Starting position #238
Back-rank setup: NRQKNBBR
SP-238 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
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 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-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 628.
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 4 Morozov Balance Index: 4 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +50 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 927 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): +62 → +54 → +19 → +5
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #628
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b 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 f7 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b6 (c5·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to c5 (c1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to d2 (d1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·36) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (d2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f6 (c3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on g6 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 5
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on e1. On the second rank, a2 starts with no defender at all. The bishops stand together on f1 and g1, the rooks on b1 and h1. The main line of the run opens c4 c5, then f4 e5 fxe5 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.