Starting position #301
Back-rank setup: QNRBKRBN
SP-301 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
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 c1 and f1, the queen on a1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 376.
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 94 Morozov Balance Index: 94 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +10 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 57 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (58 half-moves): +35 → +18 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +12 cp, +2 cp against the base run — verified · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #376
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 455 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c4 (a3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 (b3·26) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a2 (a1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e2 (c3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to h5 (g7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to f2 (g1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to b1 (c1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: knight to e4 (g3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 3: queen to d8 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on g8 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 88
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short 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. The bishops are on d1 and g1, the queen in the corner on a1. The pawn on g2 is the only one starting without a defender. The engine keeps this one close to level, +10 centipawns, with the line f4 f6 e4 c5 Nc3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.