Starting position #342
Back-rank setup: NRBKQBRN
SP-342 · 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 b1 and g1, the queen on e1.
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.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
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 326.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 482 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +45 → +53 → +65 → +6
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #326
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and g
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g5 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to b8 (d6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b4 (e1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to e1 (d1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to d3 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to f6 (g5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (e1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: knight to a5 (b3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Castling-960 to the rescue on b1 (d1·13) — Castling-960 · 1570
- Mate in 3: queen to d7 (c8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
This position appears in course day 117
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on e1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. Both knights start in a corner, a1 and h1, each with a single move: b3 and g3. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the rooks on b1 and g1. The pawns on a2 and h2 both begin with no defender at all. The engine takes the centre with d4 and Black strikes back at once: d4 e5 Nb3 Ng6 e4 exd4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.