Starting position #276
Back-rank setup: NBBRKNRQ
SP-276 · 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on h1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2, f2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 590.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 515 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 (60 half-moves): +21 → +51 → +7 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #590
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 860 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d4 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to h6 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: rook to g5 (d5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (d5·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g6 (f5·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: knight to f6 (h5·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: rook to a3 (a1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (e8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to e7 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2210
This position appears in course day 22
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1, and the queen sits out in the corner on h1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, the second on f1. Two second-rank pawns lean on the king alone: e2 and f2, side by side. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 d5 g3 c6 Nb3 Nb6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.