Starting position #872
Back-rank setup: QBRKBRNN
SP-872 · 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 f1, the queen on a1.
Castling long simply swaps the two pieces: the king on d1 and the rook on c1 trade places.
The bishops stand on b1 and e1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a5 once the c- and d-pawns step aside.
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 93.
The engine's main line opens with c4.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 18 Morozov Balance Index: 18 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +38 centipawns for White (depth 42, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 781 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): +32 → 0 → +1 → +5
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #93
- The king starts on d, the rooks on c and f
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 1292 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to c6 (b5·5) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f8 (g7·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: queen to c4 (g8) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to h6 (g7) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Mate in 2: rook to g6 — Chess960 specifics · 1090
- Winning blow: bishop to b1 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Winning blow: queen to c8 (c6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1280
- Mate in 2: queen to d7 (f5) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Mate in 3: queen to g4 (a4) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: queen to d8 (e7·8) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 51
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Commentary
Long castling swaps the king on d1 with the rook on c1, while the rook already occupies f1, so the short one moves the king alone. The bishops are on b1 and e1, one on each colour. Two pawns begin without a defender, g2 and h2. The queen begins in the far corner on a1, the knights on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move. White's edge is +38 centipawns, and the line runs symmetrically until the capture: c4 c5 Nf3 Nf6 d4 cxd4.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.