Starting position #340
Back-rank setup: NBBRKQRN
SP-340 · 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 f1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-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 334.
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 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 576 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): +38 → +24 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #334
- 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 425 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c4 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·24) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e6 (f5·17) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to h3 (h2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to d1 (e1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: queen to c8 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to a8 (a5) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: rook to e7 (h7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 41
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1, and the queen begins on f1 beside her king. Both knights start in a corner, a1 and h1, each with a single move: b3 and g3. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, h2 is the only one starting without a defender. The main line of the run opens c4 f5, then d4 c6 f4 Nb6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.