Starting position #372
Back-rank setup: NBBRKRNQ
SP-372 · 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and f1, the queen on h1.
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.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 302.
The engine's main line opens with d3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 307 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +11 → +33 → -12 → -2
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #302
- 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 554 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g2 (f2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g1 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to e6 (e1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g3 (f2·19) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to h4 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: king to d2 (e1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h8 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Mate in 3: queen to f6 (e5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (d5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on g7 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 59
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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. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on g1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, the queen in the corner on h1. The engine's main line opens d3 Nb6, then f4 f5 g3 d6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.