Starting position #237
Back-rank setup: NRQBKNBR
SP-237 · 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 e1, the rooks on b1 and h1, the queen on c1.
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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 632.
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 16 Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 809 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (46 half-moves): +51 → +22 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #632
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 518 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g7 (f5·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: bishop to c2 (a4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Castling-960 to the rescue on h1 (e1·3) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h8 (b2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: pawn to e4 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to h8 (d8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (e6·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: knight to e6 (d4·27) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
- Chess960 tactic on d4 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 86
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Commentary
The pawns on a2 and g2 both begin with no defender at all. Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on b1 and h1. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on f1. The queen is on c1, the bishops on d1 and g1. The line in the dataset opens f4 c5, then b4 b6 bxc5 bxc5 — the b-file opens on both sides at once.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.