Starting position #380
Back-rank setup: NBRKRNBQ
SP-380 · 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 c1 and e1, the queen on h1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 300.
The engine's main line opens with O-O-O, bringing the king out to c1.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 95 Morozov Balance Index: 95 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +9 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 47 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +24 → +7 → +14 → +3 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 53): +24 cp, +15 cp against the base run — not confirmed at depth · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #300
- 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 413 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to e1 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (h6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to h6 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: pawn to f7 (f6·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (e3·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (d5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 2: rook to c8 (c7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to d5 (e6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Chess960 tactic on h4 (h2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 39
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
White castles on move one here: O-O-O is the engine's first move, the king on d1 and the rook on c1 changing places. The line then runs c6 e4 e5 c3 f6, and the edge stays tiny — +9 centipawns. A knight is in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; the second knight is on f1. The bishops are on b1 and g1, the queen in the corner on h1. On the second rank, b2 is the only one starting without a defender.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.