Starting position #76
Back-rank setup: NBNRKQBR
SP-76 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
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 h1, the queen on f1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-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 892.
The engine's main line opens with e4, 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 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 585 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): +26 → +30 → +6 → +11
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #892
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 21 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to g6 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (f1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e4 (d3·32) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e3 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e4 (b1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d6 (d1·17) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: rook to h4 (g4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1610
- Mate in 3: queen to b7 (c7) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on g5 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 2350
This position appears in course day 6
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Commentary
The rook already stands on d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only first move. The bishops occupy b1 and g1 at opposite ends of the rank, their longer lines reaching h7 and a7. Among the pawns, b2 starts with no defender. The main line of the run opens e4 c6, then c3 e5 f4 exf4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.