Starting position #865
Back-rank setup: BQRBKRNN
SP-865 · ThroneScout — A central king (d or e), but with a knight posted out on the a- or h-file.
Move the pieces right on the board — full Chess960 rules, castle by dropping the king on the rook.
Position features
The king starts on e1, the rooks on c1 and f1, the queen on b1.
The kingside rook already stands on f1, so castling short moves only the king, from e1 to g1.
A bishop starts in the corner on a1: it has a single diagonal, which the b-pawn unlocks, running out to h8.
The second rank carries 2 pawns with no defender at all: g2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 91.
The engine's main line opens with b3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 83 Morozov Balance Index: 83 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +16 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 148 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 → +23 → +13 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #91
- The king starts on e, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 103 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g7 (f5·4) — Chess960 specifics · 620
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f3 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to b1 (c1·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to h5 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: rook to e4 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Mate in 2: queen to g7 (b2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to e4 (b1·12) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to c1 (c6) — Chess960 specifics · 1840
- Winning blow: bishop to f5 (g4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Mate in 3: knight to f5 (d4·6) — Chess960 specifics · 2170
This position appears in course day 10
In your browser or in the Android app. Nothing to install · Free, no ads
Commentary
The rook already occupies f1, so short castling moves the king alone from e1. A bishop holds the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on d1, running to a4 on one side and h5 on the other. Two pawns begin without a defender, g2 and h2, and the pawn on d2 leans on the king alone. The queen is tucked away on b1, the knights on g1 and h1, the second rook on c1. White's edge is a narrow +16 centipawns: b3 Nf6 f4 b5 Nf3 c5.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.