Starting position #62
Back-rank setup: NNRQKBBR
SP-62 · 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 c1 and h1, 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 f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 900.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 21 Morozov Balance Index: 21 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +36 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 763 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): +40 → +3 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #900
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and h
- It becomes the daily position in 494 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g5 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to a5 (b3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g6 (b1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to f1 (e1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to e6 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to g7 (c3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to b8 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: knight to b6 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (b8·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on e7 (e3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 35
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Commentary
The king begins on e1 and the queen on d1, exactly as the classical setup places them, though the rooks sit on c1 and h1. The knight in the corner on a1 has b3 as its only move. The bishops stand together on f1 and g1. The pawns on a2 and b2 begin with no defender at all. The recorded line opens e4 e5, then f4 exf4 Qf3 Qg5 — the queens come out on the fifth and sixth half-moves.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.