Starting position #602
Back-rank setup: RQNKBBRN
SP-602 · 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 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 e1 and f1; their long diagonals reach a5 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 261.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 6 Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 906 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +58 → +4 → -21 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #261
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 133 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (h7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f5 (g4·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g3 (f2·16) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to a6 (f6) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (g6) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Mate in 2: queen to a6 (b5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a1 (d1·4) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Mate in 2: rook to c8 (c6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1670
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (f4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (g6·9) — Chess960 specifics · 2290
This position appears in course day 97
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and g1. The bishops sit together on e1 and f1, the knights on c1 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, +48 centipawns: c4 Ng6 Ng3 c5 Nb3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.