Starting position #294
Back-rank setup: QNBRKBRN
SP-294 · 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 a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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: c2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 374.
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 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 735 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +32 → +27 → +20 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #374
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e2 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·77) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (d5·13) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e8 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to d2 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (d4·61) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to f8 (f7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c7 (b5·29) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to g3 (h2·16) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
- Chess960 tactic on h7 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 108
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. A knight sits in the corner on h1 with g3 as its only move, the second on b1. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: c2 and h2. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the queen in the corner on a1. In the engine's line she comes out to b1 once that knight has left: c4 c5 Nc3 Ng6 Qb1 Nc6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.