Starting position #590
Back-rank setup: QRNKRBBN
SP-590 · 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 a1.
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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on c2, d2 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 276.
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 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 728 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +33 → +22 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #276
- 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 44 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f5 (e4·14) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c6 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h8 (h1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (f3·32) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f2 (e3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (b4·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 2: rook to b7 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: bishop to e2 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Winning blow: queen to a5 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: knight to f6 (d5·19) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 70
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and e1. The bishops sit together on f1 and g1, the knights on c1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. Two second-rank pawns lean on the king alone: c2 and d2, side by side. The queen begins in the far corner on a1. White's edge here is a wide one, +35 centipawns: f4 b6 Ng3 Ng6 Nd3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.