Starting position #284
Back-rank setup: NBRKNRBQ
SP-284 · 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 f1, the queen on h1.
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.
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 588.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 245 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (42 half-moves): +23 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #588
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 915 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c3 (b2·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (f4·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·62) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h6 (g5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to a5 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: bishop to d7 — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: rook to h4 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: rook to c4 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h8 (h7·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on a6 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 47
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1; short castling moves the king alone, because the rook already stands on f1. The queen begins in the corner on h1, the bishops on b1 and g1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3, the second on e1. On the second rank, b2 has no defender; the pawns on d2 and e2 lean on the king alone. In the engine's line White castles long on the fifth half-move: f4 c6 g3 Nb6 O-O-O f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.