Starting position #219
Back-rank setup: NQRKBNRB
SP-219 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
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 e2 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 641.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Opening: main line
Stockfish's main line from the start of this setup, 15 moves deep (100 million nodes per move):
1. d4 g6 2. Nb3 d5 3. g3 Ne6 4. Ne3 c6 5. c4 dxc4 6. Nxc4 Bd7 7. Bc3 O-O 8. O-O Nb6 9. Nxb6 axb6 10. d5 cxd5
Evaluation after the line: +0.29 for White.
Best first moves for White (evaluation in pawns):
- d4 — +0.33
- f4 — +0.32
- c4 — +0.27
Balance
MBI 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 438 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 (58 half-moves): +24 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #641
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 168 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b6 (c5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a8 (e4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b6 (a5·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to h6 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (d4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (b8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to e6 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to b7 (a7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on f2 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 42
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move; a bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. Among the pawns, e2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on b1, the second bishop on e1, the knights on a1 and f1. The line in the dataset opens c3 c5, then g3 g6 d4 cxd4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.