Starting position #776
Back-rank setup: QBRKBNRN
SP-776 · ThroneScout — The king starts on d or e while at least one knight begins in a corner.
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 c1 and g1, the queen on a1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 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 189.
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 16 Morozov Balance Index: 16 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +39 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 800 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): +66 → +16 → +9 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #189
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 104 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h2 (f1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d4 (c3·26) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to f5 (e3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to h5 (g4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to e1 (d1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to e8 (f7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Mate in 2: queen to e6 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: rook to b7 (b1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to e1 (b1) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: rook to f6 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1990
This position appears in course day 69
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. The bishops are on b1 and e1, the knights on f1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. On the second rank, 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 second rook on g1. White's edge here is a wide one, +39 centipawns: d4 c5 dxc5 a5 Nhg3 f6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.