Starting position #218
Back-rank setup: NQRKBBNR
SP-218 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a 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 c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
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 645.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 247 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 (40 half-moves): +35 → +20 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #645
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1137 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h3 (g2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to b3 (a2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to a4 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c3 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c4 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to c6 (c5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (d4·26) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (c7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Winning blow: knight to c5 (b3·18) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 54
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. Every pawn on the second rank starts with a defender. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3, the second on g1. The queen stands on b1, the bishops on e1 and f1. The recorded line opens d3 c5, then c4 d6 b4 cxb4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.