Starting position #252
Back-rank setup: NBRKQNBR
SP-252 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: b2, g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 620.
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 26 Morozov Balance Index: 26 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +34 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 713 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 (47 half-moves): +43 → +20 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #620
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 15 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b7 (a5·14) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to c1 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·22) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to c2 (b1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to c8 (c7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to a8 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a4 (a2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to e7 (g7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1930
- Winning blow: knight to d7 (f6·13) — Chess960 specifics · 2290
This position appears in course day 13
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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 b3 as its only move, the second on f1. Two pawns start with no defender at all: b2 and g2. The queen is on e1 beside her king, the bishops on b1 and g1. The engine's main line opens c4 d5 cxd5, then f6 f3 Bxd5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.