Starting position #171
Back-rank setup: NRNKBQRB
SP-171 · 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 d1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 785.
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 59 Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 406 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): +31 → +35 → +16 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #785
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and g
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: queen to g1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b2 (b1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a5 (c3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to h3 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: queen to d6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (e5·25) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to b7 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to a5 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to a7 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: rook to a1 (c1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 13
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Commentary
The king starts on d1 and the queen on f1, with castling ordinary in both directions. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move; a bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. On the second rank, h2 begins with no defender at all. The second bishop is on e1, the rooks on b1 and g1. The line in the dataset opens f4 f5, then c4 c6 d3 Nc7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.