Starting position #71
Back-rank setup: NNBRKQRB
SP-71 · ThroneScout — King in the middle of the rank, with a knight already committed to the corner.
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 d1 and g1, the queen on f1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
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, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 882.
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 20 Morozov Balance Index: 20 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +37 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 777 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): +44 → +30 → +13 → +9
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #882
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 13 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to g3 (f2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e3 (f2·8) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g4 (g1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to f3 (e3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to h7 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Winning blow: bishop to c3 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 2: rook to e1 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: knight to e6 (c5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to b7 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on e7 (e4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 93
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Commentary
Long castling moves the king alone from e1 to c1, because the rook already stands on d1. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, a bishop in the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. The queen stands on f1 next to the king, the second bishop on c1. The pawns on a2 and h2 begin with no defender. The engine's line opens d4 d5, then g4 g6 Nb3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.