Starting position #318
Back-rank setup: NQRKRBBN
SP-318 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and e1, the queen on b1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 356.
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 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 308 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (43 half-moves): +24 → 0 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #356
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 620 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b5 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to d1 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to f8 (a8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to d4 (e3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: rook to e8 (e4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: rook to f5 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: queen to c7 (a5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: bishop to e7 (g5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on d7 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 83
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. Both knights start in a corner, a1 and h1, each with a single move: b3 and g3. The bishops sit together on f1 and g1, the queen on b1. The pawn on d2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The engine's main line opens c4 c5, then e3 e6 Nb3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.