Starting position #356
Back-rank setup: NBBRKRQN
SP-356 · 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
The pawn on e2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 318.
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 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 481 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #318
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1148 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g6 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h4 (f2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to g7 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to d4 (f3·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to c5 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: pawn to c4 (d3·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Mate in 3: rook to e8 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on b7 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
Both rooks already stand on their castling squares, d1 and f1, so the king walks alone in either direction from e1. 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. On the second rank, e2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on g1, and the line runs f4 f5 Nb3 Nb6 d3 d5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.