Starting position #262
Back-rank setup: NRBKNBQR
SP-262 · 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 g1.
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 598.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 9 Morozov Balance Index: 9 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +43 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 876 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- In 50 self-play games White scored 56.0% (95% CI 42.3–68.8%).
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (53 half-moves): +49 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #598
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and h
- It becomes the daily position in 274 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to f4 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h8 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e3 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Castling-960 to the rescue on b1 (d1) — Castling-960 · 1150
- Winning blow: rook to c7 (g7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to a8 (f3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to d7 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (d6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (b2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 27
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and h1. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on e1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the queen on g1. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that begins without a defender. The main line of the run opens f3 Nb6, then c4 d6 b3 f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.