Starting position #338
Back-rank setup: BNRKQBRN
SP-338 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a 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 c1 and g1, the queen on e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 327.
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 86 Morozov Balance Index: 86 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +15 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 139 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 (70 half-moves): +28 → +29 → +34 → +2 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 52): +19 cp, +4 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #327
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 249 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to d3 (c2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f5 (e4·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to d2 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: knight to b5 (c3·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: knight to e4 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 1410
- Winning blow: rook to d8 (d4·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Winning blow: pawn to f7 (e6·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on d2 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 4
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1, and in the engine's line both sides do exactly that: f4 b6 b3 d5 O-O-O O-O-O. The queen begins on e1 beside her king. A knight sits in the corner on h1 with g3 as its only move, the second on b1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.