Starting position #836
Back-rank setup: RBBKNRQN
SP-836 · 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 a1 and f1, the queen on g1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from d1 to g1.
The bishops stand on b1 and c1; their long diagonals reach h7 and h6 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 126.
The engine's main line opens with f4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 59 Morozov Balance Index: 59 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +24 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 387 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): +27 → +14 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #126
- 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: knight to g6 (h4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to h6 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c2 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to c2 (d1·15) — Chess960 specifics · 1110
- Mate in 2: queen to b7 (d5·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 2: rook to c7 (d7) — Chess960 specifics · 1450
- Castling-960 to the rescue on a8 (d8·7) — Castling-960 · 1470
- Winning blow: rook to a8 (a1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Winning blow: queen to e7 (g7·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on b1 — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 33
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Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from d1. The bishops stand side by side on b1 and c1, one on each colour. On the second rank, e2 leans on the king alone; no other second-rank pawn starts short of a defender. The queen is on g1, the knights on e1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the second rook is on a1. White's edge is a narrow +24 centipawns: f4 f5 a3 d5 d3 c6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.