Starting position #780
Back-rank setup: QBRKNRBN
SP-780 · 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 f1, 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 g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
The pawn on d2, 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 188.
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 24 Morozov Balance Index: 24 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +35 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 722 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +35 → +20 → +6 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #188
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 248 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c4 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·39) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g7 (a1·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g4 (h3·13) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to h1 (g1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c5 (d3·10) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: rook to c8 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to c6 (a8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: bishop to e3 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to f8 (f6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1790
This position appears in course day 20
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1, while the rook already occupies f1, so the short one moves the king alone. The bishops are on b1 and g1, one on each colour. The pawns on d2 and e2 lean on the king alone; the other six start with a defender. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine takes the centre with d4: d4 f5 f3 b5 a4 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.