Starting position #223
Back-rank setup: NQRKNRBB
SP-223 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
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 f1, 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 d2, 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 640.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 175 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 (60 half-moves): +26 → +23 → +14 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #640
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 441 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·46) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·61) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to c7 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f1 (e1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: rook to b7 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (e5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: queen to b4 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: queen to b8 (a7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 25
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Commentary
Two castling quirks meet: the long one swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1, and the short one moves the king alone, because the rook already occupies f1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move; a bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. Both d2 and e2 lean on the king alone. The queen is on b1, the second bishop on g1. The published line opens f4 f5, then g3 g6 c4 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.