Starting position #310
Back-rank setup: NQBRKBRN
SP-310 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
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 b1.
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.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 358.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 14 Morozov Balance Index: 14 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +40 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 827 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 (54 half-moves): +47 → +37 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #358
- 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 540 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a6 (f1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f2 (e1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: pawn to c7 (d6·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (b1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (g3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to c4 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on h8 (h7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 17
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. Both knights start in a corner, a1 and h1, each with a single move: b3 and g3. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the queen on b1. Among the pawns, h2 is the only one starting without a defender. The main line of the run opens c3 Ng6, then h4 c6 Ng3 h5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.