Starting position #788
Back-rank setup: RBBQKNRN
SP-788 · 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 e1, the rooks on a1 and g1, the queen on d1.
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 b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
Every pawn on the second rank is defended from the very first move.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 174.
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 78 Morozov Balance Index: 78 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +18 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 211 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +20 → +24 → +34 → +18
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #174
- The king starts on e, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 511 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f4 (e3·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to b3 (a2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: king to f4 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to h2 (h1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d5 (e4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f7 (b3·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Winning blow: knight to e6 (d4·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: rook to d5 (d1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 3: queen to d6 (d5) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Chess960 tactic on b7 (e4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 41
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Commentary
The queen starts on her classical square d1 with the king beside her on e1, and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and g1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Every pawn on the second rank begins with a defender — this setup concedes nothing on move one. The knights are on f1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine takes the centre with d4 and Black answers in kind: d4 d5 c3 c6 f4 f5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.