Starting position #648
Back-rank setup: RBNKBRQN
SP-648 · 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 a1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 221.
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 40 Morozov Balance Index: 40 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +29 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 568 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): +28 → +25 → +22 → +8
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #221
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and f
- It becomes the daily position in 410 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to f5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to b3 (d2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to b7 (f3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: pawn to b7 (a6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e7 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to b4 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to f7 (g8·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a1 (d1·3) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Winning blow: queen to b6 (d4) — Chess960 specifics · 1420
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (b6·10) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 17
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from d1. The bishops are on b1 and e1, the knights on c1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. Among the pawns, b2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on g1, the second rook in the corner on a1. The engine's main line opens f4 f5, then a4 a5 g4 Ba7.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.