Starting position #354
Back-rank setup: BNRKRBQN
SP-354 · 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 g1.
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.
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 311.
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 59 Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 53, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 405 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (54 half-moves): +20 → +4 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #311
- 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 672 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g1 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·26) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to a6 (f1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e5 (f4·51) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·93) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Mate in 2: knight to c6 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: bishop to d6 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: knight to c3 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on c5 (b4) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 25
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. 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. Among the pawns, a2 begins without a defender. The search here ran to depth 53 and calls the position +24 centipawns: f4 b6 b3 f6 e4 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.