Starting position #642
Back-rank setup: BRNKRBQN
SP-642 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 b1 and e1, the queen on g1.
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.
The pawn on c2, d2 is defended by the king alone — the same soft spot f2 is in the classical setup.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 215.
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 75 Morozov Balance Index: 75 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +19 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 233 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): +28 → +11 → -8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #215
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 476 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·17) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (d5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e2 (e1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to d3 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: knight to d6 (e4·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (e2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (d5·39) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to b6 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to e4 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on c4 (b5) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 63
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and e1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. Two second-rank pawns lean on the king alone: c2 and d2, side by side. The queen is on g1, the knights on c1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine's main line opens f4 f6, then b3 e5 fxe5 fxe5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.