Starting position #374
Back-rank setup: NRBKRBNQ
SP-374 · 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 d1, the rooks on b1 and e1, the queen on h1.
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, f2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 294.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 347 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +27 → +24 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #294
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 206 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (g5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f3 (g2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to h6 (d2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (e1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e5 (f3·18) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: rook to h7 (h6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (f6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Mate in 3: queen to d6 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Chess960 tactic on g5 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2250
This position appears in course day 12
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and e1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on g1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the queen in the corner on h1. Two pawns begin with no defender at all: a2 and f2. The engine takes the centre with e4 and Black answers in kind: e4 e5 Nb3 d6 Nf3 Bd7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.