Starting position #912
Back-rank setup: BBRKRQNN
SP-912 · 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 c1 and e1, the queen on f1.
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 47.
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 89 Morozov Balance Index: 89 of 100 — class A — most balanced.
- Engine evaluation of the starting position: +14 centipawns for White (depth 47, 400 000 000 nodes).
- Rank 101 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 (70 half-moves): +23 → +8 → 0 → 0
- Deeper check (1 200 000 000 nodes, depth 50): +15 cp, +1 cp against the base run — verified
Position facts
- Mirror twin: position #47
- 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 1439 days
Puzzles from this position
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to g5 — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: bishop to e5 (a1·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d5 (c4·51) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Attack on the uncastled king: knight to h5 (g3·9) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: knight to g3 (e2) — Chess960 specifics · 780
- Winning blow: rook to d3 — Chess960 specifics · 920
- Attack on the uncastled king: queen to g2 (f1·7) — Chess960 specifics · 1060
- Attack on the uncastled king: pawn to d3 (d2·2) — Chess960 specifics · 1250
- Mate in 2: queen to e6 (c4) — Chess960 specifics · 1320
- Winning blow: knight to f3 (g5) — Chess960 specifics · 1870
This position appears in course day 17
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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 b1. The pawn on h2 begins without a defender, and the pawn on d2 leans on the king alone. The queen is on f1, the knights on g1 and h1 — the cornered one has g3 as its only move, and the second rook is on e1. White's edge is a narrow +14 centipawns: c4 c5 f4 b6 e4 Ng6.
Written from the measured facts above and checked against the board before publishing. All 960 positions have one.