Starting position #174
Back-rank setup: NRNKQBBR
SP-174 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 e1.
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.
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 788.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 354 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): +27 → +26 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #788
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 1327 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e7 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (c4·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (f5·11) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (d4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to b1 (c1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h5 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: knight to g6 (e7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 2: rook to b7 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (a8) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 50
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on e1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on c1. Every pawn on the second rank has a defender from the first move. The bishops stand together on f1 and g1. The engine's main line opens f3 e5, then e4 f6 Nab3 Nab6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.