Starting position #605
Back-rank setup: RQNBKRBN
SP-605 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the 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 e1, the rooks on a1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
The bishops stand on d1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h5 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 264.
The engine's main line opens with Ng3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 7 Morozov Balance Index: 7 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +47 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 892 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +63 → +49 → +29 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #264
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g3 (h2·7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to f4 (f1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e1 (d3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to g2 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: king to f1 (e1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (e1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Mate in 3: rook to e7 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to f7 (e5·14) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on f8 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 90
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Commentary
The cornered knight on h1 has g3 as its only move, and the engine plays it first: Ng3 f6 c3 c6 Bc2 g6. The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. Among the pawns, g2 has no defender, and d2 leans on the king alone. The bishops are on d1 and g1, the second knight on c1. White's edge here is a wide one, +47 centipawns, and the queen watches from b1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.