Starting position #222
Back-rank setup: NQRKNBBR
SP-222 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 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 644.
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 96 Morozov Balance Index: 96 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +8 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 41 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +23 → +19 → +4 → +9 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 51): +4 cp, -4 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #644
- 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 1278 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e3 (d2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to b1 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to d4 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to e3 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to d7 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: pawn to f5 (e4·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: queen to g7 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to d6 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (d5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 132
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on e1. Among the pawns, d2 is defended by the king alone. The queen is on b1, the bishops on f1 and g1. The engine's main line opens c4 c5, then h3 e5 e3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.