Starting position #186
Back-rank setup: NRNKBBRQ
SP-186 · 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 g1, the queen on h1.
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 773.
The engine's main line opens with d4, 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 61 Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 374 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 → +14 → +14 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #773
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and g
- It becomes the daily position in 534 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h5 (g4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b7 (h1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d4 (b3·17) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to d2 (c2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (b6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: rook to e1 (g1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (c3·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: knight to d7 (e5·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: bishop to g3 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: king to e2 (e1·21) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 114
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and the queen in the far corner on h1, with castling ordinary in both directions. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3. No second-rank pawn begins undefended. The bishops stand together on e1 and f1, the rooks on b1 and g1. The engine's main line opens d4 d5, then Nab3 Nab6 g4 g5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.