Starting position #606
Back-rank setup: RQNKRBBN
SP-606 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 e1, 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on 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 260.
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 51 Morozov Balance Index: 51 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +26 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 467 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +18 → +20 → +24 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #260
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 78 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d3 (c2·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (g5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: queen to c5 (e3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: bishop to e4 (f5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Castling-960 to the rescue on e1 (d1·2) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Winning blow: knight to f6 (e4·24) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (d4·26) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
- Winning blow: rook to b1 (c1·14) — Chess960 specifics · 2340
This position appears in course day 50
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Commentary
The cornered knight on h1 has g3 as its only move, and the engine plays it first: Ng3 Ng6 e3 f6 c4 c5. The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and e1. The bishops sit together on f1 and g1, the second knight on c1. The pawn on d2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on b1.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.