Starting position #189
Back-rank setup: NRNBKRBQ
SP-189 · 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 h1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 776.
The engine's main line opens with Nab3, bringing the knight out to b3.
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 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 373 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 → +9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #776
- 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 126 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c6 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f8 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b8 (a7·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (a5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: king to f1 (e1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f3 (d1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: pawn to g7 (g6·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Winning blow: king to b2 (c3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (e8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on b6 (e3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 6
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Commentary
The engine's first choice here is the corner knight: Nab3, the only square that knight can reach. The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. Among the pawns, d2 is the one the king alone defends. The queen is in the corner on h1, the bishops on d1 and g1. After Nab3 the line continues f5 f4 c6 c3 Nab6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.