Starting position #816
Back-rank setup: BBRKNQRN
SP-816 · 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 c1 and g1, the queen on f1.
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.
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 143.
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 65 Morozov Balance Index: 65 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +22 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 327 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): +37 → +13 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #143
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and g
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- 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 f6 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to d2 (d1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to e3 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to c7 (c1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to g5 (g4·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: rook to e8 (f8) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Winning blow: king to f4 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: queen to b3 (e3) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to c7 (d5·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: rook to g4 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 32
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1. A bishop holds the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on b1. The pawn on h2 begins without a defender, and the pawn on d2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on f1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the second rook is on g1. White's edge is a narrow +22 centipawns: c4 c5 f4 g5 g3 gxf4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.