Starting position #230
Back-rank setup: NRBQKBNR
SP-230 · 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 e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on d1.
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 c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 630.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 7 Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +47 centipawns for White (depth 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 900 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +53 → +36 → +31 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #630
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 298 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b8 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g5 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·21) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g7 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (c1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f5 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to f8 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e5 (h5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: rook to e1 (f1·15) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Winning blow: knight to c5 (e6·12) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 17
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, the queen next to the king on d1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on g1. On the second rank, a2 has no defender at all and f2 only the king. The bishops are on c1 and f1. The recorded line opens e4 d6, then d4 Nf6 Bd3 e5 — the light-square bishop steps to d3 on the fifth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.