Starting position #87
Back-rank setup: NNBRKRQB
SP-87 · ThroneScout — Centre-file king, rim knight: 204 of the 960 positions share this pattern.
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 d1 and f1, the queen on g1.
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 h1: it has a single diagonal, which the g-pawn unlocks, running out to a8.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: a2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 866.
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 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 44, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 444 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band S — slight edge · dynamics along the play-out: equalizing
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +21 → +19 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #866
- The king starts on e, the rooks on d and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1242 days
Puzzles from this position
- Mate in 1: queen to c7 (g3) — Chess960 specifics · 850
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to a7 (b6) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g6 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to c6 (b7·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1150
- Attack on the uncastled king: king to d1 (d2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d5 (g2·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Mate in 3: queen to f8 (e8) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to f6 (h4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Mate in 3: queen to h8 (g7·6) — Chess960 specifics · 1760
- Chess960 tactic on d5 (e5) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 37
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Commentary
Both rooks already stand on their castled squares, d1 and f1, so the king travels alone from e1 whichever way it goes. A knight is in the corner on a1 with b3 as its only move, a bishop in the corner on h1 with one diagonal to a8. The queen holds g1, the second bishop c1. On the second rank, a2 has no defender at all, and e2 has only the king. The line in the dataset opens f4 Nb6, then a4 f5 a5 Nc4 — the a-pawn runs while the knights manoeuvre.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.