Starting position #614
Back-rank setup: RNBQKBRN
SP-614 · 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 e1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on d1.
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 246.
The engine's main line opens with d4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 421 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (30 half-moves): +34 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #246
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 356 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d4 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c5 (d4·49) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c3 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to f7 (g5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to c4 (c2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to h7 (h5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: rook to d1 (f1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Mate in 3: rook to b7 (b4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1950
- Chess960 tactic on d5 (c5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 14
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on d1 next to her king. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the knights on b1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The rooks are on a1 and g1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and the line runs d4 d5 Ng3 e6 e4 Ng6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.