Starting position #143
Back-rank setup: NRQNKRBB
SP-143 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
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 f1, the queen on c1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
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 816.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 78 Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 222 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +33 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #816
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 112 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d4 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (h1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to a8 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to c3 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b8 (b1·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (c3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to e1 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: king to e1 (d2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on d4 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 87
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; a bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. On the second rank, a2 has no defender at all and e2 has only the king. The queen is on c1, the second bishop on g1. The engine's line opens f4 f5, then b3 c5 g3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.