Starting position #774
Back-rank setup: QRBKNBRN
SP-774 · 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 d1, the rooks on b1 and g1, the queen on a1.
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.
The bishops stand on c1 and f1; their long diagonals reach h6 and a6 once the d- and e-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 182.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 97 Morozov Balance Index: 97 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +6 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 25 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band E — even · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (70 half-moves): +6 → +3 → +8 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 49): +12 cp, +6 cp against the base run — verified · S — slight edge
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #182
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and g
- It becomes the daily position in 405 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g2 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d4 (a1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a6 (b5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a6 (b5·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to c2 (d1·10) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (f8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: knight to c6 (e5·21) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Winning blow: bishop to c5 (e3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1480
- Mate in 3: queen to f5 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to a6 (a5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 53
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and g1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1. The engine finds almost nothing for White here — +6 centipawns — and the line runs b3 e6 Bb2 b6 a4 a5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.