Starting position #278
Back-rank setup: NRBKNBRQ
SP-278 · 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 b1 and g1, the queen on h1.
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.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 582.
The engine's main line opens with Nb3, bringing the knight out to b3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 173 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (56 half-moves): +35 → +32 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #582
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and g
- It becomes the daily position in 531 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g1 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g5 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (g5·16) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to h7 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to g3 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to f2 (e2·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: bishop to c3 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to e8 (e7·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Chess960 tactic on g4 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 90
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Commentary
The corner knight on a1 has exactly one move, b3 — and that is what the engine plays first: Nb3. The line runs Nb3 Nb6 e4 e5 d3 g6, with Black answering in kind. The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and g1. The queen starts in the corner on h1, the bishops on c1 and f1. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: a2 and f2.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.