Starting position #796
Back-rank setup: RBQKNRBN
SP-796 · 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 f1, the queen on c1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 to g1.
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 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 172.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 92 Morozov Balance Index: 92 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +12 centipawns for White (depth 45, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 76 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 (70 half-moves): +29 → +28 → +20 → +15 → +6
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 51): +13 cp, +1 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #172
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and f
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c5 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·57) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f5 (e4·66) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to c2 (b1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: bishop to c2 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to f7 (f6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Winning blow: knight to d5 (e7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1430
- Mate in 3: queen to c4 (f4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: pawn to a6 (a5·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to e5 (h8·3) — Chess960 specifics · 2060
This position appears in course day 74
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from d1; the queen stands beside him on c1. The bishops are on b1 and g1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The knights are on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. The engine finds little for White here, +12 centipawns: c4 c5 g4 Ng6 Ng3 a5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.