Starting position #159
Back-rank setup: NRNQKRBB
SP-159 · ThroneScout — Centre-file king, rim knight: 204 of the 960 positions share this pattern.
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 d1.
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.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 800.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 484 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +39 → +17 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #800
- 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 925 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (f5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (h1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f8 (g8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to b3 (a2·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e3 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: knight to b6 (c4·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c3 (c2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (e3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: rook to e8 (f8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on e7 (a3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 19
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Commentary
The rook already stands on 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. No second-rank pawn starts without a defender. The queen is on d1 next to the king, the second bishop on g1. The line in the dataset opens e4 e5, then Qe2 f6 g3 g6 — the queen steps to e2 on the third half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.