Starting position #78
Back-rank setup: NNRKQBBR
SP-78 · 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 c1 and h1, the queen on e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on f1 and g1; their long diagonals reach a6 and a7 once the e- and f-pawns step aside.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: a2, b2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 884.
The engine's main line opens with f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 69 Morozov Balance Index: 69 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +21 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 315 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +20 → +41 → +26 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #884
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and h
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 59 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h4 (e1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (f4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to h5 (h1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c5 (g1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f4 (g3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to e2 (d1·11) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to d4 (g1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (d6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to f6 (f2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: rook to g7 (g3·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
This position appears in course day 23
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. A knight begins in the corner on a1 and can only go to b3. The queen stands next to the king on e1, the bishops on f1 and g1. The pawns on a2 and b2 start with no defender at all. The engine's main line opens f3 f6, then Nb3 Nc6 e4 e5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.