Starting position #820
Back-rank setup: RBBKNQRN
SP-820 · 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 f1.
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 c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 once the c- and d-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 142.
The engine's main line opens with c3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 10 Morozov Balance Index: 10 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +43 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 864 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: stable
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +39 → +43 → +40 → +13
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #142
- 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: king to c2 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f5 (g4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g8 (g3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: bishop to f5 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Mate in 2: knight to f5 — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: queen to e7 (e2·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: queen to d7 (a4·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1560
- Mate in 3: bishop to e1 — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to f5 (e4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Winning blow: queen to d6 (d3·10) — Chess960 specifics · 2100
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 stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, h2 is the one that begins without a defender. The queen is on f1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. White's edge here is a wide one, +43 centipawns, though the engine opens quietly with c3: c3 Ng6 e4 c5 Ng3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.