Starting position #335
Back-rank setup: NRQKRNBB
SP-335 · 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 d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on c1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
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: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 336.
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 20 Morozov Balance Index: 20 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +37 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 774 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): +41 → +35 → +11 → +10
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #336
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 291 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e8 (d6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to d2 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to c1 (d1·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to a5 (a2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (a7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: queen to f7 (h7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to h7 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on f7 (e6) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 102
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. A bishop holds the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8; the second bishop is on g1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on f1. Among the pawns, a2 begins without a defender. The engine's line opens f4 f5, then c4 Nb6 b3 g6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.