Starting position #792
Back-rank setup: RBQKBNRN
SP-792 · 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 a1 and g1, the queen on c1.
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 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 173.
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 2 Morozov Balance Index: 2 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +55 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 939 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (54 half-moves): +75 → +37 → +8 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #173
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and g
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (c4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to c8 (b6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d7 (d3·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to c6 (e4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g3 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to d2 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: bishop to c5 (f2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Mate in 2: rook to b7 (b3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Mate in 3: rook to g5 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on d5 (d1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 22
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on a1 and g1. The bishops are on b1 and e1, one on each colour. The pawn on e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The knights are on f1 and h1 — both can reach g3, so the fifth half-move carries a letter. White's edge here is a wide one, +55 centipawns: d4 d5 c4 c6 Nhg3 Nhg6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.