Starting position #769
Back-rank setup: BQRBKNRN
SP-769 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
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 c1 and g1, the queen on b1.
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.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 187.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 80 Morozov Balance Index: 80 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +17 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 185 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): +35 → +31 → +11 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #187
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and g
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: bishop to e5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (e3·40) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (f2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to c6 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to g8 (h7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: queen to h8 (h7·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to f6 (d4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Winning blow: bishop to g7 (d4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Castling-960 to the rescue on g8 (e8) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Mate in 3: queen to c6 (c3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1980
This position appears in course day 41
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Commentary
Castling is ordinary in both directions from e1, with the rooks on c1 and g1. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. A bishop is closed into the corner on a1 with a single diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1. The queen is on b1, the knights on f1 and h1 — both can reach g3, so the third half-move carries a letter. The published line opens c4 c5, then Nhg3 f6 b4 cxb4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.