Starting position #358
Back-rank setup: NRBKRBQN
SP-358 · 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 d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on g1.
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.
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 310.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 7 Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +46 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 897 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +53 → +26 → +19 → +10
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #310
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- 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 b8 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·21) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g5 (e3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e2 (d1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to b1 (a1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: queen to e1 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to e1 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1340
- Winning blow: queen to c8 (c2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (a5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on d6 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 47
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and e1. 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 queen on g1. Among the pawns, a2 is the one that begins without a defender. White's edge here is a wide one, +46 centipawns, and the line runs f3 Nb6 a4 f6 Nb3 a5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.