Starting position #191
Back-rank setup: NRNKRQBB
SP-191 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the 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 e1, 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.
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 768.
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 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 582 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +55 → +32 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #768
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 746 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h1 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to c8 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Castling-960 to the rescue on b1 (d1·9) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Winning blow: king to g1 (f2·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Winning blow: bishop to b7 (h1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Winning blow: queen to a8 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on c6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 25
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from d1, with the rooks close together on b1 and e1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; a bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. Among the pawns, d2 leans on the king alone. The queen stands on f1, the second bishop on g1. The engine's line opens e4 e5, then f4 f5 fxe5 fxe4 — both centre pawns come off by the sixth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.