Starting position #63
Back-rank setup: NNRQKRBB
SP-63 · ThroneScout — Centre-file king, rim knight: 204 of the 960 positions share this pattern.
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 f1, the queen on d1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
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 896.
The engine's main line opens with g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 61 Morozov Balance Index: 61 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +23 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 378 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): +36 → +19 → +25 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #896
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 388 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c6 (a5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b8 (a7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to h7 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: queen to e1 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c1 (d1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c6 (e4·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b4 (c2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to f8 (d6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: knight to d7 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
This position appears in course day 22
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone, from e1 to g1. A knight starts in the corner on a1 with a single move, b3; a bishop starts in the corner on h1 with a single diagonal, to a8. The queen is on d1 beside the king, the second bishop on g1. The pawns on a2 and b2 have no defender at the start. The line in the dataset opens g3 c6, then f4 g6 c3 f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.