Starting position #248
Back-rank setup: NBRKBQNR
SP-248 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and h1, the queen on f1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 621.
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 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 675 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: sharpening
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +42 → +50 → +35
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #621
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- 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 b7 (c5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (g3·35) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 (g2·23) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to c2 (b1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a7 (b6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Mate in 2: pawn to d8 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to f8 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Mate in 3: pawn to g7 (f6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to d6 (d5·15) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 10
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3, the second on g1. Among the pawns, b2 is the one that starts with no defender. The queen is on f1, the bishops on b1 and e1. The recorded line opens c4 c6, then f4 f5 e3 Bh5+ — a bishop check on the sixth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.