Starting position #772
Back-rank setup: QBBRKNRN
SP-772 · 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 g1, the queen on a1.
The queenside rook already stands on d1, so castling long moves only the king, from e1 to c1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
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 190.
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 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 662 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +48 → +21 → +3 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #190
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: queen to g6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (e3·13) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to g6 (f5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to g5 (e3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (e3·11) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to f7 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to h6 (h3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: bishop to e6 (d5·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Mate in 3: queen to e7 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 26
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Commentary
The rook already occupies d1, so long castling moves the king alone from e1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights on f1 and h1 — both can reach g3, so the third half-move carries a letter. The engine takes the centre with d4: d4 d5 Nhg3 Nhg6 b3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.