Starting position #622
Back-rank setup: RNQKRBBN
SP-622 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
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 c1.
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.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 244.
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 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 665 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): +65 → +20 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #244
- 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 470 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to d7 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (e3·19) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to e6 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f4 (d3·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (d4·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: knight to d6 (e4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to b7 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: knight to b4 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to d4 (c3·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1650
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f7 (e8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 19
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The bishops sit together on f1 and g1, the knights on b1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The rooks are on a1 and e1. The engine takes the centre with d4 and Black's queen appears on the sixth half-move: d4 d5 f3 e5 dxe5 Qe6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.