBR
SP-142 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on c1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 820.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 739 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: sharpening
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +38 → +51 → +63 → +56
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #820
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 127 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g7 (h6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c5 (g1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to b4 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: rook to c8 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: king to d2 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (c1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: pawn to f5 (e4·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Mate in 3: knight to e6 (d4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
- Chess960 tactic on e6 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 22
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, but the rooks begin on b1 and h1 rather than in the corners. A knight sits outside them, in the corner on a1, with b3 as its only first move. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that starts without a defender. The queen is on c1, the bishops on f1 and g1. The main line of the run opens f3 f6, then Nb3 Nb6 e4 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.