Starting position #170
Back-rank setup: NRNKBBQR
SP-170 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a 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 d1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on g1.
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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
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 789.
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 20 Morozov Balance Index: 20 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +37 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 775 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): +40 → +14 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #789
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 341 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 (g2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c3 (b2·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (c5·12) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to a6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to f8 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (d4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (g5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Mate in 3: queen to b3 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on c6 (d5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 48
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 rather than on a central square of its own file, with the rooks on b1 and h1. Castling is ordinary in both directions. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3. No second-rank pawn starts undefended, and the bishops stand together on e1 and f1. The recorded line opens e4 f5, then exf5 Nab6 b3 Qf7 — the centre pawn takes on the third half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.