Starting position #866
Back-rank setup: BQRKRBNN
SP-866 · 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 e1, the queen on b1.
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 87.
The engine's main line opens with Nf3, bringing the knight out to f3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 47 Morozov Balance Index: 47 of 100 — class C — noticeable edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +27 centipawns for White (depth 43, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 497 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): +33 → +9 → 0 → -8
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #87
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 849 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to f6 (a1·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to a1 (h1) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: bishop to e5 (a1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Winning blow: king to f3 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: queen to c6 (f3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1010
- Winning blow: bishop to h5 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d7 (d4·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to d2 (e2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1390
- Winning blow: rook to c5 (c1·13) — Chess960 specifics · 1510
- Chess960 tactic on f6 (e4) — Chess960 specifics · 2120
This position appears in course day 29
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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 f1. On the second rank, h2 begins without a defender, 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 e1. The engine does not touch a pawn first — the knight goes from g1 to f3 — and White's edge is +27 centipawns: Nf3 c5 c4 Ng6 Ng3 e6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.