Starting position #625
Back-rank setup: BRNBKQRN
SP-625 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
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 b1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 235.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
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 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 420 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 (60 half-moves): +38 → +17 → +16 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #235
- The king starts on e, the rooks on b and g
- 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 f4 (g3·30) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f3 (e2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f2 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to d2 (e1·8) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: pawn to b3 (c2·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: king to d1 (e1·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (d3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1470
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (e6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1750
- Winning blow: rook to b6 (b8) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: pawn to b4 (b3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 158
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the queen on f1 next to her king. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. The pawn on h2 has no defender, and d2 leans on the king alone. The knights are on c1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move — and the rooks are on b1 and g1. The engine's line ends in a check on the sixth half-move: f4 Nd6 e3 e6 g4 Bh4+.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.