Starting position #800
Back-rank setup: BBRKQNRN
SP-800 · 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 d1, the rooks on c1 and g1, the queen on e1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
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 159.
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 31 Morozov Balance Index: 31 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +32 centipawns for White (depth 41, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 660 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): +47 → +43 → +41 → +12
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #159
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1102 days
Puzzles from this position
- Mate in 1: queen to a6 — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to g2 (g1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f6 (a1·6) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to b4 (a5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to e7 (f5·6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: rook to e1 (g1) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e4 (g3·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Winning blow: pawn to e6 (f5·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to b3 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: rook to f8 (f7·8) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
This position appears in course day 8
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1, and the queen starts on e1, just beside him. A bishop holds the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on b1. 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. White's edge is +32 centipawns, and the engine takes the centre with d4: d4 d5 c4 dxc4 Qc3 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.