Starting position #892
Back-rank setup: RBQKRNBN
SP-892 · ThroneScout — A knight starts on the edge (a/h) and the king sits centrally on d or e; the mirror twin stays in this family too.
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 a1 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.
The bishops stand on b1 and g1; their long diagonals reach h7 and a7 once the c- and f-pawns step aside.
One second-rank pawn starts with no defender at all: g2.
The setup belongs to the ThroneScout family; read right to left it becomes position 76.
The engine's main line opens with Nhg3, bringing the knight out to g3.
Every sentence here is computed from the setup itself and can be checked on the board.
Opening: main line
Stockfish's main line from the start of this setup, 15 moves deep (100 million nodes per move):
1. c4 c5 2. Nhg3 g6 3. f3 f5 4. e3 Qc6 5. Qc3 e5 6. Bc2 Bc7 7. Ne2 h5 8. Bf2 Qa6 9. b3 Ne6 10. Qb2 Nf7
Evaluation after the line: +1.24 for White.
Best first moves for White (evaluation in pawns):
- c4 — +0.35
- f3 — +0.32
- Nhg3 — +0.31
Balance
MBI 55 Morozov Balance Index: 55 of 100 — class B — balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +25 centipawns for White (depth 48, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 414 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): +43 → +21 → +19 → 0
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #76
- The king starts on d, the rooks on a and e
- King and rook are neighbours — castling from adjacent squares feels unusual
- It becomes the daily position in 296 days
Puzzles from this position
- Winning blow: pawn to c4 (b3) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to c4 (c3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to d7 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 850
- Winning blow: king to d2 (c2·3) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Winning blow: knight to e1 (d3·2) — Chess960 specifics · 970
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to e3 (f1·3) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to h7 (g6·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (e4·118) — Chess960 specifics · 1200
- Mate in 2: queen to c5 (c2) — Chess960 specifics · 1440
- Winning blow: queen to f5 (h3·4) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 22
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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 a1 and e1. The bishops are on b1 and g1, one on each colour. Among the pawns, g2 is the one that begins without a defender. The knights are on f1 and h1 — both can reach g3, and since the engine's very first move goes there, the game opens with a file letter already in the notation. White's edge is +25 centipawns: Nhg3 c5 c4 Nhg6 Ne3 Ne6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.