Starting position #790
Back-rank setup: RQBKNBRN
SP-790 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
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 a1 and g1, the queen on b1.
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 166.
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 14 Morozov Balance Index: 14 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +40 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 818 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band M — moderate edge · dynamics along the play-out: sharpening
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (48 half-moves): +45 → +55 → +49 → +47
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #166
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and g
- It becomes the daily position in 874 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to f7 (g5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g1 (f3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h4 (h2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: bishop to e5 (b2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to f7 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: pawn to e7 (f6·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: pawn to e7 (e6·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to c6 (a6·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Winning blow: queen to g4 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 2290
This position appears in course day 15
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and g1. The bishops are on c1 and f1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is tucked away on b1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine takes the centre with d4: d4 c5 c3 d5 Ng3 cxd4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.