Starting position #221
Back-rank setup: NQRBKNBR
SP-221 · 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 e1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on b1.
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 d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 648.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 352 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +32 → -61 → -103 → -55
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #648
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and h
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c8 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b8 (h2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to h6 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to b8 (b7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to f6 (f5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to a2 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to g7 (g6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to e6 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: king to g1 (h2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 95
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks split to c1 and h1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3. On the second rank, g2 starts with no defender at all. The queen is on b1, the bishops on d1 and g1. The engine's line opens c4 c6, then b4 h6 Bc2 Bh7 — both light-square bishops step out on the fifth and sixth half-moves.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.