Starting position #882
Back-rank setup: BRQKRBNN
SP-882 · ThroneScout — King on a central file (d/e) with a knight starting on the rim (a/h).
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 b1 and e1, the queen on c1.
Castling ends where it always does: king to g1 and rook to f1 on the short side, king to c1 and rook to d1 on the long one.
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: a2, h2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 71.
The engine's main line opens with e4, putting a pawn straight into the centre.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Balance
MBI 6 Morozov Balance Index: 6 of 100 — class D — largest edge.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +48 centipawns for White (depth 46, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 903 of 960 by balance — 1 is the most balanced start.
- Balance band L — large edge · dynamics along the play-out: volatile
- Evaluation along the engine's main line (60 half-moves): +69 → +72 → +23 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #71
- The king starts on d, the rooks on b and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- This position does not come up as the daily position in the next four years
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to d4 (a1) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to b5 (c4·12) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: pawn to f3 (g2·4) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to f4 (f7) — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Mate in 2: knight to c6 (a7) — Chess960 specifics · 1220
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e6 (g7·5) — Chess960 specifics · 1290
- Castling-960 to the rescue on b1 (d1·5) — Castling-960 · 1340
- Mate in 3: queen to a7 (e7) — Chess960 specifics · 1630
- Winning blow: knight to d6 (f5·16) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
- Chess960 tactic on d6 (f4·2) — Chess960 specifics · 2400
This position appears in course day 20
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Commentary
The king begins on d1 with the queen beside him on c1, and castling is ordinary in both directions, with the rooks on b1 and e1. A bishop holds the corner on a1 with one diagonal to h8; the second bishop is on f1. Two pawns begin without a defender, a2 and h2 — the edges of the rank. The knights are on g1 and h1, and their reaches do not overlap, so the line writes Ng3 and Nf3 with no file letter. The engine takes the centre with e4, and White's edge here is a wide one, +48 centipawns: e4 e5 Ng3 Ng6 Nf3 b6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.