Starting position #311
Back-rank setup: NQBRKRNB
SP-311 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
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 354.
The engine's main line opens with Nf3, bringing the knight out to f3.
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 49, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 170 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 (60 half-moves): +23 → +18 → +10 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #354
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 71 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b3 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e5 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h1 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (b1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to g3 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (e3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: pawn to c7 (c6·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: queen to a5 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (h1·21) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 44
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Commentary
Both rooks already stand on their castling squares, d1 and f1, so the king walks alone in either direction from e1. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on c1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on g1. Among the pawns, h2 is the only one starting without a defender. The engine's line looks entirely classical: Nf3 Nf6 c4 O-O O-O g6, both kings tucked away by the sixth half-move.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.