Starting position #598
Back-rank setup: RQBNKBRN
SP-598 · 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 e1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
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: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 262.
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 28 Morozov Balance Index: 28 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +33 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 687 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): +35 → +57 → +15 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #262
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 598 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: knight to f4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g5 (c1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (a4·27) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to d8 (d7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: rook to f8 (g8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f6 (g4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: queen to f3 (e3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: knight to e6 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (h3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to f5 (e5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
This position appears in course day 91
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on a1 and g1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the knights on d1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on b1. White's edge here is a wide one, +33 centipawns: f4 d5 e3 Ng6 Ng3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.