Starting position #768
Back-rank setup: BBQRKNRN
SP-768 · 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 e1, the rooks on d1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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 a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The pawn on e2 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 191.
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 9 Morozov Balance Index: 9 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +44 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 875 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +37 → +78 → +49 → +16
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #191
- 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 36 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to a6 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to c5 (c1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g4 (h3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c7 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to g6 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: pawn to d6 (d5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: rook to f5 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (b1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Mate in 3: queen to h7 (c2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1860
- Winning blow: rook to b1 (f1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 22
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. A bishop is shut into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second works the light squares from b1. The pawn on e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on c1, the knights on f1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. White's edge here is a wide one, +44 centipawns: d4 b5 b3 d5 c4 bxc4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.